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(Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick, Deseret News)RICHFIELD -— There has been a high school in Tropic, Utah, since the late 1920s, but up until Saturday night, the tiny town in southern Utah had never been a state champion in anything other than chorus or drill team.
Now, though, the town of Tropic can say for the rest of time that it has produced a state champion in the sport that the community cares about the most — basketball. And it has a gutsy cast of characters — that quite possibly didn't know any better — to thank for making history.
Matched up with heavily favored Piute in the 1A championship game, success-starved Bryce Valley shocked possibly everyone except itself to take down the T-Birds and win the school's first state title.
To claim the championship trophy, the Mustangs got incredible fourth-quarter performances from Kam Roundy, Tallan Chynoweth, Korde Chynoweth, Colton Roberts, Kaden Pollock and Eddie Dunham to overcome the loss of superstar Kace Roundy, who fouled out with 7:11 remaining, and win 53-48 Saturday night inside the Sevier Valley Center.
There quite possibly wasn't a single person inside this building during last year's 1A boys basketball tournament who believed that the Mustangs, who went 3-18 a season ago, would be hoisting the championship trophy 12 months later.
Yet there they were, being mobbed by literally the entire community of Bryce Valley after they collectively turned in an epic performance that will be recounted by the residents of Tropic, Cannonville and Henrieville for the rest of time.
"There's no way that you can put it into words, unless you want to follow a 100-car caravan back to the valley for a two-hour drive," coach Eric Jessen said of winning Bryce Valley's first state championship. "It means a lot. I saw a lot of people in the community today that's in their late 80s, (people) that don't usually come out to church … people that don't get out of their house much.
"The whole valley was here."
And the whole valley went home in ecstasy after its heroes in green and white produced a fairy-tale ending to a story that Walt Disney would've been proud of.
Not many people believed Bryce Valley would be able to beat heavily favored Piute in the title game. And while Bryce Valley's players had turned in a number of gutsy performances over the opening three quarters, fewer people thought the Mustangs would prevail after Kace Roundy was harshly whistled for his fifth foul with 7:11 left in the fourth.
But while the odds may have been stacked against them, the Mustangs never stopped believing in themselves.
That much was clear after brother Kam walked over and delivered a simple message to Kace.
"I turned to him and told him, 'I'm gonna win this for you no matter what it takes,' " recalled Kam. "I had guys step up and help me, as big as it was. It was amazing how big we played together as a team."
That last point can't possibly be overstated.
Kam Roundy finished with 15 points and 11 boards and made a clutch shot to really get Bryce Valley going in the fourth, but quite literally every person who was on the floor with him did huge things after his brother fouled out.
