Highton dethrones Grovers

Highton replaced Ocean Grove 1 at the top of the Geelong Bowls Region Pennant Division ladder after a superb win on Saturday.

Two of the three rinks were closely fought, but it was Jeremy Fitzgerald’s rink that blew the match wide open.

Fitzgerald, Doug McGregor, Craig Polwarth and Stewart Shuttleworth defeated the in-form Brad Pavey 28 to 14.

Ocean Grove 1 won one rink by the barest of margins and Highton won the other by three shots.

The final result, a convincing 63 to 47 win and a 10-point lead on top of the ladder.

Bareena moved into fifth spot after a thriller against Lara.

Bareena won 56 to 53 despite losing two of the three rinks.

It was only a 23 to 12 win by Shane Jones that separated the two teams.

Lara remained on one win for the season, but with more performances like that, it’s only a matter of time until it claims a big scalp.

Bell Post Hill won its second game of the season with a nailbiter against Ocean Grove 2.

A tie on rink two, a one-shot win by Grove on rink one and a three-shot win by Darryl Washington meant Bell Post Hill took 13 points away from the contest.

Queenscliff is third on the ladder after defeating fellow Bellarine Peninsula side Drysdale.

The loss meant Drysdale fell outside the top five.

Queenscliff won all three rinks and ran out 66 to 53 winners with Barry Gladman the biggest winner of the afternoon.

Eastern Park consigned City of Geelong to the bottom of the table with a 22-shot win.

Glann Slattery’s rink of Sean Logan, Brian Inglis and Scott McDonald enjoyed the biggest victory of the day, 26 to 13, for the fourth-placed Parkers.

The penultimate round before the Christmas break sees Eastern Park travel to Drysdale, Bell Post Hill hosting Bareena, Highton making the trip down Barwon Heads Road to tackle Ocean Grove 2, Lara making the trek to Queenscliff and Ocean Grove 1 inviting City of Geelong to its rinks.