(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)

DENVER — Buehler…? Buehler…?

Defending-champion Valor Christian’s Brady Buehler answered the call in the second inning on a 2 RBI, bases-clearing double in the top of the second of the Class 4A baseball championship game.

“We got a couple hits together, then I hit a double, got two runs in and my teammates picked us up,” Buehler said. “Overall, we did a great job trusting eachother and trying to get a win.”

Austin Howell followed with a two-run single up the middle, then Noah Kuzma added an RBI double as Valor Christian posted a five-run second inning to repeat as 4A baseball champions in a 7-3 win over Evergreen.

“It’s special because it’s my first one as a head coach,” Valor Christian coach Brian Bonn said. “I’ve been an assistant coach for a while, but these guys had a lot of pressure on their shoulders. Once you win, you always want to try to repeat. These guys worked really hard in the offseason and they took it to the field and did a great job.”

The Eagles’ Zach Reid was terrific on the mound through four innings as he was able to diffuse each potential Evergreen opportunity.

“I was feeling really good the day before,” Reid said. “I knew I had to wait, but I’m glad I did because it allowed me to rest. If we didn’t do that in the second inning, I don’t think we would have held that lead 7-3.”

He got a double-play ball to end the third inning with Evergreen threatening, then shut the door after Jack Patterson doubled to left-center the next inning.

But the Cougars got through to Reid in the fifth.

“I’ve said all season long. 21 guys on our team,” Bonn said. “All 21 of you need to contribute. And that’s exactly what they did this year. I couldn’t be more proud of every single person.”

Andrew Stephens stepped up to bat with runners on second and third and Reid walked the bases loaded. 

Benjamin Setlak came through with a basehit up the middle that scored two runs to close the Valor Christian lead to 5-2.

Reid was able to get out of the inning, but saw his day come to an end.

“I knew they were behind my back the entire time. They trusted me and had faith in me,” Reid said. “I wanted to live up to what they said and I think I was able to do it. That was nerveracking. We had faith and knew they would get the job done.”

Ethan Zemla came in in the sixth to seal the title for Valor Christian, but Evergreen wouldn’t go easy.

(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)

“I was sweating when we found out we were playing Evergreen again,” Bonn said. “We give up a couple runs, can’t find the strike zone all of a sudden, it starts getting a little antsy. For us to come out and continue to hit the ball like we have for the last two weeks was just the insurance we needed to put the confidence back into our guys.”

The Cougars grabbed a run in the sixth on a balk from Zemla to head into the 7th down 5-3.

Kuzma and Pierce came through again with RBI doubles to give Valor Christian additional insurance heading to the bottom of the seventh.

“We knew we had to get some runs to finish the game,” Buehler said. “Put a good swing on it, stay inside the baseball and get my job done.”

Justin Estes came in and sealed the title game for Valor Christian.

“Our pitching staff, we weren’t sure about,” Bonn said. “They ended up being our workhorses all season long. Our bats came alive late in our season.”

Evergreen pitcher Benjamin Muscatello weathered the storm of a 5-run second inning to keep the Cougars in the game with six innings pitched.

Muscatello allowed just three hits and one run in every inning besides the second.

The game was originally supposed to be play on Saturday, but was suspended to Sunday due to weather.

“We didn’t like them coming in,” Buehler said. “It was fun to beat them, fun to play them. We try to love eachother, not focus outwards. That was big for us.”

This was the third meeting between the two teams this season — Valor Christian won the first meeting 8-2, then Evergreen won the second 7-5 after scoring six runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Eagles.

“We’ve been talking all weekend long that this has to be about us,” Bonn said. “It has to be about focusing on eachother and our brotherhood that we have on the Valor Christian baseball team. We had to refocus that and that’s exactly what they did and we were able to close out a very good game against Evergreen.

“One more game. One more time. One more opportunity. If we get that opportunity, which we did get, let’s give our best effort.”

And now, Valor Christian has bragging rights, winning the season series and the 4A title.

(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)

(Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)

GREELEY — The importance of having an ace pitcher on the mound in a state championship game can’t be understated.

