FOR the first three quarters of Saturday’s Bears Lagoon Serpentine versus Calivil clash it appeared as though the young Demons would cause the upset of the Loddon Valley season.
The flag fancy Bears struggled to match the winless Calivil intensity around the footy and, despite conceding some big scores through the opening eight rounds, the Demons’ backline held up well.
When Calivil youngster Liam Stephens kicked a goal of the year contender with a right foot snap from up against the boundary in the right forward pocket, the Demons led the Bears by 12 points half-way through the third quarter.
In the heavy conditions, that two-goal point lead felt more like a four-goal lead and the young Demons could sniff their first win of the season.
A crucial moment followed that gave the home side Bears some momentum going into the final term.
A long kick into the Serpentine forward line should have been punched through for a behind, but the Calivil defence failed to touch the ball and Bears’ forward Farran Priest marked the ball between the goal post and the point post.
He calmly snapped a goal around the corner to cut the deficit to one goal and by three quarter-time the margin was five points in favour of Calivil United.
The final term was one-way traffic.
The young Demons ran out of legs and the Bears’ bigger bodies took over on an increasingly heavier surface.
After two early behinds slashed the deficit to three points, Priest showed his class in the wet by collecting a loose ball and curling home a left foot snap to give the Bears the lead.
The ball basically lived in the Bears’ front half of the ground for the rest of the quarter.
Priest kicked his fourth goal of the game from a free kick, while Justin Laird sealed the deal with a long-range set shot.
The home side added 3.8 to 0.1 in the final quarter to win 8.20 (68) to 7.6 (48).
Four points in the bag for the Bears, but it was a game that had more positives for Calivil United.
“Calivil really put the pressure on us and we didn’t play as well as we should of,’’ Serpentine coach Jake Wilkinson said.
“I don’t think any of our players really played to their best, but it was good to see the way they finished off in the final quarter.
“Calivil showed us up with their pressure and early in the game they controlled the ball out of stoppage a lot cleaner than we did. 
“We’re a good team when we all play our role and we play team footy. When we go away from that we get brought back to earth pretty quickly.”
Wilkinson and key forwards Josh Mellington and Andrew Gladman didn’t play against Calivil, but they’re expected to return for next week’s big clash with Bridgewater.
If Saturday’s performance was anything to go by, Calivil United will be singing the club song sooner rather than later.
You could mount a strong case that defender Rhys Lourie was the best player on the ground, while Ronan Sheehan, Riley Walsh and Sam Green were also key contributors.