KYNETON weathered a third-quarter challenge from Sandhurst to win Saturday’s massive Showgrounds feature match by 21 points.
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Spearhead Mitch Scholard nailed three of his five goals in a huge last quarter effort as the Tigers outlasted a hard-working Hurst.
The Dragons chipped away at Kyneton’s 28-point half-time lead right through the third term as half-forward Lachlan Zimmer slammed home three goals.
Zimmer’s third narrowed the Kyneton lead to just eight points before the Tigers steadied in the last quarter to win 13.10 (88) to 10.7 (67).
The Tigers started brightly, booting three goals to one in the opening term.
With the Tigers ahead by three goals, Mitch Dole finally sank the Hurst’s opening major at the 22-minute mark.
In the second quarter Kyneton opened up the biggest break of the game adding four goals to two as key defender Harrison Huntley shut down Zac East in the Sandhurst attack.
Tiger on-baller Max O’Sullivan finished off a move involving Rhyce Magin and Fintan Brazil while Weightman and Scholard managed to break their tags to score further Kyneton majors.
Brodie Montague steered through a vital Sandhurst goal, judging the wind perfectly to nail a major from the grandstand flank.
It was going to need a huge second half effort for the Dragons to close the gap in a low-scoring clash.
Enter Lachlan Zimmer. He ran onto a spilled mark for his first major, took one bounce and steered through his second at the scoreboard end and then marked over the back of a small pack to nail his third from a set shot.
That reduced the margin to eight points: 8.9 to 7.7. The Dragons were starting to breathe fire.
Seconds from the siren and sensing the threat Nicholas Brazil accepted a teammate’s hand-off and sank a long Kyneton bomb at the town end.
Brazil’s major handed the Tigers a 14-point last change lead.
Montague and youngster Jack Bouwmeester nailed Sandhurst majors in the opening nine minutes, but Scholard wasn’t going to let the last quarter slip away before making his mark.
He drilled two set shot majors in between Montague’s and Bouwmeester’s goals. And then after Sandhurst’s best-on-the-day Lachie Ross, a livewire at both ends of the Showgrounds, had taken a Blair Homes pass and kicked a Dragon reply Scholard made his mark, again.
He soared high over two Hurst defenders to haul in a great grab. Scholard’s fifth major wrapped up the four premiership points for the Tigers and a one-game ladder break over the Dragons.
