HAVING lost just one game each over the first 12 rounds of the season, the Loddon Valley league's two top teams - Mitiamo and Pyramid Hill - were both toppled on Saturday.

Marong pulled off the upset of the season in defeating Pyramid Hill on its home ground, while Bears Lagoon-Serpentine overcame a half-time deficit to beat Mitiamo.

The Panthers recorded their first win at Pyramid Hill since 2013, leading at every change to comfortably prevail 11.10 (76) to 6.4 (40) in what was the league's biggest talking point out of the round.

Marong had won just one of its previous six games leading into the clash and was taking on a rested Pyramid Hill side that had the bye last week.

However, the Panthers kicked out to a 25-point lead with the wind in the first quarter and then held the Bulldogs to just one goal with their turn with the breeze during the second term.

"We felt a performance like this had been building for a while and it all came together today," Marong co-coach Taylor Beard said.

"We felt we had nothing to lose; they are obviously a good side, but we believe our gameplan can hold up against the better sides, it's just a matter of being able to sustain it for four quarters, which we did today.

"We played well in the first quarter with a slight breeze to put them under some scoreboard pressure and then to only get outscored by a goal in the second term and not give up too much of our advantage... the boys showed a lot of fight."

For the second game in a row Corbin Fleming at centre half-back was named best for the Panthers.

"Corbin really set us up well out of the back half," Beard said.

Also among the better players for the Panthers was Kyle Manley, who bagged four goals out of the midfield in his second game back from a broken finger.

"I was really impressed with Will Gadsden as well. He played on Bailey George did a really good job," Beard said.

After winning their first nine games the Bulldogs have now lost two in a row.

Prior to their bye last week the Bulldogs were also beaten by Mitiamo.

"We spoke after the game that it's all well and good to start the season the way we did, but it doesn't mean much going into the back half of the year if you're not playing the brand of footy you want to be," Pyramid Hill coach Adrian McErvale said.

"The players understand that and we've got to get back to executing on game day.

"Today is a really good reality check for the players. I think a few have just been coasting along thinking the job will get done, but today is an eye-opener that there are teams out there who can knock us off if we're off five to 10 per cent."

The Bulldogs lost key onballer Scott Mann (concussion), while Sam Mewett copped a corkie.

The dashing Matt Klein-Bretler off half-back was the Bulldogs' best, while Braidy Dickens worked hard up forward to kick four of Pyramid Hill's six goals from limited opportunities.

Bears Lagoon-Serpentine came from three goals down at half-time to end Mitiamo's winning streak at nine.

In doing so the Bears extended their own winning streak to six and took a crucial step towards the double chance with their 9.8 (62) to 7.11 (53) victory at home.

"What today does is give the boys a bit of belief that we can mix it with those top couple of sides. They had some players out, we had some players out, but we could have easily rolled over after half-time and let it go and the boys didn't do that," Bears coach Greg Gadsden said.

The Bears trailed 41-23 at half-time, but added six goals to one after the break to clinch their eighth win of the season.

"We had to make a couple of minor adjustments around the contest in the second half," Gadsden said.

"We tightened up around the stoppages, made a couple of positional changes and were able to keep hanging in and get over the top of them in the end."

The Bears suffered two injury blows out of the game to Tom Ferguson (hamstring) and Jacob Murley (Achilles).

Midfielders Matthew Gibbs (two goals), Charlie Gadsden, who tagged Mitiamo's Terry Reeves, and veteran Nathan McNally were all among the best for the Bears, who had James Rippingale kick three goals.

The Superoos' much-vaunted forward line was depleted, with the key trio of co-coach Tyrone Downie, Justin Maddern and Ryan Wellington all missing.

"To Serp's credit they kept hanging in and were good enough to beat us," Mitiamo co-coach Andy Grant said.

"Our foot skills today were really average... we turned the footy over far too much and that cost us."

Veteran on-baller Lucas Matthews won a lot of ball to be Mitiamo's best player. Tom Grant and Luke Scott, who was also in the best, slotted two goals each.

Calivil United produced the competition's highest-scoring quarter since 2016 with a 13-goal final-term onslaught against Bridgewater.

The Demons were 29 points in front at three quarter-time, but by the final siren their lead had ballooned to 86 points - 27.14 (176) to 14.6 (90) - at home.

The Demons piled on 13.3 in a 37-minute final term - their tally of 81 the league's highest scoring quarter since, ironically, Bridgewater scored 82 in the last quarter against Pyramid Hill in round 10 of 2016.

"It was the best team performance we've had for the year... across the board it was really hard to try and squeeze six players into the best," Demons coach Andrew Freemantle said.

Calivil United's score of 176 was the season's highest in what was just the Demons' fourth win of the year against a Bridgewater side that had started the round inside the top five.

The Demons' 81-point final quarter came on the back of Calivil United going into the match averaging a total of 70 points per game.

The Demons had 10 players kick goals, led by gun forward Michael Cooke (eight), while William Jeffs, Jonas Somerville, Chris Sanders and Brenton Fitzgerald kicked three each.

Cooke and rotating ruckmen Nick Higginson and Jeffs were the Demons' best three players.

The trio of Darren Clutton (four), Alex Powell (four) and Kyle Chant (three) combined to kick 11 of Bridgewater's 14 goals.

The Mean Machine's most consistent player this season, midfielder Liam Jacques, was again Bridgewater's best player.

The Mean Machine's cause wasn't helped by a calf injury to ruckman Cameron Ross in the opening minutes.

Newbridge has clawed its way back into the top five after disposing of Inglewood by 97 points.

The Maroons stifled Inglewood, keeping the Blues to just three goals in their 17.17 (119) to 3.4 (22) victory.

It was a solid response from the Maroons after they were kept goal-less by Mitiamo the previous week.

"We spoke before the game that our past month hadn't been too bad, apart from the Mitiamo game, so we focused on that and the boys responded well," Newbridge coach Brad Comer said.

"Sometimes things go wrong in footy and it's about what you do next and the boys didn't put a foot wrong today."

The Maroons were off-target in the first half, kicking 7.14. However, they made far greater use of their opportunities in the second half, adding 10.3 after the break.

Ruck-rover Tyler Romeril (two goals) and the pacy Billy Price were Newbridge's best, while a highlight for the Maroons was Lachlan Costelow kicking two goals in his senior debut.

Newbridge's Chris Dixon with three was the leading goalkicker on the ground.

The Blues - who didn't score in the final quarter - were best served by Joe Hartney and Jaxon Billett.

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