Shepparton East and Nagambie have earned themselves a week off to prepare for a spot in the Kyabram District League A-grade grand final following stellar wins at the weekend.
The Eagles held on for a stirring five-goal triumph over a gallant Dookie United on Saturday, while Nagambie edged out arch nemesis Tallygaroopna by seven goals on Sunday.
The Lakers downed Tallygaroopna 34-27 to progress through to the preliminary final in a fortnight.
In the first qualifying final at Rushworth, Shepparton East withstood a fiery and determined United to hold on for a 41-37 win.
Eagles playing coach Erynn Hueston was ecstatic her outfit was able to tough it out in the tense affair.
“It’s very exciting and very overwhelming at the same time,” Hueston said.
“We’ll enjoy the win for a week and go straight back to work the week following for the prelim.
“We knew that Dookie is a side that you’re really going to have to work hard to overcome, it took us until the last quarter to cement the game.
“It really could have gone either way, I think defensive pressure from both sides was immense, but we stood up when needed to grind that game out.”
“It was goal-for-goal for a long time and it was hard to break the game open, it was probably just that last seven or so minutes where we were able to capitalise on turnovers.”
Defender Leticia Keady was a standout for the Eagles, while teammate Sarah Maskell chipped in with great support.
“Obviously Leticia Keady and Sarah Maskell were huge, our defence end works hard every week and they did exactly what we needed,” Hueston said.
“So did our goalers, they were rewarded at the end with those last few goals.”
Hueston said her charges wouldn’t take the foot off the pedal as they enjoy a week off.
“We’ll probably keep it pretty simple, but we’ll hit the track as we have done,” she said.
“We’ll keep working hard because we know there’s another big game to go.
“This is where it counts — these games are the ones we want to win and need to win to reward ourselves.
“There’s a lot of quality teams still in it, so we have to be absolutely at our best.”