Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | 2 a.m.
Related content
- Moment of the Year: Richard Curry scores for Bonanza High football
- Game of the Year: Chaparral basketball pulls of massive playoff upset
- Citizen of the Year: Brooke Bykowski, Foothill volleyball
- Male Scholar Athlete of the Year: Anjelo Vigilia, Western wrestling
- Female Scholar Athlete of the Year: Mackenzie Carcelli, Spring Valley soccer, basketball, track
- Team of the Year: Centennial girls basketball
- Rising Stars: Jaden Hardy of Coronado basketball and Paige Sinicki of Coronado softball
- Male Athlete of the Year: Aaron Roberts, Desert Oasis baseball
- Female Athlete of the Year: Audrey Boch-Collins, Clark tennis
- Coach of the Year: Chris Martinez, Centennial cross country
- Sun Standout Award: Bishop Gorman girls soccer
- Unsung Hero Award: Sydney Bigger, Desert Oasis
- Lifetime achievement: Baseball coach Sam Thomas, 'I am the lucky one. I get to go on this ride'
Everyone expected Democracy Prep boys basketball to roll through the Class 3A playoffs this season. Chaparral had other ideas.
The Cowboys, who were 16-7 on the year, eliminated the Blue Knights, who were undefeated in league play, in an 82-80 overtime win in the Southern Region semifinal in February. Meshach Hawkins hit a game-winning shot in the final minute of overtime to secure the victory.
“We were supposed to lose that game by 20, I think they said,” said Hawkins, who had a team-high 22 points. “It was joyful. My coach, he hugged me and I started crying and he started crying.”
Democracy Prep outscored opponents by 24.6 points per game in the regular season to roll to a Sunset League title, while Chaparral grabbed the No. 2 seed in the Sunrise League.
Chaparral trailed by double digits in the game but grabbed the lead late in the fourth quarter before Democracy Prep tied it. The overtime win sent the Cowboys to the state tournament for the first time since before Hawkins was born.
“That’s what the goal was, to go to state,” Hawkins. “No Chap team did it in so long.”
Finalists:
• Democracy Prep football stuns Coronado to open season. Defeated a school with four times the enrollment despite only dressing 26 players, moving up to the 3A level for the first time and surrendering a game-opening kickoff return for a touchdown.
• Eldorado boys soccer knocks out Cimarron-Memorial in penalty kicks. Pulled off a major upset against the team heavily favored to win the state title by holding them scoreless through regulation and overtime before winning a 4-2 penalty-kick shootout.
• Green Valley flag football beats Bonanza in final seconds of state championship. Succeeded on a two-point conversion attempt with less than a minute remaining, scoring from 10 yards out to win the game instead of going for the safer five-yard extra point to force overtime.
