Justin Flynn
Ocean Grove etched its own piece of history into the Geelong Bowls Region’s history books by becoming the first club to win both Premier and Division 1 premierships in the same season.
The Premier Division side was on the top of the ladder for most of the season while the Division 1 team won from fourth spot after just scraping into the final four.
Ocean Grove defeated Highton in the Premier grand final on Sunday, April 3, 75 to 62 in a tight tussle at Drysdale. The Grovers won three of the four rinks on offer.
Brad Pavey skipped his rink of Wade Bowyer, Ken Thomas and Glenn Baudinette to a five-shot win while Matt Flapper skipped his rink of Craig Rippon, Mark Featherston and Michael Sloper to a seven-shot triumph.
Peter Loe, Andrew Gower, Rod Brehaut and Shane Wilson won by nine shots.
Michael West, Cheyne Verrier, Callum Hanna and Chris Price lost, but limited the damage to just eight shots, giving Ocean Grove a sweet victory.
Ocean Grove defeated Torquay 77 to 68 at Queenscliff in Division 1 and did it the hard way.
The Grovers snuck into the finals by the barest of margins in the final home and away round and came back from a big deficit to win the grand final.
Both sides won a rink each, but Grove’s wins were bigger, leading to premiership glory.
Luke Benson, David Rudge, Ron Brown and David Meeny had a 28 to 11 win and Rick Webb, Geoff Fry, Terence Brady and Garry Bowyer were comprehensive seven-shot winners.
Ocean Grove coach Matt Flapper said the celebrations afterwards were “amazing”.
“From a coach’s perspective, to win both the highest divisions is a thrill,” he said.
“I always felt we (Premier Division) were a contender. We were playing good bowls when it mattered most and the team was united with everyone contributing and playing their role.
“To see Division 1 triumph was unbelievable. Six weeks ago we were battling to stay in the top four let alone win a flag but all of a sudden a bit of belief filters in, players develop some confidence which brings unity and all of a sudden we are contenders.”
Flapper said the Premier Division grand final was a see-sawing contest.
“We started well out of the blocks to lead overall at about the 20-end mark but Highton came back strong to lead by up to 10 shots throughout the majority of the afternoon from that point,” he said.
“It wasn’t until approximately the 60-end mark we had made a comeback to level the scores.
“It remained tight for the next 15 ends before we were able to put together a couple of good ends which then opened up a gap again.
“Brad Pavey skipped his first premiership in the highest grade and at 21 years old I could not be prouder of his growth as a player and as a leader. He has taken his game to the next level and is one of the best in Geelong now. He has a massive future. He led his team to a crucial five-shot win against Highton coach Dan Priddle.”
Pavey finished and then Peter Loe finished strongly, scoring nine shots in the last three ends to win 23-14.
“Those two rinks were both off the green with Mick West, battling all day against an inform Tom Hicks, and myself left with one end to play each and the overall buffer out to 16 shots which was a huge relief that the game had been basically wrapped up and the premiership returning to Ocean Grove.”
Ocean Grove has qualified for the State Pennant Title in Moama on May 21 and 22.
