Beechworth’s A grade side finished their season in style coming home with an upset 49-42 win at Barnawartha.

Wins have been hard to come by for the developing top grade team but after an impressive mid-season scalp against Tallangatta, the Tigers had fallen out of finals contention losing three of their previous four games and appeared vulnerable for the taking.

The Bushrangers pounced on the opportunity and made a blistering start, putting together one of their finest quarters of the season to take an early 15-6 lead.

Tegan Chambeyron went down with a nasty knee injury in the second quarter ending the star defender’s season early.

From there things started going pear-shaped for the visitors as ‘Barny took all the momentum to close within one goal at halftime.

Needing to regroup, the Bushies used the main break to their advantage and composed themselves with the ball, limiting the turnovers while dialing up the pressure without the ball.

Beechworth found themselves four goals ahead going into the last 15 minutes and with the game on the line the Bushrangers would not be deterred on the way to their third win of the year.

Leading from the front was goal keeper Kera Burgess who applied the pressure all day and was tenacious on the rebounds.

Her partner in crime after Chambeyron went down Lainey Alexander again proved her versatility in the team while Ruby McCormick worked hard at both ends of the floor.

Emmerson Collins did the damage on the scoreboard for Beechworth shooting an efficient 34 goals.

Across the fence ‘Barny showed they will be a finals force as they solidified their minor premiership with a massive 133-point triumph over Beechworth in the senior footy.

The Bushrangers toiled hard early but a comprehensive seven-goal and 10-goal second and third quarters respectively saw ‘Barny run rampant to win 24.13 (157) to 3.6 (24).

Michael O’Callaghan had plenty of the ball at his end of the ground at full back and fought hard to limit the flurry of Tiger opportunities.

Dayne Carey, Charlie Webb, Kayde Surrey, Liam Stephens and Hayden Cooper were also among the best for the visitors.

Beechworth finished the year in seventh with seven wins, battling through numerous injuries to key players throughout the year and missing finals for the first time since COVID.

In other grades Beechworth’s under 14s had a season defining clash against the Tigers needing to win to play in finals.

They unfortunately fell short going down 6.12 (48) to 2.2 (14) to have their season end prematurely despite a brave effort throughout the year.

The 15 & under netball will be the lone Bushrangers side at Sandy Creek this season and will play off against the Tigers on Sunday.

Beechworth had a narrow 41-36 win over ‘Barny last weekend and the rematch promises to be a close one.

Next week, Beechworth’s Kayde Surrey in the senior footy and Lily Neil in the under 15s have been invited to the Tallangatta league presentation evening, which will take place on 24 August.