The Western Crusaders remain the champions of the Gridiron Victoria division 1 competition, winning an eighth straight Vic Bowl.
After just one loss this season, their first in a number of years, the Crusaders were able to turn the tables on the only team to beat them, the Geelong Buccaneers, in the decider on Saturday.
After a delayed start, the Crusaders were able to come away with a 21-6 win and their eighth title in a row.
Crusaders’ Tyson Garnham said it was really special to win another one.
“Eight in a row is amazing,” he said. “It was an interesting day to say the least with the game delayed by one and half hours.
“We kept everyone focused and were able to come through in the end.”
With lightning in the Melton area, the action at Macpherson Reserve was halted across a number of matches.
It meant the division 1 game which was meant to start at 3.30pm, started about 5pm.
Garnham said they just tried to stay relaxed during the period of waiting.
“Once we knew it would be a long wait we tried to be distracted as we didn’t want to burn a lot of energy,” he said.
“The other team stayed locked in for the whole hour and a half.”
There had been some talk of the game being called off if the lightning didn’t disappear.
Garnham said under the rules they would have claimed the championship, but said it would have been a hollow victory.
“We wanted to play,” he said. “We would have played them whenever.
“We would have played them today [Sunday] if we had to. The Buccaneers beat us last time and we weren’t at strength.
“It would have been disappointing, it was good to get out there.”
Once out there, the Crusaders were focused on the task at hand.
Garnham said the defensive group had done a lot of work studying footage of the Buccaneers after the last match between them.
“A lot of their looks and plays, we knew what they were going to do,” he said.
“We were able to lock down a lot of their key players they had last time.”
With a healthy offence, the Crusaders were able to take advantage of holes in the defence and score.
“We had a lot of penalties which made it difficult,” Garnham said.
“When we got the third score that sealed the game in my mind.
“They still fought it out to the end, but we knew they had run out of time. We had to do everything in our control to make sure we beat them.”
Garnham was named the player of the match. He scored two touchdowns in the win.
He said it was a nice honour to cap off the day.
“I couldn’t have done it without the team and without our quarterback Astin Hewett who threw me a lot of the ball.”
It was a big day for the Crusaders.
In the under-15s, the Crusaders beat Croydon Rangers 22-6, while their under-18s lost of the Rangers, 26-22.
Garnham said it was really big for the club to have three sides in the grand final.
