FOUNTAIN-FORT CARSON | The thrill of winning the Class 5A state championship was followed by a little pain for Eaglecrest senior Jackson Shaw Saturday evening.
The Raptors’ star outside hitter had crumpled to the floor in celebration after the winning point of his team’s 19-25, 25-23, 25-19, 27-25 victory over top-seeded Littleton Public Schools when he got hammered in the face.
Shaw was bleeding as he celebrated the program’s first state title, but he didn’t mind a bit.
“I was about to cramp and I was overwhelmed with emotion and then I got punched. ..somebody punched me in the nose,” Shaw said with a smile after his team completed its 25-5 season. “But it’s OK, I couldn’t be any more happy.”
To feel that rush of elation (plus the punch), Shaw and his teammates had to find a way to get past an LPS program (a combination of players from Arapahoe and Heritage high schools) that had come to be its nemesis. The LPS team (which came into the match 26-1) had won five consecutive matches against the Raptors, including three this season, and one as recently as a few hours earlier in the championship semifinals.
After falling behind by double figures in the opening set and falling into a 1-0 hole, coach Chad Bond’s Eaglecrest team flipped the switch on momentum and took it from there.
Exhibiting the max energy on the defensive side — with big help from junior libero Max Chen — the Raptors finally slowed the diverse LPS attack that had been so successful all season and got offensive itself.
Shaw was a big piece, as was junior Ashton Bond and a variety of others, who all took turns coming up in big moments to help Eaglecrest hold onto leads in the second and third sets and rally from a late deficit in the fourth.
With LPS within a point of sending the match to a deciding fifth set, sophomore Will George tied it up with a successful tip shot, Shaw gave his team the lead with a big kill and a wide attack sealed the victory.
“I told them we didn’t have to be the best team the entire season, we only had to be the best team tonight,” said Bond, who got a state title as a head coach to match the one his wife, Tanya, won with the undefeated Eaglecrest girls team in 2006.
“We were the best team tonight.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