For Valley, that ace was Jose Mercado, who had seven strikeouts. The junior was magnificent against Eaton in a 17-1 win at Butch Butler Field, giving up only three hits and one run in six innings to help seal a Class 3A baseball championship for the Vikings. The team in black, white and gold also had 13 hits of their own.

“He just battles when he’s up there,” Valley coach Steve Kissler, in his 12th season with the Vikings, said. “He gets after people, he’s aggressive in the zone and he’s not afraid of anybody. That’s the bulldog mentality he’s had all season long.”

As a result, Valley claimed their first baseball title since 1983. They are now tied with Cherry Creek for the third-most titles in the sport with eight.

Eaton was also able to save a talented and fresh arm for the final game. Senior Anders Swanbom (2.83 ERA) took the mound. The Vikings countered with Mercado, who was boasting a 7-2 record and a 3.21 ERA entering Sunday.

“Going into state, I don’t think we were one of the favorites to win but we did what we had to do,” Mercado said. “Eaton is a good team. I knew I had to come in and throw strikes, because they can hit. Defense did their job and I kept them off balance.”

Valley (19-7) had been the last unbeaten in the bracket at 3-0 with wins over Faith Christian 2-1, Eaton 15-12 and Colorado Academy 7-2. In an elimination game, though, Eaton took out the Vikings 5-3 on Saturday. The Reds (17-9) had momentum after beating Colorado Academy 5-3 in the semifinals on Sunday morning as well.

But, Mercado gave his team a lift in the final game. He started off by sitting down the top of Eaton’s lineup in order in the first inning. He did the same in the second. Then, Valley started swinging the bats.

Shawn Chacon had a clutch RBI single to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead in the third inning. In the next frame, the Vikings had three straight singles capped by a Dillon Rudd RBI to make it 2-0. Jose Mercado tacked on another RBI single to make it 3-0. Valley had eight hits and Eaton zero by that point in the game.

Swanbom was replaced on the mound by Walker Uyemura for Eaton after four frames, but Ivan Rodriguez singled to drive in another run in the fifth and push the margin to 4-0.

Rudd had another RBI single with the bases loaded to lift the Vikings to a 5-0 lead. Triana walked in a run after that. A wild throw by new pitcher Micah Dorsey allowed another run to score. A run was added on an error.

Before Eaton knew what hit them, Valley had scored five in the fifth to open up an 8-0 lead.

Noah Brown ended Mercado’s no-hit bid with a single with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Travis Cunningham singled for Eaton as well, but Mercado forced a grounder to end the inning with nothing added to the scorebook.

Then, Valley’s Raul Rios put the mercy rule, a ten-run rule, into play with a two-run single in the sixth with no outs against pitcher CJ Blaskowski. A wild pitch allowed Rios to cross home plate and open an 11-0 margin. The Vikings tallied six more runs for seventeen. They scored nine total runs in the top of the sixth.

Eaton finally put a run on the board as an error allowed Dorsey to score in the bottom of the sixth.

“We told the guys after the loss yesterday that they just needed to shut that one out,” Kissler said. “We didn’t play as crisp as we could’ve, but we knew what we needed to do.”

As has been the case so often in 3A, the road to a championship went through the Patriot League. Speaking to the level of competitiveness in the area, Valley and Eaton (11 titles, most in Colorado history) tied for third in the league standings behind University and Resurrection Christian. But both heated up in the postseason.

“You get battle-tested a lot in the league,” Kissler said. “There are not a lot of days off. It gets you ready for the postseason.”

Evergreen baseball team dealt with off-the-field health issues during its run to the Class 4A state runner-up trophy. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

DENVER — Evergreen assistant baseball coach Dale Hutchings perfectly described the Cougars being at the Class 4A state championship game Sunday.

“It’s just a blessing to be here. It’s a blessing to be on this field,” the longtime assistant coach said after Evergreen lost 7-3 to Valor Christian in the title game at Regency Sports Complex at Metro State University. “I tell people it’s a blessing to be on the right side of the grass.”

Hutchings, who has been with Evergreen’s baseball program for 17 years, was diagnosed with throat cancer last May. He went through chemotherapy and radiation from July through September in 2016. He was completely house-bound until the end of October.

