Fighting to the finish

Beechworth’s senior footy season will end with the final siren this weekend after officially having their small finals hopes snuffed out with a loss at Chiltern last week. The Swans made all the running at the start and bolted out to a 38-point lead into time on in the second quarter. But as has been a common theme for the Bushrangers this year, they refused to lie down despite the odds against them, kicking two goals late in the second to turn momentum. The magnets were thrown around and Beechworth burst out of the gates in the third quarter and piled on five of the next seven goals to bring themselves within eight points. But Connor Stone’s rousing goal would be the last one Beechworth would kick, as Chiltern steadied to boot the game’s last five majors and run away winners 14.9 (93) to 8.7 (55). Stone was Beechworth’s best and was well supported by wily veterans Austen Fendyk and Brenton Surrey and the emerging youth in Hugh Kavanagh and Taylor Thomson. In the process of knocking Beechworth out of finals, Chiltern are in the box seat to hang onto fifth position and make it to Sandy Creek, needing to beat 10th-placed Wodonga Saints to make it. Rutherglen will be praying on a slip up as they sit two points behind and face Thurgoona to finish the regular season. On the court, Beechworth’s A grade came out firing against an extremely strong opposition matching Swans goal for goal in the opening few minutes. But the first-placed Swans would flex their muscles in the second quarter, stifling the Beechworth attack with their firepower under the ring too much to contain. The Bushrangers kept their heads up and fought to the final whistle putting in a much improved second half defensively to limit the damage, going down 80-32. Kera Burgess was relentless in defence and fought hard with the ball down her end of the court. Rachael Cavallin was again a standout in attack finishing with an accurate 15 goals and Edi Surrey covered plenty of ground through the midcourt. The Bushrangers will close out their season in Barnawartha against the Tigers. It will be hot early on the field with the matchup in the under 14s serving as an early elimination final, with the winner making it to Sandy Creek and the loser likely to have their season ended. The under 15s netball have already booked their place in finals while all other Beechworth grades have been ruled out.

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