SOUTH DEVON clubs Kings and Shaldon powered their way into the semi-finals of the Bowls Devon Men's County Trophy, where they were joined by Bideford and Civil Service from Plymouth.

Shaldon beat Culm Vale 102-52 at Crediton while Kings beat Exonia 83-50 on the neutral green at Newton Abbot, where Middleton Cup skip Griff Sanders was in sensational form.

Watched by his wife Deana, six-year-old daughter Tululla and seven-month-old Tatum Scarlett, Sanders scored two fives on the last two ends to beat Exonia's Glenn Allen 26-11.

It was a brilliant display by the Kings skip, who had actually been five shots down on each end before turning things around.

"When Griff is 'humming' he really does play some brilliant bowls," said Exonia's John Hooper, who had played at number two alongside Frank Thomas, Jamie Heard and Allen.

Sanders skipped reserve Rusty Hext, who had a fine match at lead, and with David Rogers and Joe Melmore backing up well, he was to enjoy a thrilling finish to his match.

"It really is a good team win, and to beat Exonia by 30 shots overall is something I didn't think we would do," said Melmore.

Having been 3-0 down after the first end, Sanders got going with a four to lead 7-5 after six ends and never looked back.

Both teams were missing top stars with world class rivals Sam Tolchard (Kings) and Rob Paxton (Exonia) both absent.

Reserve Tony Bickle came in to lead for Kings' Chris Underhill, Geoff Bellamy and Craig Down, who beat Rhys Tremain, David Abrehart-Smith, Dave Veal and Kevin Phillips 23-11.

A four saw Down go 8-3 ahead and another four put him 16-8 in front, and he maintained the momentum to finish with a single and a treble.

The Kings quartet of Clive Asbury, Harry Riley, Andy Wickham and Alan Hirst survived a fightback from Paul Stone, Mike Orchard, Andy Osborne and Nick Berry to win 20-12.

The Kings rink had led 12-4 but scores of a single and two trebles over three ends brought Exonia back to within one shot of their rivals before Hirst pulled away to win six of the last seven ends.

Exonia managed one winning rink when James Hampton, John Young, Colin Mees and Tim Haywood beat Mark Hopkins, Alan Horwell, Jeff Tolchard and Phil Hackett 16-14.

Haywood led 6-2 before going behind 7-8 but a crucial treble to go 16-13 up after 20 ends proved too much for Hackett.

Kings now face Shaldon in the semi-finals at Torbay Country Club at 10am on Sunday, September 19.

Bideford, who beat North Down 105-60, meet Civil Service, who defeated Madeira 92-72, in the other semi. The final will start at approximately 2pm.