At first many may of thought it a fluke but Gerringong are proving they are anything but after knocking Oak Flats out of the finals series and putting them one win away from a spot in the decider.
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It took a dramatic 4-2 penalty shootout to beat Oak Flats after it was 1-1 after extra time thanks to goals from Jack Ray and Bojan Caric.
Now they are just one game away from a grand final in their first year of District League after being in the league below for so long.
It was a huge day for all three grades of the Breakers with each team getting up at Tarrawanna Oval meaning there is the real possibility of all of their teams playing at WIN Stadium on September 16.
Gerringong fullback Daniel Lucas said it was a herculean effort.
"The boys are just machines. What can I say. It's just a team effort. I couldn't be prouder to be a Breaker right now," he said post match.
"From the get go the morale has been great. We don't dwell on mistakes. We just focus on the next thing. As soon as the full time whistle went for penalties we put the whole game behind us and just focused on that. Our mantra is to move on with every mistake.
"We've got a bit to do [to get to a grand final] but a few of the boys will be a bit rusty tomorrow but then straight back to the drawing board for either Shellharbour or Fernhill."
Heading into the match Gerringong were on a high after knocking out Berkeley in the elimination final the week prior whilst Oak Flats were wary of the Breakers' lethal pace as they looked to improve on their last loss to Fernhill.
The two teams had played each other twice in the regular season and the Falcons had the slight edge. Oak Flats won 2-0 in their most recent encounter but when they faced off in round one of the competition they had a 2-2 draw.
But in the game on Saturday, the Breakers made the best possible start and opened the scoring through Jack Ray.
Oak Flats had half chances but the Breakers should have had a couple more in the first half with Zac Hawker and Daniel Lucas both hitting the bar.
In the second half Oak Flats came out firing and Joshua Eagleton almost squared the ledger after he smacked the crossbar.
Oak Flats kept pushing and despite some massive saves from Joel Lockard in the Gerringong goal, the scored through Bojan Caric with a little over 10 minutes to go in the half and it was 1-1.
Both teams couldn't be split in 90 minutes, so the match went into extra time and no team could score after that.
It took penalty shootout heroics from Joel Lockard in goals for the Breakers with two saves as Dan Layson scored the winner.
The result means Gerringong will play the loser of Shellharbour and Fernhill. The winner of that match heads to the grand final.
As for Oak Flats, they now bow out of 2023 in straight sets after going down to Fernhill and Gerringong in consecutive weeks.
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Jordan Warren
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