Evergreen assistant coach Dale Hutchings, second from left, was diagnosed with throat cancer last May. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

While going through his own battle, Evergreen players made a point to visit Hutchings at his house in Aurora.

“My doorbell ran at about 5 pm one night and it nine of our baseball players to see me and just say hi,” Hutchings said. “It makes you feel very special.”

Junior Jack Patterson, who hit a pair of 3-run home runs during the Cougars’ 12-9 loss to Thompson Valley on May 27, was one of the players who visited Hutchings.

“Coach Hutch is a fighter and inspires all of us,” Patterson said. “When we visited him he was as strong as ever. It was like nothing had changed with him. That really inspired our team to never give up and always keep fighting.”

While Hutchings sees three different specialists on a regular basis, he received good news about his cancer a month ago. A CAT scan showed he is cancer free. It will be another year to three years of close monitoring for Hutchings to make sure the cancer doesn’t return.

“We missed him (Hutchings) terribly when he was out,” Evergreen head coach Steve Jones said of Hutchings who has coached with for 15 years. “It’s not Evergreen baseball if we don’t have Coach Hutch with us.”

Unfortunately, Jones has also battled health issues this spring. He missed some time with the team because of a heart condition. Jones will have a heart angioplasty procedure Wednesday, May 31, in Dallas. His doctor in Dallas believes there is a partial blockage in one artery.

Evergreen head coach Steve Jones will undergo an angioplasty Wednesday, May 31, in Dallas. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“It’s been hard because obviously they (Hutchings and Jones) are very close to us. It gave us motivation,” Evergreen senior Lucas Berninzoni said. “Something else to keep us moving and keep us fighting. It gave us a reason to fight. We really owed it to them.”

After Sunday’s loss to Valor, Jones brought his team together to give them more information about the procedure he will have this week.

“The kids have shown me unconditional love,” Jones said. “I’ll never, ever forget that. To me it’s life changing. It just shows what a special group of kids they are. I’m grateful to have that kind of support.”

Evergreen (16-10 record) finished its season where not many though they would be — in a state baseball championship game for the first time in the program’s history. A 7-game winning streak — one loss during the 3-week run could have very well ended their season — gave the Cougars the opportunity to bring home the 4A state runner-up trophy.

“It was just an unbelievable journey with all we have dealt,” Evergreen junior pitcher Ben Muscatello said after excepting the runner-up trophy. “We knew we had potential. We proved ourselves in the playoffs.”

While the season is over, the Cougars know there is always battles off and on the field to face.

“Like I told the kids. We don’t run from a challenge. We run to the roar of the lion. I’m going to face this with faith,” Jones said of his health issues. “Along with the strength and love of my family and players.”

Evergreen baseball’s 2017 playoff run was the longest in the program’s history, ending with bringing home the 4A state runner-up trophy. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)

DENVER — The Class 4A baseball championship game between defending-champion Valor Christian and Evergreen was suspended Saturday due to weather.

The game is moved to 12 p.m. at Metro State on Sunday.

This will be the third meeting between the two teams this season.

Valor Christian won the first meeting 8-2, then Evergreen won the second 7-5.

The Cougars scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Eagles. 

Valor Christian rallied from a 3-0 deficit against Thompson Valley to move into the title game against Evergreen.

Jonathan Boulaphinh broke the game open in the top of the seventh with a two-RBI double to give the Eagles an 8-5 win.

The Eagles were down 5-3 after five innings before Brady Buehler squirted an RBI single into center field.

Then, Thompson Valley catcher Mike Berg tried to back-pick the runner at first and the ball went into right field, tying the game.

In the top of the seventh, Joel Pierce ripped an RBI single that moved a runner to third, setting up Boulaphinh’s double.

DENVER — Both Class 5A baseball games at All-City Stadium went to extra innings as Broomfield beat Rocky Mountain 7-2 and Cherry Creek came back to beat Mountain Vista 9-8.

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(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

DENVER — A light rain at first pitch turned into a downpour minutes later. It caused the Class 5A baseball championship between Rocky Mountain and Broomfield game to be suspended on Saturday.

