LAWN BOWLS
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Dapto Citizens ace Ben Ford was rapt to have made his first championship final, while Warilla keep counting the titles after clinching the Zone 16 Triples last Sunday.
Jeremy Henry and partners Jamie Mitchell and Wayne Crane gunned down Ford, his brother Troy and new Citos signing Kyle Johannes 24-6 in the final at Warilla BC.
Henry was in superb form finishing off ends with ease after Crane and Mitchell set up perfectly.
The Warilla team were defending their Zone 16 Triples crown and led 22-2 in the final.
The teams shook hands and went to the bar after playing only 19 ends of the 25-end decider.
For Henry it was an ominous start to the 2015 championships after winning the Illawarra Triples, Fours and Open Pairs in 2014.
Throw in Geoff McGillivray claiming the Zone 16 Senior Singles, then going on to win the State Senior Singles and Warilla's Jamie Nabbe taking out the Zone 16 State President Reserve Singles and the Gorillas roared to five of the eight championship events in 2014.
Warilla clearly have many of the zone's best players, but rival clubs will be desperate to leave their mark in the remainder of the championship events, starting with the Zone 16 Fours on Saturday.
In last Sunday's Triples championship, Henry and partners had to be at their best to see off Wiseman Park's Glenn Taylor, Shane Garvey and Dylan Skinner 26-22 in the semi-finals.
Garvey deferred skipping duties to 17-year-old Skinner, who held his own against Henry.
The other semi-final between Ford's Dapto Citizens' team and Corrimal's Daryl Webster (skip), Robbie Baker and Jarrod Beckford was a beauty. Corrimal led 22-15, but dropped a five, which turned the match.
On the second-last end, Webster played one of the shots of the tournament when down three shots and with his last bowl to play. Needing a miracle shot to keep the match alive, Webster clipped the kitty into the ditch and picked to three shots to tie the match.
The applause came from both teams, though Ben Ford held his nerve picking up a shot on the final end to win the semi-final 27-26. The young Dapto Citizens Grade 1 star was more than happy to make the final.
"It's my first championship semi-final and first final, so I'm rapt to get as far as I did," Ford said.
"It was a real close semi-final, just a shot in it and obviously taking on Jeremy [Henry] was a big test."