I STILL have my St Patrick's football jumper hanging in my wardrobe.It's my prized possession.Back when I started school at St Patrick's College that was the jumper I wanted to wear.I always remember that right from juniors the guys that held a first XVIII jumper were like the rock stars of the school.They would commonly play Wednesday afternoon games that started just before 2pm.Before we had to go back to class we would hang around the main oval, trying to watch as much of the game as we could until the teachers would round us up.I played all junior grades at St Pat's, all the way through intermediate.There were a couple of guys that got to play with the firsts when I was in year 10.The whole time I hoped that the next year I got the chance to wear the jumper.I was thrilled when my time came in year 11.That was the year — 1999 — I played my first game under lights at the MCG.We won the Herald Sun Shield against Parade College by eight goals.It was the first time a lot of our guys had ever played on the MCG.A year before St Pat's had been beaten in the Herald Sun Shield final and we wanted to win this one even more.We beat all the highly credentialed schools, including Assumption College, to get into the final.That was a pretty big thing to beat those strong football schools from Melbourne.I still remember clearly the St Pat's war cries at the ground.The match was a curtain-raiser for a Melbourne-Richmond game, but there weren't that many people at the ground for our match — so the St Pat's war cry echoed about the whole stadium.There were about 200 St Pat's students behind the city end doing our war cry the whole match.It was a great thrill to jump into the crowd at the end of the match and celebrate with them.In 2000, when I was in year 12, we didn't even make it into the Herald Sun Shield finals series.You always got big crowds at the Ballarat Associated Schools matches too.Even the round-robin games attracted a lot of students.You would always try and get to the ground and watch as much of the match as you could.College was probably our main rival, being so close — just across the road, but High School, just up the road, was pretty strong too.We played against Grammar in the BAS grand final in my second year.Our classmates and guys from the junior school were on the wing near our bench.There was a big crowd with all the students not playing doing very vocal war cries.School football is so important.For the players, it's so much about how you're going to be remembered at school, whether you were a champion team.There's a lot at stake.It was an interesting time for me in football.I was also playing with North Ballarat Rebels in the TAC Cup and the Rebels were not that successful.We didn't win that often.The TAC Cup was certainly a better standard of football, being the premier competition for under-18 footballers.You were playing against the best players for your age in the state.But there was a hell of a lot of pride and effort in school footy, too.It seems like it's gained more and more popularity, especially with this year's BAS grand final under lights at Eureka Stadium on Wednesday night.This just goes to show how valuable sporting events like this are in Ballarat.Some players we have drafted the past couple of years have been torn between schoolboy football and TAC Cup commitments when both overlap.Both are important.I wish all the best to this year's St Pat's boys as they aim to be remembered in the Herald Sun Shield finals.Drew Petrie played his junior football with Ballarat Swans in the Ballarat Football League.North Melbourne selected him from North Ballarat Rebels as a second round choice (number 23) in the 2000 AFL national draft. He made his AFL debut in 2001 and is Kangaroos vice-captain. Petrie's column is published exclusively in The Courier every second Saturday.