IN a preview of this weekend’s Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association preliminary final, South Gawler travelled to Angaston and pulled away late to secure a 12.15 (87) to 9.10 (64) win to wrap up the home-and-away season.
The first half was a high level arm-wrestle, with the Lions leading by a point at quarter time, before a strong second term for the Panthers and some wayward finishing from the visitors handed the hosts a 6.6 (42) to 5.8 (38) lead at the main break.
Things started to turn early in the third term as South Gawler began to dominate the field-position battle as the ball was living in the Angaston defensive-50.
Jackson Press laced out youngster Jordan Tippins in the pocket, and from a tough angle he opted for the drop punt and couldn’t have struck it sweeter.
Big Panther Ryder Eberhard kept his side in it with a set-shot directly from a centre clearance, but if Angaston wasn’t marking the initial inside-50, the ball was shooting back the other way with pace and run almost every time.
Lion captain Jackson Dare’s third quarter was arguably one of the best individual 20-minutes of the season, with a mix of crucial intercept marks, must-win one-on-ones on the defensive side of the wing and a spectacular running goal from just inside-50 that skipped home with a friendly bounce.
Every time South Gawler looked like pulling away, Eberhard would find a way to get himself a set shot, with his four goals the only thing standing in the way of a very impressive Lions outfit.
With a five-point lead to begin the fourth quarter, South Gawler won the first centre clearance which landed right on the chest of forward Chris James who made no mistake.
Lion Jackson Press then added another from 45-out on a tough angle that again received a fortunate bounce in the goal square, and once the lead stretched out to a few goals, Angaston never mustered anything resembling a comeback.
Dare spoke after the game and said despite nothing being on the line – as both teams were locked into the preliminary final beforehand – his troops were looking to generate some momentum going into the big game.
“We spoke about how we would approach it and decided we would treat it as a normal game,” he said.
“Everyone was in good shape, so we wanted to get a good hit out and try and take some momentum into next week.
“After the game we kept a lid on any celebration with our focus now on the preliminary final.
“We will take confidence out of the win, but we’re well aware Angaston have some key personnel to come back – it’ll be a cracking contest, all the boys are excited to be playing finals football.”

The winner of this Saturday’s rematch will play Gawler Central in the grand final.