The Hoppers did what no other team had been able to do this season by beating Lavington, crushing the Panthers by five wickets at Bilson Park.

Heartbreakingly for Lavington, the loss means it will have nothing to show from a season in which it dominated all-comers until the Hoppers put an abrupt end to their season.

Meanwhile, Wodonga, last year’s runners-up, produced a scintillating display with the ball against St Patricks at Les Cheesley Oval, tearing through the Patties for 81 after posting just 140 on its home deck.

The two dominant wins mean the Hoppers and Bulldogs will face-off in their second successive grand final, a year after North Albury saluted by six wickets, when opener David Farrell smashed a match-winning 167 no.

Wodonga coach Andy Gibson yesterday downplayed the revenge factor, but was strongly in the belief his team had improved significantly from last season.

“In terms of revenge, that’s not really the case,” he said last night.

“Of course we’re very keen to atone after last year, but revenge really isn’t the word.

“We’re just really excited and we think we’ve got a much better side this year — I think we bowl really well, we field tremendously and while our key bats haven’t fired the past couple of weeks, we’re still through to another grand final and I think we’ll put up a really strong showing.”

The Dogs’ victory was established in a frenetic 30-minute spell just before stumps on Saturday.

The Patties, chasing 141, appeared set to end the day in a position of significant strength when they reached 0-22 but the Dogs — led by Tim Kennedy, who claimed 4-10 before stumps — reduced the Patties to 6-31 by the day’s end.

Gibson said the half-hour of power set up the victory.

“It was an amazing half-hour,” he said.

“We struggled a bit to reach 140 and we really needed some wickets before stumps.

“I think we took 6-9 and it was great to see us stand up under real pressure.”