It came down to the last bowl of the day, but Creswick kept its season alive with a thrilling Ballarat District Bowls Division's weekend pennant division one semi-final victory.
Creswick took a three-shot lead into the final end. Jarrod Burt's rink were two shots down with one bowl to go, the Ballarat skipper looking to draw a third shot to tie-up the overall scores, which would see each rink play one more end to decide the result.
But he was unable to deliver the desired shot and Creswick enjoyed an 86 shots to 85 victory.
Skipper Gerry Flapper said it was a great game and the early dominance of Travis Hedger's rink gave the team confidence.
"It was a good game right from the start," Flapper said. "That (Hedger's rink) made the rest of us feel a lot more confident about the way things were going. We knew it was going to be hard, but we were ready for it."
Creswick will now face Learmonth, which moves into the preliminary final from a semi-final loss to Ballarat Memorial Sport.
Throughout the season the ledger was squared at one win apiece and Flapper expected a fired up Learmonth next week.
However, he felt if his side could emulate Saturday's form, it would be right in the hunt.
"They'll be coming out firing, they're a very good side, it will be another interesting tussle," Flapper said.
"If we can repeat what we did on Saturday, we'll be right up there with them."
BMS fought off a strong Learmonth outfit to book its spot in the grand final.
BMS led for much of the day, but around the 85-end mark Learmonth took the lead. BMS steadied and clawed its way back in front courtesy of a six-shot end from Scott McLean. BMS triumphing with a 103-94 win.
Skipper Kevin McLean was proud of his group and said his side rose to the occasion in front of a bumper crowd. BMS will train as normal this week then have a roll on Saturday before watching the preliminary final.
