BBD PENNANT GRAND FINAL - Back-to-back flags for Diggers after eight-shot win over Flat

SOUTH Bendigo is celebrating back-to-back Bendigo Bowls Division weekend pennant premierships after beating Kangaroo Flat by eight shots in Saturday's grand final.

The Diggers defeated the Flat 74-66, and having also beat Bendigo East in last year's grand final have now won consecutive division one flags for the first time since 1987 and 1988.

"I'm really proud of the team. It was a great effort today and we managed to execute what we had been working on," South Bendigo coach Brad Holland said.

"There was only three to five shots in it for much of the day, so it was a fairly tight game throughout."

The Diggers won three of the four rinks, with the most decisive victory being Holland's 27-12 romp over Cameron Keenan.

Keenan opened an early 5-2 lead after five ends, before Holland's rink then piled the pressure on.

Holland won eight-straight ends - including picking up a six on the ninth - to grab a commanding 20-5 advantage after 13 before the two teams split the last eight ends four apiece.

A pivotal win for South Bendigo was that of Luke Hoskin's rink beating the Flat's David Keenan.

Keenan's was the competition's No.1 ranked rink of the home and away season, but Hoskin prevailed 16-15.

Hoskin's rink made the early running and led by as many as seven shots before Keenan finished strongly to trim the final margin to one shot in the closest match-up of the day.

There was also a tight battle fought out between the rinks of South's Max Rowley and the Flat's Barry Anset.

Anset spent the bulk of the game in front, at one stage leading 13-7 after 10 ends, but the Diggers had the better of the second half.

Rowley outscored Anset 12-4 over their last 11 ends to finish 19-17 victors.

The only winning rink for Kangaroo Flat was that of co-coach Cameron Wilson, which comfortably beat Ethan Higgins 22-12.

Wilson led 4-0 after three ends and wasn't headed for the rest of the game, with the lead twice getting out to 13 shots (17-4 after 14 ends and 19-6 after 16).

Overall, South Bendigo won 44 ends and Kangaroo Flat 40, with the victory South Bendigo's 21^st division one premiership - third on the BBD's list behind Bendigo (33) and Eaglehawk (26).

Saturday's win was the first time in four meetings this season the Diggers had beaten Kangaroo Flat and was particularly special for Mal Darroch to play in it with grandsons Hoskin and Lachie Darroch.

The Diggers' premiership team also included the father-son combination of Daryl and Max Rowley, plus brothers Don and Greg Sherman.

The celebrations for the Diggers had to be somewhat subdued on Saturday night.

With the re-scheduling of the grand final from last Sunday's washout, the Diggers had to back up again on Sunday to play Moama in the region final.

For Kangaroo Flat, which spent 13 of the 14 rounds sitting on top of the ladder, it is still yet to win a division one weekend premiership since its last flag in 2005.

3 ends:

Wilson 4; Higgins 0.

6 ends:

Wilson 5; Higgins 3.

9 ends:

Wilson 10; Higgins 3.

12 ends:

Wilson 14; Higgins 4.

15 ends:

Wilson 17; Higgins 6.

18 ends:

Wilson 19; Higgins 10.

21 ends:

Wilson 22; Higgins 12.

ENDS WON:

Wilson 14; Higgins 7.

3 ends:

Rowley 3; Anset 2.

6 ends:

Anset 7; Rowley 5.

9 ends:

Anset 11; Rowley 7.

12 ends:

Anset 13; Rowley 10.

15 ends:

Anset 14; Rowley 12.

18 ends:

Anset 15; Rowley 15.

21 ends:

Rowley 19; Anset 17.

ENDS WON:

Rowley 13; Anset 8.

3 ends:

Keenan 3; Holland 1.

6 ends:

Keenan 5; Holland 5.

9 ends:

Holland 14; Keenan 5.

12 ends:

Holland 18; Keenan 5.

15 ends:

Holland 20; Keenan 10.

18 ends:

Holland 24; Keenan 11.

21 ends:

Holland 27; Keenan 12.

ENDS WON:

Holland 14; Keenan 7.

3 ends:

Keenan 2; Hoskin 2.

6 ends:

Hoskin 9; Keenan 2.

9 ends:

Hoskin 11; Keenan 5.

12 ends:

Hoskin 13; Keenan 6.

15 ends:

Hoskin 14; Keenan 10.

18 ends:

Hoskin 15; Keenan 12.

21 ends:

Hoskin 16; Keenan 15.

ENDS WON:

Keenan 11; Hoskin 10.

South Bendigo 74 def Kangaroo Flat 66.

Brad Holland 27 def Cameron Keenan 12.

Ethan Higgins 12 lt Cameron Wilson 22.

Luke Hoskin 16 def David Keenan 15.

Max Rowley 19 def Barry Anset 17.

Played at Bendigo East.

SOUTH BENDIGO

Don Sherman Jnr, Lachlan Darroch, Daryl Rowley, Brad Holland (s).

Wayne Marwood, Mal Darroch, Greg Sherman, Luke Hoskin (s).

Justin Rorke, David White, Ben Gould, Ethan Higgins (s).

Gary Ryan, Trevor Zimmer, Dale Oddy, Max Rowley (s).

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