The two teams will resume play at noon on Sunday at All-City Field. Rocky Mountain leads Broomfield 2-0 with one out and a runner on first in the first inning.

The rainstorm moved in quickly, and continued well after everyone had left the stadium. Forecasts show that Sunday is expected to be clear with a high of 72 degrees.

“The field wasn’t going to be ready tonight,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann, who oversees baseball. “The grounds crew at All-City is one of the best around, and they’ll have it ready to go tomorrow. The forecast looks much better, as well.”

Borgmann met with Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock and Broomfield coach Garren Estes before making the final decision to suspend the game.

Broomfield punched its ticket to the championship game earlier Saturday with a 2-1 win over Cherry Creek. Mitch Morales pitched six innings, giving up three hits and one unearned run in picking up the win for the Eagles. He also drove in what proved to be the winning run in the fourth inning.

Admission to Sunday’s championship game will be free at All-City Field.

(Quentin Sickafoose/CHSAANow.com)

GREELEY – One day and three teams are all that’s left in the Class 3A baseball season.

If you would have told first-year Eaton coach Todd Hernandez at the beginning of the year that his squad would be included in that mix, “I would have taken that every day of the week,” he responded.

The Reds punched their ticket to the final day of the state tournament with a 5-3 victory over Valley at Butch Butler Field on Saturday afternoon, keeping their hopes of winning the program’s 12th title alive.

The win was also a bit of revenge for Eaton, which lost to the same Valley team both on the first day of the double-elimination tournament and earlier in the regular season.

“We’ve been playing them all year, and even since we were little, so it felt good to go out there and get this win,” junior pitcher Travis Cunningham said. “When we play them, everyone comes out and plays their best – no matter what.”

Unlike the first meeting the two teams had on the opening day of the state tournament that resulted in a 15-12 win for Valley, strong defensive performances were present on both sides – and ultimately proved to be the difference on Saturday.

Cunningham had an impressive game on the mound for Eaton, throwing six full innings while allowing just four hits and two runs. The Reds’ defense also recorded a pair of double plays and two 1-2-3 innings to fend off the Vikings.

“When you play in a game like this, you can’t save anything,” Hernandez said. “I thought Travis did a great job. It came down to defense and staying focused all the way through from the first pitch to the last pitch.”

Valley was first to strike offensively in the top of the opening frame when a groundout ball to right helped bring junior Jose Mercado home for an early 1-0 lead.

The Reds later responded in the bottom of the third inning with a pair of runs off a bases-loaded walk that scored senior Walker Uyemura and a sacrifice fly from sophomore CJ Blaskowski that brought junior Zeke Hass through home plate.

Defensively, Eaton kept the Vikings at bay and escaped a bases-loaded situation in the fourth to preserve its lead. The Reds then added insurance with a three-run fifth inning after an error and wild pitch that extended their lead to 5-1. Valley would add a pair of runs late in the game that were not enough to recover from its deficit.

Saturday’s results set up a meeting between Eaton and Colorado Academy, which defeated Faith Christian 2-1 in a walk-off earlier in the day, at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

The winner of that game will then play Valley, which was unbeaten until Saturday, in the title game at 12:30 p.m.

“We were sitting together on the bus earlier saying, ‘Why not us?’,” Cunningham said. “Now we just have two games left to try and pull it off.”

Eaton is seeking its 12th title in program history, and first since 2015, which was longtime coach Jim Danley’s final season with the team.

Valley has seven baseball titles, but has not brought home a championship since 1983. Colorado Academy is searching for its first baseball title in school history.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

PUEBLO — Success is the best medicine.

That’s how Paonia felt at the conclusion of the Class 2A state baseball tournament. The Eagles thought they would hoist championship gold a year ago. They lost in the semifinals and had the tears to show for it. But with nearly the entire team returning in 2017, they weren’t going to be denied again.

They topped Rocky Ford 6-0 on Saturday. They rejoiced. They hugged. They cried again. But these were tears of joy; tears of champions.

“This is the greatest feeling in the world,” pitcher and infielder Trevor Smith said. “We thought we had a good chance at it last year, and losing in that first game gave us the feeling that we wanted to come back and we wanted to come back on top. And we did.”

