IT was tight, but Ballarat did enough to secure its finals position in a dramatic final day of regular season play in the Ballarat District Bowls Division Premier competition on Saturday.
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While Ballarat sat in prime position, it still need a big performance over third placed Sebastopol in order to secure its finals chance.
And the squads skippered by Zac Stewart and Wes Lennecke did the damage for Ballarat securing a 58 to 52 shot win, earning 14 of the maximum 16 points.
Stewart's 19-14 win over the Glenn Sargent, followed by Lennecke's 17-14 success over Murray Gannon provided the spark for the Ballarat team.
Ballarat's win meant that Linton could not make the finals, but as it turned out, Linton which had come with a late run towards the finals, wasn't able to do enough to secure maximum points over Creswick.
Linton did win two of the three rinks, but a big defeat at the hands of Stephen Hepworth's team over the team skippered by Craig Grenfell 23-12 meant Creswick managed to pick up the valuable 10 points for the overall win.
BMS secured top spot on the ladder, but received an almighty scare from the lowly Mount Xavier who was playing for pride.
Despite losing two of the three rinks, a massive win from the Ryan Bedggood skippered team, 29-9, meant the BMS was able to secure 12 of the 16 points on offer.
Paul Forrest's team brought Mount Xavier into the contest when the team defeated the team skippered by Phillip Clamp 29-18, and Daryl Lamb had a thrilling one-shot win over Michael Storey, but it wasn't enough for Mount Xavier to earn the full points.
Victoria bounced back to form, securing 14 of the 16 points with a strong win over Learmonth, 64 shots to 41.
Two big wins from Shaun Clark 24-11 and Noel Verlinden 23-12 were enough for the Victoria to secure second spot on the ladder.
A one shot win by Webbcona consigned opponents Buninyong to the wooden spoon.
All three of the rinks were fairly one sided, Buninyong's Peter Aldred did his best to give the home side the advantage with a 27-15 over Matthew Collins, but Gary Johnson and Anthony Lange stepped up to the plate for Webbcona with solid 21-15 and 23-16 wins, giving their club just enough points to secure the overall win.
The finals wash-up means top side BMS will clash with Ballarat in one semi-final, while Victoria will go up against Sebastopol.
FINAL STANDINGS
BMS +109, shots 167 points
VICTORIA +145, 158
SEBASTOPOL +105, 147
BALLARAT +68, 141
Linton +49, 122
Creswick -29 99
Learmonth -87, 92
Mt Xavier -89, 73
Webbcona -98, 69
Buninyong -173, 52
ROUND 14
VICTORIA 64 (14) d LEARMONTH 41 (2)
Timothy Griffin, Paul Beechey, Craig Findlay, William Rowe 11 lt Brett Harrison, Marc Oswin, Sunni Haynes, Shaun Clark 24
Jake Mullane, Chris Powell, Fred Lennecke, Brendan Pym 12 lt Kane Silbereisen, Darren Britt, Barry Clark, Noel Verlinden 23
Gregory Ross, Gary Moy, Mick Casey, Ross Powell 18 d Shaun O'Loughlin, Paul Tudorovic, Craig Ford, Wayne Lynch 17
BUNINYONG 58 (2) lt WEBBCONA 59 (14)
John Beames, Stephen Falconer, Ian Voigt, Graeme Nicholson 15 lt Wayne Pattie, Alistair Van der Ploeg, Chris Steenhuis, Gary Johnson 21
Ian McGregor, Kenneth Sergeant Graeme Simpson, Peter Aldred 27 d Frank Clarke, Harold Worsley, Nathan Mahoney, Matthew Collins 15
Manfred Weil, Robert Hepburn, Wayne Morgan, Brian Wilcock 16 lt Ross Brown, David Anderton, Geoff Gullock, Anthony Lange 23
BALLARAT 58 (14) d SEBASTOPOL 52 (2)
Matthew Cornish, Greg Stewart, Tony Wood, Aaron Wood 22 lt William Matthews, Tim Beacham, Paul Lovell, Ian Warner 24
Luke Cornish, Grant Bourke, Andrew Dalgleish, Zac Stewart 19 d Fred Reus, Shayne Bottrell, Alan Jones, Glenn Sargent 14
David Eastman, Mark Fothergill, Taylor Stewart, Wes Lennecke 17 d Stephen Topp, Noel Sutherland, John Garvin, Murray Gannon 14
LINTON 52 (4) lt CRESWICK 57 (12)
Nick Pearce, Timothy Wilson, Rodney Hetherington, Peter Wilson 17 d Dusty Taylor-Irwin, Dean Matthews, Alan Annear, Travis Hedger 16
Stewart Williams, Danny Pridham, Craig Williams, Brendan Williams 23 d Trevor Booth, Dean Cooper, Steve Pope, Gerry Flapper 18
Glenn Landers, Ray Wilson, rendan Vandenberg, Craig Grenfell 12 lt Rebecca Cooper, Geoff Antonio, Todd Blackburn, Stephen Hepworth 23
MT XAVIER 54 (4) lt BMS 62 (12)
Warren Trenorden, Neil Dart, Stacey Forrest, Chris McDonald 9 lt Daniel Vagg, Lindsay Trounce, David Berry, Ryan Bedggood 29
Christine Squire, Leanne Jones, Lynden Henderson, Paul Forrest 29 d Adam McLean, Keith Urch, Cameron Bryce, Philip Clamp 18
Joshua Sargent, Malcolm Sargent, Kevin McKeegan, Daryl Lamb 16 d David Schreenan, Robert Dickinson, Beau Traill, Michael Storey 15
SEMI-FINALS
BMS v Ballarat, Victoira v Sebastopol (venues TBA)
