Langhorne Creek have won back-to-back premierships after defeating Willunga by 32 points at McLaren Vale yesterday. It was the 11th consecutive victory for the Hawks who appeared in danger of missing the finals when they had a 5-5 record after 10 rounds.

Fine weather greeted the sides with a breeze, probably worth a couple of goals, going to the Northern end. It was a tight opening term with Langhorne Creek kicking with the breeze but they could only manage an inaccurate 2.6 to Willunga’s 1.3 to take a nine point lead into quarter time. Willunga made better use of the breeze in the second stanza but they were also inaccurate kicking 3.5 to Langhorne Creek’s 2.3 to reduce the margin to a solitary point at half-time in favour of the reigning premier Hawks.

After a tight opening half Langhorne Creek took over in the third term with best on ground James Sellar kicking four goals for the term and by late in the quarter, Creek’s had stretched their lead out to 41 points before a Willunga goal on the siren reduced the margin to 35 points at the last change. It was a premiership winning term by the Hawks as they kicked 8 goals to the Demons three.

The Demons needed a minor miracle and they pushed hard in the first 10 minutes but that man Sellar, now in defence, took some telling marks and repelled many of Willunga’s attacks. The Demons did kick a couple of goals to get the margin back to 26 points and they had a bit of momentum. Enter Lachie McGregor who had been well held by James Collier throughout the day to take the ‘Mark of the Day’ running back with the flight of the ball in the forward pocket about 15 metres out from goal. He duly slotted home the sealer with a perfect checkside kick right in front of the large Hawks throng. Willunga continued to push but Langhorne Creek prevailed 14.13 (97) to 9.11 (65) to notch their seventh GSFL ‘A’ grade premiership.

Sellar kicked five goals and was best on ground for Langhorne Creek. He was ably supported by Tom Derham, Jarrod Kellock, Ben Arbon and Curtis Perrey. Daniel Bass kicked three goals for Willunga while Brett Miegel, Collier, Tyson Hoffmann, Nick Scanlan and Sam Tregenza were named best for the vanquished Demons.

In other grades McLaren defeated Willunga by eight points in the Reserves, Victor Harbor had a big 78-point victory over McLaren in the Senior Colts and Willunga won an extra time thriller over Strathalbyn by seven points in the Junior Colts.