It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Eventually, Porters Chapel was going to run into a good team on the wrong night and its long district winning streak was going to come to an end.

And as the Eagles’ dynasty crumbled amidst a sea of errors and wasted at-bats on Friday night, there was little they could do but accept their fate and tip their caps to the new king of the mountain.

Tri-County’s Andrew Howell struck out 16 batters, went 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and a run scored, and led the Rebels to an 8-3 win over PCA in the second game of a doubleheader.

The loss not only snapped PCA’s 49-game winning streak against district opponents – a streak that dated back to the start of the 2002 season – but also stopped its string of five straight district championships.

&#8220We’re dang proud of it. They’ve kind of kicked us around the last three or four years, so we’re glad to return the favor,” Tri-County coach Joe Goolsby said.

Tri-County (15-5, 7-1) clinched the District 4-A title with the victory. The Rebels dropped the first game of the doubleheader, 6-2, but won the run-differential tiebreaker over the Eagles (13-6, 5-1).

PCA can still finish second in the district and make the MPSA Class A playoffs for the eighth straight season by beating Veritas on Tuesday.

&#8220It’s sad to see us go down like this. We’re a lot better than we played tonight,” said PCA outfielder Chris Mixon, who went just 1-for-4 with a single, but reached base twice on dropped third strikes and scored two runs.

Matt Cranfield took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of game one Friday, then finished with a four-hitter as the Eagles won the first game 6-2.

After a 20-minute break between games, however, the two teams seemed changed. PCA was dull and lifeless while Tri-County was fired up. The Rebels tagged PCA starter Michael Busby for two unearned runs in the second inning, then scored two more unearned runs off reliever Dan Ivey in the third to jump to a 4-0 lead.

Tri-County eventually stretched the lead to as much as 8-0 in the sixth before PCA was able to put anything together against Howell. In all, six PCA errors led to six Tri-County runs.

&#8220We just didn’t play very well,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. &#8220The bottom line is they outplayed us. They beat us, and they deserved to win.”

Chris Nowell’s two-run single in the sixth keyed a four-run Tri-County rally that put the Rebels ahead 8-0 and salted the game away. PCA did make one last-ditch effort at salvaging the district title, though.

Moose Carney drove in three runs with singles in the sixth and seventh innings, helping the Eagles cut it to 8-3 with two on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Needing two runs to win the run-differential battle, PCA came up short.

Howell got Hayden Hales to flail at a curveball for his 16th and final strikeout, ending the game and the Eagles’ reign.

&#8220We just got it in our heads that we wanted to be champions,” said Howell, who allowed only one hit and one hit batsman through the first five innings. &#8220It’s the first time I’ve ever been a champion in my life, and it’s nice.”