AARON DEGREEF

SOUTH GAWLER has caused one of the upsets of the season as it defeated Barossa District by two points in Barossa, Light & Gawler A-grade football on Saturday.

Both sides shot out of the blocks and were fairly evenly matched.

Initially, it looked like South had gained the upper hand with Dom Costanza opening the scoring.

However, Barossa fired back through Will Roberts, after he earned a free kick.

The quarter transitioned into a lengthy arm-wrestle, with neither side scoring heavily.

Despite this, the Dogs went into quarter-time with a seven-point lead after Todd Miles slotted a close-range shot after the siren.

The second term saw another battle of the midfields as both sides fought to gain possession.

This time, South won the fight with Patrick White slotting a goal after taking a sliding mark.

He then kicked another, as did teammate Jackson Press to boost the Lions’ lead.

Barossa then responded through Daniel Kickel, after he drove one home from 40 metres out, before things heated up after Costanzo was cleaned up by Oscar Barnett in a marking contest.

The Lions held a three-point buffer at the main change, but it was far from a match-winning lead.

In the third term, Barossa showed its strength as Miles slotted a goal within 30 seconds.

In a similar fashion, Leigh Ryswyk marked in the square and bent the footy through from the boundary line.

South could quite easily have faded from the contest, but instead responded quickly.

Jack Osborn added two majors, while Rhys Sutton and Brodie Hudson snapped a goal apiece as the Lions forged ahead.

Bulldog Declan Kennedy then burst through the pack and converted dead in front to ensure his side trailed by only seven points at three-quarter-time.

Barossa got off to the perfect start in the final stanza, as Ryswyk kicked the first major.

Not too long after, another goal from Kickel put Barossa in front.

However, with the game seemingly fading from South’s reach, Nathan Bartsch kicked a goal after bouncing it just the right way to put them back in front by two points, which ultimately sealed the deal.

After the game, Osborn was excited with the win.

“I’m really impressed in how we played…we’re hoping to keep that standard going,” the playing-coach said.

“It was very hard to pick the top players, but Brodie Hudson, Daniel Goulding and Darcy Judd-Smith were really impressive in defence.

“We had a couple of missed opportunities but we’ll focus on our structure and pressure…we’re getting better and stronger every game.”