Ag College gave themselves some breathing space in their quest for a top two finish after snapping Griffith's six-game winning streak.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Blacks had gone through a round of football undefeated but couldn't keep up their run at Beres Ellwood Oval.
Having Tikiko Koroivoutu and Timoci Tomeru yellow carded didn't help their cause as they fell 31-22 on Saturday.
Ag College coach Will Mitchell was pleased with how his side responded after a disappointing loss to Wagga City.
"People understand their roles a bit better and that's what we worked on this week," Mitchell said.
"It provides that fast ball and that fast game that we need to play as if we have slow ball we just running into brick walls.
"I'm which happier."
Ag College dictated terms in the first half and slowly build their lead courtesy of Hamish Pennington's boot.
Pennington slotted four penalty goals to hand his side a 19-12 lead at the break.
Despite not being able to score when they had an extra man for 20 minutes to start the second half, Aggies eventually forced their way over through Harry O'Connor.
Ben Brooke was then held up over the line before Lochie Ramm scored from the resulting scrum to jump out to a 19-point lead.
While the tries eventually came, Mitchell was more than happy to slowly build to their lead, especially with the line out struggling.
"We wanted to build that scoreboard pressure, which is something we should have done last week," he said.
"We kept attacking and fumbling over but you get in a different mind set when you are
The Blacks scored two late tries to pick up an important bonus point, but coach Craig Morriss was disappointed with how poor their discipline was.
"Aggies out played us," Morris said. "We gave away far too many penalties, I think there were 10 offside penalties, and in the first half we didn't control the ball.
"We had opportunities but just made bad decisions with bad passes.
"It was just one of those days at the office."
He believes it will be a good reality check for the side.
Especially coming off a big win over Waratahs.
"It shows we have to keep putting our nose to the grindstone," Morriss said.
"If we relax and think we've achieved something we haven't."
Ag College are now nine points clear of third place Griffith with three rounds to play.
However the Blacks are only three points ahead of Albury, with Wagga City a further point behind.
Leeton have moved within six points of the Steamers after back-to-back wins.
The Phantoms came from behind to down Wagga City 43-25 to keep their season alive.
READ MORE