NAVARRE Grashoppers have just one game to go to be the Maryborough Castlemiane District Football League premiers for this season after winning against a gallant Lexton.
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The Grasshoppers were up against it from the outsetand like the previous week they started poorly.
While Navarre were no where near their best ,Lexton had turned up to play.
Coach Daniel Parkin said it was a massive task for his young side and they were lucky to come out on top.
"They really geared up and bought their best football," Parkin said.
"Up until three quarter time you would have said Lexton would win."
Lexton had maintained their buffer of around one goal for the majority of the game before Parkin changed a couple of players up.
The change in momentum came when Navarre made the call to put Luke Hendy forward.
Hendy took two marks and converted on both occasions to put Lexton on the back foot.
"We just needed to roll the dice a little bit," Parkin said.
"Hendy was able to create a spark and fire our boys up a bit."
Navarre and Lexton both had several opportunities they failed to take advantage of.
Rhett Murphyimpressed against former AFL premiership ruckman Darren Jolly.
Murphy was the best on ground for Navarre, but Jolly did plenty of work around the ground.
Jolly had an opportunity to put the game out of reach for the Grasshoppers with a shot from 30 metres out.
He failed to find the middle of the big sticks and Navarre reboundedscoring a goal of their own.
Josh Fowkes, the back up ruck man for Navarre also played well as did Louis Hannett, Bryce Tickner, Josh Driscoll and Matt Newton.
Hannett and Driscoll led the charge from the middle of the ground and were the reason behind the Navarre improvement.
With three minutes remaining Parkin was able to kick a goal to ensure Navarre play again this season.
Without being their most impressive performance of the year they will now play in Saturday's granf final.
"We had a couple of things really go our way," Parkin said.
"Without a bit of luck we were toast. If we play like that again we lose, it is that simple."
The final score for the match was Navarre 13.9.87 to Lexton's 12.8.81.
Navarre will clash with Carisbrook in Saturday's grand final after Carisbrook were 18 points winners over Natte Bealibia in Sunday's preliminary final.