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WHITE Hills further stamped itself as the real deal in the Heathcote District league on Saturday as the Demons became the first visiting team to beat North Bendigo at Atkins Street for six years.
Going into Saturday's clash the Bulldogs had won 37-consecutive games at Atkins Street by an average of 95 points dating back to midway through the 2015 season.
However, the ladder-leading Demons broke down the Bulldogs' fortress with a 57-point victory, passing their first major test of the season with flying colours as they improved to 3-0.
The game was still alive at three quarter-time with White Hills ahead by 19 points, but the Demons put the foot down in the final term, kicking 6.5 to 0.3 to win 17.19 (121) to 9.10 (64).
As well as breaking North Bendigo's imposing unbeaten record at home, it was also the Demons' first victory over the Bulldogs since 2014, ending a run of 12-consecutive heavy losses against their neighbours.
"We knew going into the game that it had been 2015 since North was last beaten at home, but we were confident that the way we'd been playing would be good enough to get the job done today," Demons coach Sam Kerridge said.
"At times we didn't play the way we wanted to, but we came away with a good win, which is outstanding."
Mitch Dole (four), Matt Sawyer (three), Marc Millard (three) and Jed Lamb (three) combined to kick 13 of White Hills' 17 goals.
The Demons were off-target early, kicking 2.7 in the first term, before adding 15.12 over the last three quarters.
Kerridge, who kicked two goals, led his side superbly with a prominent game, while Jack Fallon was busy off half-back and Sawyer stepped up to fill a void in the ruck after the Demons lost Lachlan Sidebottom (concussion).
The Bulldogs had Ryan Alford (infected hand) - among seven of North Bendigo's best 18 sidelined - as a late withdrawal, and in doing so his stretch of 174-consecutive games came to an end.
"I felt we could still win the game at three quarter-time, so we're pretty disappointed with how the final score ended up," Bulldogs coach Matt Dillon said.
"They got away from us fairly late... we were a bit wounded going in and ended up asking a lot of guys who haven't played much senior footy to do some big jobs, which is one of the positives we'll take out of the day."
Brodie Thomson in the ruck, Harry O'Meara (three goals) and forward Dylan Klemm headed the best players for the Bulldogs, who now have the chance to regroup with the bye next week.
Before Saturday Leitchville-Gunbower in round nine of 2015 had been the last team to beat the Bulldogs at Atkins Street 2143 days earlier.
MOUNT PLEASANT v LBU
For the second week in a row Lockington-Bamawm United has brushed aside one of its fellow flag aspirants.
Last week it was Colbinabbin by 95 points; on Saturday it was Mount Pleasant by 47 points at Toolleen.
Last time they met the Cats were blown away early by the Blues in the 2019 first semi-final en route to a straight-sets exit, but this time it was the visitors who made the early running.
The Cats raced to a 50-point lead at half-time before finishing 15.16 (106) to 9.5 (59) victors.
"There's a lot of room for improvement in both teams, but I think we were able to beat them to the footy in the first half," LBU coach Brodie Collins said.
"It was a positive to hit the scoreboard early the way we did and put some pressure on."
The Cats suffered an early injury blow to key player Ben McPhee (hamstring), while James McPhee missed out on kicking a bag, finishing with 1.5.
"Tommy Holman was very good for us again; Bart Phillips did a really good job on Ben Weightman, but the pressure further up the ground was outstanding; Tyler Phillips was big in the ruck again and Nathan Bacon was solid," Collins said.
After kicking just three goals for the first three quarters, the Blues finished with six in the final term.
"The main areas where they were better than us in that first half was they won the 50-50 contests, led us to the ball and we were flat footed," Mount Pleasant co-coach Darren Walsh said.
"I thought our second half was much better and what you'd expect of a team that should have done better in the first half."
Midfielder Jack Hamilton's game ended early for the Blues following a knock to the knee.
On-ballers Billy Mahony and Liam Collins were the two best for the Blues.
HEATHCOTE v LEITCHVILLE-GUNBOWER
Heathcote beat Leitchville-Gunbower for the first time since 2012 and did so in convincing fashion by 89 points at home.
The Saints got the jump on the Bombers and never let-up, winning 21.15 (141) to 8.4 (52) and, while it's still only early in the season, are sitting in the top five for the first time since round two of 2014.
"We played a good brand of footy, which we'd been doing for bits and pieces in the first two rounds," Saints coach Wayne Primmer said.
"I've said all along that it will probably take us three to five weeks before we start to gel and we're getting better.
"It was a good performance today, particularly our goalkicking."
The Saints' score of 141 was their highest since 2012 and featured a spread of 12 goalkickers, led by Kai Cavallaro's bag of five.
The rebuilding Bombers kicked four of their eight goals in the last quarter as the former league powerhouse made a 0-3 start to a season for the first time since 2012.
Bryce Bethune and Oskar Smartt kicked two goals each for the Bombers, whose best was Will Brereton.
COLBINABBIN v HUNTLY
Colbinabbin bounced back from its biggest loss in a decade, keeping Huntly to just five goals in a 65-point win at home.
The Grasshoppers won 15.12 (102) to 5.7 (37).
"Our team defence was a lot better today. That's what we base ourselves on and right from the start today you could see that we were on and made it really hard on Huntly moving the ball," Colbinabbin coach Julian Bull said.
The standouts for the Grasshoppers included Todd Clarke, who kicked four goals from the midfield, Ben Southam, who racked up 38 touches, and recruit Ben Barton, who took 10 marks across half-back, while forward Ryan Hon in his return to the field kicked three goals.
The Hawks were best served by experienced defender Tyler Miles and Luke Jones.
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