Matt Clark

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Skyview coach Aaron Sanders paused for a few minutes outside his team's locker room to collect his thoughts.

When he finally opened the door, there was little doubt his eyes must have met the teary gaze of 11 unhappy players.

It wasn't going to be an easy talk.

What do you tell the defending state champions when their dreams of a repeat slip away in the final minute?

"The big thing we tried to focus on was to win a state championship you have to have a lot of things go your way," Sanders said. "You have to have a lot of talent. You have to work hard all year. You have to avoid injuries. You've also got to have a little bit of luck."

Last year, those things certainly worked in the Hawks' favor. They won three straight overtime games on the way to a state championship.

Thursday night, their luck finally ran out.

"Last year we had kind of a magical run. This year, we had a couple things not go our way," Sanders said. "That's really hard to understand. Especially when you play as hard as they did."

BY RACHEL ROBERTS