In section two at Kaikorai Bowling Club, the composite team of father and son Graham and Bradley Down, Finbar McGuigan, all of Wellington, and Caleb Hope, of Gore, notched up a hard-fought 16-12 upset victory over Blackjacks and tournament favourites Justin Goodwin, Shannon McIlroy, Gary Lawson and Ali Forsyth.
Hope qualified over the weekend for section play in singles and and also in pairs with the team's fours lead, Graham Down (60), while Bradley too, is also through to the knockout stage of the singles and the post-section play of the pairs with fours partner McGuigan.
In yesterday's fours opener, the three teenagers displayed maturity and cool heads beyond their years, putting the Forsyth foursome on the back foot right from the first end when they drew first blood to hold a three-shot lead.
They drew another shot on the second end before Forsyth's four pulled it back with four shots on the third to put the match on a level footing.
The two teams went blow for blow over the next two ends before the team skipped by Bradley Down snatched four shots on the sixth end for a 9-5 lead and, after 12 ends of the 18-end match, had jumped out to a 14-9 lead.
That is when the fireworks began. The 13th end turned into a war zone as the head was burnt four times before Forsyth's opponents broke the deadlock when Hope drew a shot bowl in front of three Forsyth bowls surrounding the head.
Forsyth had no option but to make an attempt to draw back, only to go wide and surrender another shot.
At 15-9 down, the Forsyth combination pulled three shots out of the bag in the next two rounds but, beginning the 16th end found time was against them, as the three-hour time limit to complete the match had been reached.
Lawson, playing third for the Forsyth four, drew three shots when he put the jack into the ditch near two team bowls at the end of the green and a toucher in the ditch, and the game appeared to be going towards a sudden-death extra end.
But playing a true captain's knock, Bradley Down nudged his way around the Forsyth scoring bowls to rest his final shot on the edge of the green nearest the jack to steal the shot and secure a sensational 16-12 victory.
The Forsyth four bounced back in its second game, defeating Shaun Scott's team 17-13.
It was the Mike Solomon four that ended the winning run of Team Down in the third and final match of the day with a convincing 21-5 win. Team Down needs to secure two more wins today to reach post-section play.
In other matches, Mike Kernaghan, Rob Ashton, Reagan Larking, Russell Dawe, Phil Cross, Bruce McNish, Joko Kelly, Teo Turua, Andrew Kelly, Sheldon Bagrie-Howley and Rod Fleming's Forbury Park four, all sit on match point in qualifying.
The first round of qualifying in women's fours yesterday was also not without its upsets, with Sandra Keith's composite team of fellow Blackjacks Amy McIlroy, Serena Matthews and Selina Goddard falling 12-25 victim to Reen Stratford's composite team that also comprise sts Jill Fraser, Alison Rennie and Linda Ralph.
Two Blackjacks to make it through to match point unscathed were Mandy Boyd and Jo Edwards. Others sitting on match points for post-section are Sarah Scott, Anne Muir and Kelly McKerihen.
