THE Warilla Lake-South Gorillas have officially qualified for the 2019 finals, as they sealed a hard fought come from behind 20-14 victory over a tough Albion Park-Oak Flats side at Cec Glenhomes Oval on Sunday.
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In a hard hitting and exciting contest, the Gorillas needed to produce their most important victory of the season in order to leap frog the Nowra-Bomaderry Jets, who lost their respective match against the Gerringong Lions on the same afternoon.
Warilla triumphed through an improved second half defensive performance as they faced an impressive Eagles side, who set their sights on sending retiring captain Luke Patten out on a winner.
After defending in their own half for a lengthy period, the Eagles gained an early four-nil lead through winger Chad Harrison, who benefited from a perfect cut out ball from Jayden Harris.
With 10 minutes left until half-time, the Gorillas levelled the match at four-all through a hard running Kayne Brennan, who muscled his way over from close range.
On the back of a few penalties, the Eagles regained their lead through Brent Wake who crossed the try line from dummy-half.
Blake Jones added the extras as Albion Park led 10-4 at the break.
Both sides generated plenty of offloads as the visitors extended their lead to 14-4 through Lewis Hazelton, who was assisted by a clever passing game from his inside men.
A few minutes later, Tyrone Roberts produced magic at the right time for the hosts as he scored off his own high spiralling bomb before Aaron Henry shrugged off three defenders for his try.
Daniel Burke landed both conversions including one from the sideline as Warilla were leaders for the first time in the match at 16-14 with 1 minutes left.
The visitors won possession off the following kick off but constant errors prevented them from causing an upset as Gorillas winger Kye Deane scored off a freakish flick pass from Kayne Brennan.
The Gorillas ran out winners by 20-14 and will now play an elimination final match against the fourth placed Kiama Knights at Kiama Showground on Sunday, August 25.
Kayne Brennan, Jake Kinzett, Daniel Burke, Tyson Brown and Aaron Henry were outstanding for Warilla while Brent Wake, Luke Patten, Jake Brisbane, Jack Scurr and Blake Jones fought hard the Eagles.