On the Gainesville High court docket, they clapped after which they grinned and roared.
“This was so important to us,” Coleman stated. “I wasn’t just locked in today. I was locked in all week. And, man, we got it done.”
“But we still have one more game to go.”
In a season all the way through which force has been unavoidable and the usual for good fortune has in large part hung in this very game, the Patriot seniors certified for the Class 6 state championship game. On Friday, the Pioneers will play protecting champion Hayfield at VCU’s Siegel Center.
Most of ultimate 12 months’s roster was once again, so few doubted the No. 5 Pioneers (27-3) had the core for every other deep run. But advancing to the state championship game — after their undefeated season got here crumbling down in ultimate 12 months’s semifinal towards rival Battlefield — was once a shakier premise.
The resolution, Patriot Coach Sherman Rivers made up our minds, was once to give his crew a gantlet. The Pioneers began the 12 months with highway contests towards the reigning Virginia Class 5 and 6 champions. They bested the Maryland state runners-up at a impartial website online and narrowly fell to the protecting Delaware state champions over the vacations. The new 12 months’s Cedar Run District time table introduced 4 video games (and 3 wins) over the ones darn Bobcats. Through all of it, they spoke of ultimate 12 months’s defeat.
“We wanted to remember how that felt,” Rivers stated, “because we didn’t want to feel that way again.”
On Monday, they had been passed Chesapeake’s Oscar Smith (25-2), a crew stuffed with measurement, velocity and poise no longer not like anything else the Pioneers had noticed earlier than however a problem nonetheless. Patriot caught to its plan, a contemporary offense predicated on threes and loose throws with a throwback protection that picked up Oscar Smith complete court docket. The Tigers hung shut with the Pioneers’ firepower early, with Patriot taking the 26-24 halftime merit.
Though the Pioneers took keep an eye on early in the 3rd quarter, Oscar Smith introduced the rating again inside of one early in the fourth. Just when the Pioneers’ ambitions gave the impression their maximum precarious, a relaxed came around the crew. That calm started and ended with Coleman.
Last 12 months, Patriot’s season slipped away in the general mins of this spherical. This 12 months, with Coleman controlling each inch of the court docket, the Pioneers held on. With six mins left, their lead was once one. And then it was once 8. And then it was once far and wide.
“I love this team, man,” Randall stated. “We’ve got to go down to VCU and get that ring.”
Class 6 boys: Hayfield again in ultimate
No. 4 Hayfield, with its “Big Three” again for industry, will protect its state title towards Patriot following senior David King’s 28-point outburst in a 71-59 win over up-and-coming No. 17 South Lakes.
The victory units up the fourth consecutive all-Northern Virginia Class 6 state championship game and a rematch of December’s season-opening vintage, gained through the Hawks on the buzzer.
Class 6 ladies: Madison does it once more
Madison defeated Robinson in the Class 6 ladies’ state semifinals for the second one immediately season regardless of inheriting nearly a wholly new roster this 12 months. This time Madison leaned on its protection to be successful, 34-24.
The Warhawks (24-4) are one win from their fourth immediately state title. They will face Manchester on Friday.
Robinson finishes its promising season at 26-4.
Class 4: Tuscarora girls and boys fall
The Tuscarora girls and boys fell quick in their first state ultimate appearances.
The boys, who misplaced to E.C. Glass, 73-49, end the season 24-4 and must be primed for every other robust run in the Dulles District subsequent 12 months.
The ladies, who completed undefeated in the district, misplaced, 54-53, towards Pulaski County regardless of spectacular efforts from senior Grace Middleton and junior Alysa Carrigan.
Class 3 ladies: Brentsville breaks via
Brentsville District is headed to its first state championship game after a 46-41 win over Northwestern District rival Meridian.
The Tigers, led through senior Alden Yergey, entered the evening 0-11 towards the Mustangs over the past 4 seasons however prevailed past due. On Friday afternoon, they’ll face protecting champion Carroll County.
Meridian was once with out big name senior Elizabeth Creed, who broke her wrist in a quarterfinal win over Lafayette.