Timothy Hancock follows in this important shot in the weekend pennant final. Photos: Jordan Townrow.
Photo by
Jordan Townrow
Stanhope was unable to convert on a minor premiership season, going down in a nail-biting Campaspe Playing Area weekend pennant division one final.
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Having dispatched Tongala in the qualifying final, Stanhope faced a different challenge on grand final day, Moama eliminating Tonny in the prelim to make its own way to the final day.
Ben Fletcher skipped his rink to a win in the grand final.
Photo by
Jordan Townrow
Stanhope had the early running on the rinks of Lockington Bowls Club, getting out to a small lead which, by the midway point of the game, was hovering around 6-8 shots across the three rinks.
Moama kept plugging away though, slowly drawing closer, and as the match drew towards its climax, a huge five-shot 18th end in Rod Werner’s rink erased the deficit.
Jamie Stokes and Jono Thorne applaud a strong Stanhope shot.
Photo by
Jordan Townrow
The shots continued to fall the Steamers’ way, but Stanhope was hanging around, setting up a grandstand finish.
With one rink completed, and the remaining two with one end each to play, Moama led by one shot.
Despite late efforts from the Stanhope skips Moama scored one shot in each of those remaining ends resulting in a 57-54 championship win.
Barry Fletcher in grand final action.
Photo by
Jordan Townrow
On the final scorecard, Werner’s rink was the best for Moama, 23-15, while the one-shot on the final end broke the deadlock in Geoffrey Beattie’s rink 21-20.
In the remaining rink, Stanhope’s Ben Fletcher skipped his side to victory 19-13 over Moama skip Robert Young.
It was a disappointing end for Stanhope, but the squad, including skips Fletcher, Gregory Fitzpatrick and Timothy Hancock, can take heart from an impressive overall campaign.
John Patterson rolls one down for Stanhope
Photo by
Jordan Townrow
Moama representative Stuart Whyte praised the strong Stanhope side, which brought the game down to the wire.
“Even at the end I was chatting to the green next to me and didn’t quite realise we'd got it,” he said.
“Very, very tight and incredible game against really good opposition.”
In the other grand finals, Deniliquin defeated Moama, 56-46 in division two and Moama Green defeated clubmate Moama Black, 66-53, in division three.
Echuca got the best of the Steamers, 76-56, in division four, while Deniliquin was too strong for Deniliquin RSL, 65-30, in division five.
More than 100 players took part in the grand final day at Lockington Bowls Club, the club's hosting duties praised by Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields president Vickey Tierney and by many of the team representatives as they addressed the crowd.
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