The Lions faced the prospect of sitting out the September 16 play-off when they faced six-goal three-quarter deficit against Murchison-Toolamaba.
They not only recovered, but charged into the grand final with a 13-goal-to-four final term and won the match 36-33.
The Lions finished the home-and-away season in third spot, eight premiership points behind the top two teams in the competition — Tallygaroopna and Murchison-Toolmaba.
Both those teams lost just once during the season, but Stanhope did inflict a round-seven defeat on Tallygaroopna in their only meeting.
Murchison-Toolamba beat Stanhope in round 12 by seven goals.
Stanhope opened its finals campaign with a 12-goal win in the elimination final with Undera, then backed that up with an eight-goal win against Merrigum to earn a spot in the preliminary final against Murchison-Toolamba.
Eleven of the 12-member squad were used in the game as captain Kara Canney worked with the coaching panel to discover the winning formula.
Trailing by two at quarter-time and by six at half-time, Stanhope steadied the slide when goalers Hayley Trevena and Michaela Fisher matched their opposition with eight third-quarter goals.
With Bianca Atley, Hilary Grigg and Emily Argus stepping it up in defence, the Lions came home with a wet sail and will now have a real shot at creating a memorable premiership win — from an unlikely position.
Three players, Amber Lunney, Amy Gillie and Charlotte Gray, rotated through the centre as Stanhope shuffled its team around in order to keep fresh legs on the court.
They will tackle Tallygaroopa in the grand final at 11.45pm at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
• Girgarre’s unbeaten under-13 team will meet Nagambie in the final match-up of the season, attempting to go through 2023 with its record intact.
Nagambie won its place in the final with a three-goal win against Murchison-Toolamba. Only two weeks ago Girgarre beat Nagambie 41-5 in the first week of the finals.
Stanhope will meet Tallygaroopna in the grand final of the under-15 competition at 8.45am, while the A-grade match is between Shepparton East and Tallygaroopna.
Shepparton East has been the outstanding team of the Kyabram District League, unbeaten in 16 games this season and with a five-goal qualifying semi-final win to its credit a fortnight ago.
Tallygaroopna beat Dookie United on the weekend by two goals to earn its place in the final.
In the B-grade match Dookie United and Nagambie will do battle for the premiership.
• Rushworth will compete for the league’s under-17 title after beating Shepparton East in the preliminary final on the weekend.
Grace Barlow had 12 first half goals and had support in the second half from Anita Barlow (13 goals) to win the match 36-31. Defenders Ebonie Kaifa and Ella Johnstone also did their bit, keeping Shepp East to five goals in the third term as they set up a match-winning lead.
• Inside next week’s edition of the Free Press will be an eight-page guide to the Kyabram Disrtict League’s netball and football grand finals.
Lancaster, Girgarre and Stanhope will also have representation on grand final day, with the Wombats in both the reserve and senior football grand finals.