THIS year's Weymouth & District League handicap knockout cup final will be an all-Budmouth College affair after both the Charlestown school’s Division Three sides ran out winners in their respective semi-finals.

Budmouth C came back from 2-0 down to overcome Hawks 5-2 while Budmouth B looked to be heading out at the semis when they trailed Wyke C 4-2 only to stage their own heroic fightback to go through 5-4.

Fourteen-year-olds Ben Graham and Brad Burrows, together with 11-year-old Jamie Blair, locked horns with their slightly older and more experienced counterparts from Hawks, Josh Harman, Sam Roles and Mark Thomas in the first semi.

Young Blair’s generous handicap proved too hard to overturn as he comfortably won his two matches against Thomas and Harman after the latter had beaten Graham 21-12 in a third set and Roles had just got the measure of Burroughs (21-19 in the third) for the Hawks to forge 2-0 ahead.

However when Graham edged past Roles in another three-setter the Budmouth boys moved 3-2 ahead before Burroughs followed this with yet another three-set triumph over Thomas for 4-2.

In the knockout cup the winners are the first to five rubbers and so this left Graham needing to beat Harman - which he duly did in just two sets this time - for the C team to make the final.

The second semi pitted 15-year-olds Sam Millar and the Cherry twins – Tom and Lily – against the vastly experienced Wyke C team of Norman Badcock, John Southway and Michael Puzanov, but the youngsters would be giving their elders, on average, a nine-point headstart in each leg.

The veterans got off to a flyer with two close victories as Southway overcame Millar (21-19 in the third) and Puzanov sneaked home against Tom Cherry (22-20 in the third).

Although Lily Cherry pulled it back to 2-1 with a three-set triumph over Badcock, Wyke were then able to increase their lead when an inspired Puzanov shot down Millar in three.

Then, yet another three-setter went the way of Budmouth, as Tom Cherry hit back to overcome Badcock only for Southway to make it 4-2 on the night with a comfortable defeat of Lily Cherry.

It then looked all but over for the Budmouth students when Badcock took the opening set against Millar in the seventh rubber, but undaunted by the perilous position, Millar began a rousing fightback to eventually win in three sets.

When Tom Cherry then confidently overcame Southway in straight sets the game was evenly poised at four apiece with everything now riding on the deciding rubber – Lily Cherry versus Puzanov.

Having clawed back a nine-point deficit, Lily won the first set 21-18, and then held her nerve in a thrilling, nerve-jangling second set to finally win it 26-24 and so set up a final tie with Budmouth C.