It was the Eagles’ (24-0 overall) day from start to finish. Before getting to the title game they had to get through County Line (McClave/Wiley) in the semifinals. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of that game thanks in part to a two-RBI single from K.J. Seriani.

The junior also dominated on the mound, striking out 15 Rivals hitters while surrendering just four hits. Paonia ended up winning the game 10-0 and felt right there that it was going to be its day.

“We had a lot rolling in the first game,” Seriani said. “A lot of players that had been struggling hit the ball well this morning and that carried over.”

It certainly did.

Rocky Ford downed Lyons 7-2 in the second semifinal game of the day. The 2:30 p.m. scheduled start for the championship game was moved up 20 minutes on account of weather, so it didn’t seem like the Meloneers (18-6) would have enough time to cool down.

But it turns out that the Eagles couldn’t be cooled down with anything short of a late-May snowstorm.

The heat just transferred over to different players. Seriani got the Eagles on the board early with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Slater Podgorny. Jaden Miller walked and Smith moved him over to third on a single. Both would score on an Alex Lozano single up the middle.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Smith was showing early that it was a day for the pitchers to help their own cause.

“When you’re on the mound, you know the strike zone a little bit more,” Smith said. “It helps you relax a little bit better.”

And he certainly looked relaxed in the third inning when he absolutely unloaded on a pitch up the zone, putting it over the center field wall for a solo home run. The Eagles would eventually score two more, but it was that moment when they felt the championship had been won.

“Absolutely,” Paonia coach Nate Miller said. “And there were some times in there that we really could’ve pounded it to them, but we couldn’t get it done. But that was a real momentum picker upper right there.”

This is the seventh baseball title for Paonia and its first since 2003. Miller was part of the team that rattled off three-straight from 1996-98, but Saturday’s win is something he’d never trade away.

“It was pretty special when I won the three here with the group I had,” Miler said. “But this is more special to me. Having my boy out here, having all these guys, they’re all my boys. Winning those was pretty neat, but not like this.”

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

DENVER — Three days down and Thompson Valley, Valor Christian and Evergreen still remain in the Class 4A baseball playoffs.

Thompson Valley beat previously undefeated Evergreen 12-6 in the first game of the day. Valor Christian beat Air Academy 7-0 to advance to play Thompson Valley Saturday at 10 am.

The winner of the 10 am game will face Evergreen at 12:30 on Saturday in the title game.

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Thompson Valley holds on in wild game against Evergreen

(Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Mike Berg stepped on the mound for the first time in his life in possibly the biggest situation of his life with Thompson Valley leading Evergreen 12-9 in the bottom of the seventh of the 4A baseball playoffs.

“Honestly, I’ve never pitched in my entire life,” Berg said. “I was throwing straight fastballs. I threw one curveball and it was just brutal. The coaches threw me in a bullpen earlier this week and I was throwing down in the zone. They said go out there and have fun.”

And so he did. Berg closed out a 12-9 victory over Evergreen to keep the Eagles alive.

“Bailey (Porter) had an awesome game coming into that point, so I didn’t need to do too much,” Berg said. “He held those guys down pretty well throughout the entire game. When I got the call, I was ready to step in. They had prepared me very adequately for the moment.”

Berg ended the game with a strikeout low and outside and was mobbed by his teammates at the mound.

“That’s his first appearance on the mound for us,” Thompson Valley coach Jay Denning said. “We had confidence in him, even though it’s a little bit of an unkown, he’s such a competitor. Whatever he does, he does full blown. He attacks everything with a passion. I have no worries about him going out to compete.”

Thompson Valley batted around in the fourth inning and the Eagles took a 10-1 lead into the fifth.

Two more in the top of the fifth had Thompson Valley ready to end the game early.

Then Jack Patterson happened.

Down to its last out, trailing 12-2, Jack Patterson gave Evergreen life with a three-run homerun deep to left field. 

Patterson wasn’t done with his game-saving heroics.

“When the momentum switches, it switches fast,” Denning said.

He launched another three-run homerun to right-center to cut the lead to 12-9 with no outs in the seventh. 

