Having set its opponent 310 on day one, it found dominance with the ball to limit the Students to 127, before enforcing the follow-on and taking three wickets searching for an outright win.
It proved a tough chase for the Students, with Felix Odell (duck), Nick Breslin (20), Harwinder Singh (three) and Tyson McKenzie (seven) all falling victim to Cat Paul Marshall, leaving them in a world of trouble at 5-45.
Tim Looby (24) and Brendan Crouch (21) dug in but Aaron Di Fede decided to clean up the tail, taking 4-28 to bank the win for the Cats.
After enforcing the follow-on, Odell’s dirty day continued as he completed his pair, caught out as the Students fell to 1-1.
They lost Breslin (15) and Singh (duck) to move to 3-31, but were never in danger of the outright defeat, with McKenzie finding his feet with a quick-fire 42 that included six fours and two sixes as they ended at 3-84.
It was another positive result for Mooroopna, undefeated in its past five games and still an outside chance of playing finals.
The Cats are nine points back from the sixth-placed Students with three rounds before finals, with Kyabram, the bye and Nagambie to come.
The Students remain in the finals picture with 36 points, but have a string of teams hot on their heels, with Kyabram (33), Shepparton United (30), Tatura (30) and Mooroopna (27) all hoping to steal their place.
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