THE Birchip-Watchem Bulls bounced back from their first defeat of the season to win the Goldacres North Central senior footy preliminary final on Saturday.
A 65-55 win for the Ash Connick-coached Bulls against Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers has set up a grand final showdown with Calder United Lions.
The Tigers were first to goal at St Arnaud’s Lord Nelson Park through former Adelaide and Geelong key forward Josh Jenkins.
The Bulls struck back with goals by Jacob Christie and Daniel Bell to lead 18-6 at quarter-time.
Century goalkicker Ben Edwards was on target for the Bulls in the early minutes of term two.
Back-to-back goals by the Bulls which included one by Lachy Foott gave them a 40-8 lead.
The Tigers fought back with consecutive goals by co-coach Bryce Delmenico as the Bulls were up 40-22 by the long break.
Sea Lake Nandaly came out firing in the third.
Goals by Max Cahoon, Tyson McKenzie and Josh Jenkins made it 40-all after less than 6 ½ minutes.
The Bulls responded superbly.
Foott’s second major was followed by two goals by Tom Gibson to make it 60-40.
The only goals of the last were kicked by Tigers’ team-mates Josh Jenkins and Ryan O’Sullivan.
A 65-55 victory for the Bulls set up the grand showdown with Calder United Lions who had won the second semi against Birchip-Watchem by 11 points.
Best for the Bulls against the Tigers were Ben Hogan, Ben Lakin, Meyrick Buchanan, Dale Hinkley, Harry Cook and ruckman Hamish Hosking.
The Tigers’ best were Austin Mertz, co-coaches Billy McInnes and Bryce Delmenico, Kane and Trent Donnan, and Max Cahoon.
The Haeuslers reserves preliminary final ended in a 62-34 win for Birchip-Watchem against Boort.
The Bulls were up 14-9 at quarter-time and 28-10 by the main break.
Boort hit back to win the third, 15-12.
Birchip-Watchem steadied to score three goals in the last as the Magpies were held to a tally of 1.3.
The listed goalkickers for the Bulls were Matt Berry, Bodie and Ty Colbert, Riley Doran, Callum Goode, Connor Lee, Stefan Pye, and Joseph Reid.
Boort’s listed goalkickers were Jack Baker, Willem Toose and Harry Weaver.
Best for Birchip-Watchem were Stefan Pye, Riley Hogan Jr, Ben Edelsten, Connor Lee and James Lindeback.
Cameron Ross, Max Beattie, Jack Baker, Angus Trethowan, Angus Potter and Fraser Millar were best for the Magpies.
The young Magpies from Boort soared to a 44-39 win against St Arnaud in the Charlton and District Community Bank under-17s clash.
The Saints were up 29-10 at half-time and 32-17 going into the last term.
The Magpies dominated the fourth quarter as goals by Darby Perryman, Finlay Arnold, Cooper Gooding and Owen Byrne put Boort in front, 42-33.
The Saints scored the last goal of the match through Bob Donald at 1 ½ minutes to go.
A 44-39 result put Boort into the grand final against Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers.
Goalkickers in the Magpies’ thrilling victory were Finlay Arnold, two; Owen Byrne, Cooper Gooding, Brodie McPherson and Darby Perryman.
The Saints’ attack was led by Bob Donald and Chad Hendy on two each as Declan Kay kicked the other.
Boort’s best were Jake O’Flaherty, Cooper Gooding, Luke Boyd, Seth Muller, Riley Wagner and Brodie McPherson.
Best for the Saints were Ethan Hilton, Will Thomas, Aidan Wickham, Frankie Donald, Chad Hendy and Chase Zander.
Preliminary final day kicked off with the Uniting Church under-14s match between Boort and Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers.
A great day for the Magpies began by racing to a 19-8 lead by half-time.
Boort then won the third quarter, 8-7, and then added three goals in the last to complete a 55-27 victory.
Seth Muller kicked three goals in a best afield performance for Boort.
Other goalkickers for the Magpies were Liam King and Connor McNally on two each, and Tyler Stringer.
Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers’ goals were kicked by co-captains Riley Allan and Henry Cox on two and one, and by Hamish Landry.
Best for Boort were Seth Muller, Archer Lee, Connor McNally, Jed Perryman, Tristan Broad and Liam King.
The Tigers’ best were Henry Cox, Harry Wight, Riley Allan, Finn Austerberry, Jack Hodgson and Tom McClelland.
Schedule for Saturday’s grand finals at Donaldson Park, Wedderburn:
Uniting Church under-14s at 9.30am: St Arnaud v Boort.
Charlton and District Community Bank under-17s at 10.55am: Sea Lake Nandaly v Boort.
Haeuslers reserves at 12.35pm: Calder United Lions v Birchip-Watchem.
Goldacres seniors at 2.30pm: Calder United Lions v Birchip-Watchem.