Berg came in and sealed the deal for Thompson Valley.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

“Anybody that’s left can do anything in a single inning. Three outs is a lot when you have team like this,” Berg said. “We kept a positive mental attitude throughout the entire game. They come back, (Patterson) hits a dinger, he hits another dinger and all of a sudden we’re only up by three and pressing a little bit. Everyone did a good job of staying even keeled and got us out of that one.”

Thompson Valley came out aggressive at the plate, swinging early in the counts.

“The last game we played against them, we were caught on our heels from the beginning,” Berg said. “For us to change up our strategy a little bit, just go up there and swing hard early in counts when you get balls to hit. That’s our style of baseball.”

The Eagles opened the door in the third inning as Berg got the inning started by taking the extra bag as the left fielder bobbled the ball for a hustle double.

Then, Kaleb White grounded a ball to third base that went through the legs of Jake Haefeli and into left field, scoring Berg.

Freshman Trenten Riehl knocked a two-out, two RBI double to push the score to 4-1.

“Trenton Riehl, I have to give that kid so much credit,” Berg said. “He did an amazing job coming in. Up and down the lineup, everybody was contributing and doing a stellar job. I’m so proud of everyone.”

Then the Eagles poured it on in the fourth. 

“By nature, our team is very aggressive,” Denning said. “That’s who we are: we run the bases, we swing the bats and we go hard.”

Austin Sobraske had a leadoff double down the line to set up runners on second and third. Berg cleared the bases with a two-run double before Adrian Juarez singled up the middle to score two. 

Thompson Valley had six runs in the inning.

“We’re taking it one at a time,” Berg said. “We’re going to take our time and enjoy this one for a little bit.”

Evergreen solidified its spot in the championship game before the day started. 

Thompson Valley will face Valor Christian for another shot at Evergreen in the championship game.

“We have two options for starters and we’re going to work through that tonight,” Denning said. “A lot of it will be dependent on what we see this afternoon and who we’re going to face. That’ll all come out in the wash later tonight.”

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(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Ziegler lifts Valor Christian over Air Academy in elimination game

Luke Ziegler put forth a dominant effort in both facets of the game to lift Valor Christian over Air Academy 7-0 in the 4A baseball playoffs.

“Today was a tough game for our seniors. We knew that this could be their last game,” Ziegler said. “We knew they really wanted to push it out and win. I got on the mound and was throwing strikes and trusting my defense. They did a good job behind me.”

Three walks loaded the bases with one out in the third as Ziegler stepped up to the plate.

Ziegler singled up the middle to score two runs and get Valor Christian on the board first.

Calvin Schonebaum followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-0. Shchonebaum had two runs batted in.

Then, Ziegler got it done on the mound.

Ziegler went six innings, allowed zero runs on three hits and had four strikeouts.

“I tried not to do too much,” Ziegler said. “Sometimes I try to strike too many people out. Getting groundballs was the gameplan today and I think I did a good job of it.”

And again, Ziegler helped himself out and added to the Valor Christian lead.

“When we lost against Evergreen, I feel like I didn’t do enough to help the team,” Ziegler said. “I really wanted to come out and make a statement and do whatever I could to help our team win today.”

An RBI double to deep left-center field gave the Eagles more insurance in the fifth inning.

But, Ziegler didn’t need it.

The Pepperdine commit cruised to a complete game shutout as Valor Christian moved on to the next round of the state tournament.

“Locating my fastball and keeping it down,” Ziegler said on what was working. “Getting people to stay out of the air and trusting my defense behind me.”

Valor Christian added two more runs in the top of the seventh to cement the score at 7-0.

The Eagles will face Thompson Valley Saturday at 10. The winner will play Evergreen in the state championship game.

DENVER — Thompson Valley jumped out to a 12-1 lead and held on for an eventual 12-9 victory over Evergreen in the semifinals of the Class 4A baseball state championship series Friday, May 26, at Regency Athletic Complex at Metro State University.

Despite the loss, Evergreen will play in the 4A championship game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 27, at Metro State. Thompson Valley will play in an elimination game 10 a.m. Saturday with a shot to play the Cougars again for the state title.

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