Jacob David hit a prayer and let out a primal scream. It was his and Rock Canyon’s moment.

The Jaguars are heading to the 6A boys state championship game for the first time after knocking off No. 1 seed Chaparral by a final of 75-60 on Friday night at the Denver Coliseum.

“It feels great,” David told The Denver Gazette. “They’re a good team, obviously No. 1 for a reason, but we played our (expletive) off. We gave it everything we had.”

After losing to Chaparral in the Sweet 16 of last year’s playoffs and again earlier this season, Rock Canyon knew it had to throw its best punch. Its performance was about as perfect as possible.

The Jaguars shot over 62% from the field and over 56% from 3-point range as a team, including David’s at the end of the third quarter that gave his team a 47-34 lead. 

They also turned 14 Wolverines’ turnovers into 19 points and did enough to keep everyone else in check while the Chaparral star duo of juniors Christian Williams and Luke Howery combined for 43 points.

“We knew they were gonna get theirs and we knew we were gonna have to do a better job offensively,” Rock Canyon coach Kent Grams said. “That’s what hurt us in our previous game and in the Sweet 16 last year. They knew we had to play well because Chap is such a good team. We’ve been so close to beating Chap. We’ve got a special group of young men that are very resilient.”

Now, the Jaguars will face No. 2 Ralston Valley with a chance for their first-ever championship.

“It means everything,” David said. “We’ve never been to a state championship. Coach Grams deserves it. We all worked hard for this one.”

The Mustangs took down a talented Rangeview trio in the second game thanks to a standout performance by the senior duo of Caiden Braketa and Zeke Andrews.

Andrews may be bound for Greeley as a quarterback, but he dominated the paint, scoring 19 points offensively and racking up four blocks on the other end, while Braketa hit 3-pointer after 3-pointer in the second half to keep the Raiders at arm’s length throughout the final 16 minutes, finishing with a game-high 26 points on 6-for-13 shooting from beyond the arc.

“When (Andrews) gets going inside, that really opens up shots for us outside,” Braketa told The Denver Gazette. “When he got going for us at the beginning of the third (quarter) and I was able to hit some shots at the end there, that was really good.” 

After coming up short the past two years alongside older brother Tanner, who’s now a freshman for Steve Smiley’s Northern Colorado Bears, Caiden and this veteran Mustangs team will play for the second state title in school history.

“It really means a lot,” Braketa said. “There’s eight seniors and we’ve been playing together since middle school. We’ve been together for a long time and to finally get here, especially as seniors, it’s really special.”

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Other Friday action

Kent Denver boys and girls both championship-bound

There are officially a pair of schools going for the boys and girls double on championship Saturday. Lutheran ensured it would play for both 5A titles after Thursday’s action and now Kent Denver has done the same on Friday with both teams beating Timnath in the 4A semifinals. The Kent girls will try to win their first-ever championship, while the boys team, led by Air Force commit Caleb Fay, will look to win back-to-back in their third straight appearance in the championship game. 

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Full Friday scoreboard

4A girls

No. 3 Kent Denver 53, No. 2 Timnath 46

No. 4 Holy Family 48, No. 1 University 40

4A boys

No. 1 Kent Denver 82, No. 5 Timnath 72

No. 10 University 82, No. 14 Peak to Peak 70

6A boys

No. 5 Rock Canyon 75, No. 1 Chaparral 60

No. 2 Ralston Valley 61, No. 3 Rangeview 49

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Saturday championship schedule

10 a.m. – 4A girls – No. 3 Kent Denver vs. No. 4 Holy Family

11:45 a.m. – 4A boys – No. 1 Kent Denver vs. No. 10 University

1:15 p.m. – Unified Game

2:15 p.m. – 6A girls – No. 5 Northfield vs. No. 7 Highlands Ranch

4 p.m. – 6A boys – No. 2 Ralston Valley vs. No. 5 Rock Canyon

5:45 p.m. – 5A girls – No. 10 Lutheran vs. No. 13 Silver Creek

7:15 p.m. – 5A boys – No. 1 Lutheran vs. No. 2 Green Mountain