In the first major junior tournament for the summer season, both under-18s boys and girls sides fell heartbreakingly short at the final hurdle after strong round-robin results.
The boys led by a point with four minutes to play, but were ultimately overrun by a classy Wodonga outfit by six points, 42-36.
The Wolves had gone undefeated in their tournament display heading into the grand final, including a destructive 33-point round one win over the Gators, but Shepparton made sure not to repeat that same effort in its second encounter with the unbeaten side.
Dashiell Smith (10 points) and Spencer Wright (seven points) were admirable in defeat for Shepparton.
The under-18 division one girls too could not pip their undefeated rival in the tournament finale.
The Gator girls had been strong through the round-robin, with just one loss to their grand final opponent.
Again facing a Wodonga team, Shepparton was held to just 21 points in the decider in a 25-point loss.
However, in the under-16 boys category, the peak was reached and surmounted.
After its four-game round-robin, Shepparton headed into the under-16s grand final as underdogs, having recorded a two-win-two-draw record.
Its opponent, the Wallan Panthers, held a three-win and one-draw ratio, with their only non-victory a 38-apiece tie with the Gators.
Despite the evenness of the pair in the round-robin, Shepparton clicked into a newfound gear in its grand final display.
With two draws and a win of one point, Shepparton had built character in tense moments, and it paid dividends in the high-pressure final.
The Panthers and Gators went tit-for-tat in the early going, but after half time is when Shepparton found the ascendancy.
The Gators led by five at the break, but that quickly increased to 12 as they scored 11 of the first 15 points of the second half.
Ultimately, the junior boys would secure championship trophies in style, winning 46-33.
Five buckets from downtown by Nethum Atukorala was the catalyst in a stunning scoring blitz - in the four matches prior Atukorala had made just the one three.
Atukorala finished with 22 points, while Archie Peters top-scored next with nine.
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