THE Cohuna Bowls Club are the Northern District playing Area Division 1 premiers after recording a come from behind three-shot victory over Barham in Saturday’s grand final at the Kerang Bowling Club.
After finishing on top of the ladder and securing a direct passage through to the decider courtesy of a dominant 40-shot win over Wakool in the second semi-final, Cohuna were slow out of the blocks in the final game of the season.
After trailing by eight shots after the first three ends, Cohuna began to work their way back into the contest, with the premiership favourites eventually putting their noses in front at the half time break.
From there, it was an arm wrestle until the end, with Barham throwing everything at the minor premiers in their quest to cause an upset.
It would be to no avail however, with Cohuna holding on over the final ends to be crowned 2024-25 Division 1 premiers, 52 shots to 49.
It was a heartbreaking end to the season for Barham, with Robert Maud’s combination defeating Cohuna’s Jeffrey Reade 16 shots to 15.
Maud’s rink proved to be the only successful one for Barham however, with Cohuna’s Mike Hofman and Frederick Parr defeating Barham’s Charles Bagg and David Potter by two shots each to secure this years premiership in one of the closest grand finals in recent memory.
The Division 2 grand final mirrored the Division 1 decider, with Kerang Golf overcoming a slow start to eventually topple Cohuna Golf by six shots.
After trailing for much of the first half, Kerang Golf found form after the break, with the minor premiers extending their leads on two of the three rinks.
Despite a strong performance from Malcolm Appleby’s team, who dominated Kerang Golf’s Greg Beck with a 13-shot win, they were unable to bridge the margin created by Graeme Hayes (12-shot win) and Laurie Gray (seven-shot win) on the remaining two rinks.
The Division 3 grand final also went according to the script, with the unbeaten Wakool defeating Kerang Golf by 36 shots in a one-sided decider.
Kerang Golf’s Noel Robertson and his team did all they could to give their side a chance, recording a one-shot win over Wakool’s Stephen Chalmers.
But it would be to no avail as Wakool dominated proceedings on the remaining rinks, with Kerri Lolicato’s team defeating Kerang Golf’s David Randell by 24 shots, with Wakool’s Christopher Mills beating Howard McClelland by 13 shots, to run away with a 73-37 win.
