A THIRD-quarter surge secured Dennington a valuable 50-point win away over Kolora-Noorat on Saturday.
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Dennington coach Ben Parkinson said his team's nine-goal-to-two third quarter was outstanding in the 20.9 (129) to 12.7 (79) result.
"I thought the third quarter was our best quarter of footy for the whole season," Parkinson said.
"The first half was a bit of a shootout and they were hurting us with their foot skills and they were very efficient going forward.
"At half-time we had a chat about getting our defence right and shutting them down and we were able to do that in the third quarter.
"We had 21 tackles for the quarter, which is exceptional, and that pressure created plenty of scoring opportunities for us and limited their ability to get forward."
The game started in a hurry with a 13-goal first quarter, after which the Power held an eight-point lead.
The scoring rate slowed in the second quarter, with the Dogs kicking the only three goals to lead by 14 points at half-time.
They asserted their authority in the third-quarter rampage on a day where the Dogs' stars came out to play.
Darcy Lewis returned after missing the last three games with bruised ribs and made an instant impact.
He kicked four goals from his post at centre half-forward, with his return allowing Luke Duncan to slip back into his role of the general of the Dogs defence at centre half-back.
Alex Pye continued his strong season with four goals, while onballers Jordan Greene and Shane Graham made the most of the fine work of ruckman Josh Lock.
With finals only a fortnight away the Dogs are timing their run perfectly, with a full list of senior players now to chose from.
For the Power, coach Ben Kenna was outstanding, with Parkinson having to cast Jacob Morris in the role of a defensive forward for the second half to stem Kenna's creative influence off half-back.
Paul McSween kicked four goals for the Power, while the silky-smooth Jonathon Gleeson kicked three.
The Dogs' good form will need to continue when they take on Merrivale this week in a game that will go a long way towards shaping the top three.
Merrivale is in second place, with the Dogs a game behind in third and Old Collegians circling in fourth place on equal points but with far inferior percentage.
"We have known the situation with how tight the race for the top three will be for a few weeks now," Parkinson said.
"But we haven't got too far ahead of ourselves.
"The first time we spoke about Merrivale was after today's game and that was more about making sure we get our recovery right."
Old Collegians kept up with the big boys when they defeated East Warrnambool by 88 points at Davidson Oval.
Key forwards James Ryan and Chris Chambers kicked three goals each for the Warriors, while Aaron Williams chipped in with two in the 15.18 (108) to 2.8 (20) result.
Scoring goals was a much tougher task for the Bombers, who kicked both their majors in the last quarter.
Nathan Krepp was the star for South Rovers as the Lions had a 17.22 (124) to 4.9 (33) win at Walter Oval over Deakin University.
Krepp kicked seven goals in a polished display, with Brent Clements providing some handy support with four goals .
For the Sharks, Paul Shields and onballer Joe Higgins led the way.
abrady@fairfaxmedia.com.au