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HERRIMAN — Skyridge had all the momentum as the 6A championship game entered the closing five minutes.
But there were two problems: The Hawks were down by two, and Mountain Ridge had Bekah Bargeron in goal.
Bargeron turned away shot after shot in the final minutes as Mountain Ridge avenged an earlier-season loss to Skyridge with an 11-9 victory to win the 6A state championship.
"I could kiss her feet, especially since Skyridge had a ton of the possession," Mountain Ridge coach Angie Brescia said.
For Bargeron, it was simple. It was her senior season and she didn't want to let the team that had welcomed her in with open arms down after a mid-year move. With over 10 minutes left in the game, the Sentinels looked to put the clamps down.
Tessa Mortensen zig-zagged her way through the Skyridge defense and put a shot in the back of the net that made it 11-7.
Even with that much time left, it felt like the game was over. Mountain Ridge controlled possession and its defense had stymied the high-scoring Skyridge attack, but the Falcons didn't go down quietly.
Eliza White and Haven Buechner scored back-to-back goals less than a minute apart to cut the Mountain Ridge lead to two goals with 5:19 remaining. The pressure continued with Skyridge pushing hard to get even. They got the shots; they just didn't get past Bargeron.
"Honestly, all I could think is we've made it this far," the goalie said. "I'm not giving up and I just kept my eye on that ball. I didn't want to stop and every shot that went in, I said, 'You're getting the next one.'"
The Mountain Ridge offense had done too well, and they had gotten too far for her to let it slip away.
She missed a few — like every goalie does — but got all the important ones at the end.
"We got worked down on the defensive end. They got tons of shots off and Bekah saved our butts, hands down," Brescia said.
The hero of the state championship game wasn't on the team last year — she was at Viewmont. A family move forced her to a new city, a new school and a new team. Change can sometimes lead to greatness — for herself and her team.
"It was a little bit strange, but they were just so welcoming," Bargeron said. "This team is so nice. They're so unbelievably nice. Like it was so easy to jump in and be a part of them. They all welcomed me and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be."
It turns out it was pretty easy for Mountain Ridge, too.
"I'm still in disbelief that it happened," Brescia said. "But I couldn't be more proud of my team and how hard they worked."
