By Tara Murray
Bacchus Marsh had to dig deep to come away with the Bowls Victoria weekend pennant, division 2, section 1 premiership on Saturday.
Bacchus Marsh trailed for much of the match up against Keilor at Deer Park and was headed towards disappointment.
But Bacchus Marsh found something late and was able to come over the top of Keilor to win, 77 (6)-71 (2).
Bacchus Marsh’s Tanner Dickson-Arthur said it was a pretty special feeling.
“It’s pretty good to be honest,” he said not long after they claimed the title. “We were losing the whole day. Keilor jumped out of the blocks and had a massive lead.
“All our rinks trailed all early on.
“We bobbed up in front in the final four to five ends and that was the difference.”
Dickson-Arthur said the group realised during the match that this was it for the season and they couldn’t leave anything out there.
He said that was when they started to turn things around.
“We had to have a crack now,” he said. “It was no use saving them for next week if we didn’t have a game.”
Phil Minniti’s rink won 22-15, Glenn Sargent’s rink won 19-17 and Matthew Young’s rink won 21-19.
Simon Cornock’s rink lost 20-15.
Dickson-Arthur said the performance of Young against Keilor coach Mark Jacobsen was pivotal in getting the win.
“Mark Jacobsen is one of the greatest players of all time,” he said. “He is a decorated player.
“He was beating Matt for most of the day. Ten ends to go they were in front. We were able to come back.”
Dickson-Arthur who came back to the club this season said they had set out a couple of goals at the start of the season which they had been able to achieve.
He said they always had a lot of belief in the squad.
They will return to division 1 next season. Last time Bacchus Marsh played in division 1, it came straight back down.
“Last time we had the talent,” he said. “We lost a couple of players and myself moved away.
“We have the talent to stay up in division and we were competitive last time. Some of those sides we were competitive against last time are now up in premier division.”
Dickson-Arthur said coming back and winning another premiership at his home club was pretty special.
Bacchus Marsh’s second side suffered a defeat in its grand final on Saturday to Hoppers, losing 87 (16)-67 (2).
Dickson-Arthur said they had been outplayed on the day, but had already secured the goal of being promoted up into division 3.
“Both our first and second sides have been promoted, it’s massive for the club,” he said. “That is what we set out to do.
“When we joined the competition we had teams in division 2, 6, 7 and 8. Now we have teams in division 1 and 3, which is pretty good.
“Hopefully we can attract some more players.”
Bacchus Marsh was back in action on Sunday in the sectional finals.
Dickson-Arthur said before the match that anything now was a bonus.
