Southern league: Chelsea Heights wins Division 2 flag
Chelsea Heights produced an incredible 95-point turnaround to claim the Division 2 Southern league premiership, scraping home by two points in the decider.
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Chelsea Heights has pulled off a stirring last quarter fight back to claim the Southern league’s Division 2 premiership.
The Demons came from 13 points down at the last change to snatch a two-point win over Doveton in a pulsating grand final at Mordialloc.
They kicked the only three goals of the last term as players from both sides threw themselves into every contest in a desperate bid for victory.
Chelsea Heights playmaker Ryan Odell was best-afield, while Luke Tapscott kicked a vital goal late in the third quarter that kept the Demons’ hopes alive.
The 8.7 (55) to 7.11 (53) result represented a stunning 95-point turnaround from the second semi-final a fortnight ago.
“It’s a bit of a blur,” Chelsea Heights coach Josh Bull said of the frantic last quarter.
“They just kept fighting their way back. The last eight or 10 minutes I don’t think the score changed.
“It was end to end and free kicks given both ways, and just guys throwing themselves at it, it was unbelievable. The sides went for it.”
The victory gave retiring Chelsea Heights player Gary Carpenter a first-ever premiership in his last game.
Bull was overcome with emotion after finally winning a premiership after being part of five losing grand finals as either a player or coach.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve just been in tears for the last 10 minutes,” Bull said an hour after the match.
“It’s very overwhelming.”
In a classic, hard fought flag decider, Doveton led by four points at quarter time but Chelsea Heights got in front by three points at halftime.
Doveton seized the momentum in the third quarter, surging almost four goals ahead before Chelsea Heights kicked its only goal of the term to stay alive.
“I think a lot of people would have thought they were going to run over us and then we got one late in the third quarter against the flow right on the siren and that put us back into it,” Bull said.
“If we didn’t get that it might have been a different story.”
Bull said many had written off his Demons after they lost to Doveton by 93 points in the second semi-final.
“But we had the belief we could turn it around and we bounced back last week.,” he said
“We identified if we if we were close enough for as long as we could be in the game we could get them late and that’s what happened.
“The last quarter was like a fairytale.”
Captain Rob Macpherson was outstanding, especially in the last quarter when the game was up for grabs.
Aaron Rhodes and Reece Twyford were influential and defender Jacob Flannery did well on Doveton player-coach Michael Cardamone.
Bull praised forward Brad Gilder for his “selfless role’’ of playing higher forward to nullify the influence of Doveton defender Jake Ingaliso.
Doveton’s best included Matt Stapleton, Jake Basa, Ricky Johnson and Josiah Kyle.
The premiership capped a rollercoaster season for Chelsea Heights, which won 10 games in a row to secure the minor premiership only to lose the last round of the home-and-away season and the second semi-final a week later.
But the Demons got their act together when it counted the most.
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