After Porters Chapel Academy dispatched Tri-County on Friday to earn a trip to the MPSA Class A state championship series, coach Randy Wright called his team into the right field corner for a postgame chat. As he talked, Wright pointed out to his quiet troops that they had, in fact, just won the North State championship.

Michael Busby, the team’s shortstop and best pitcher, then spoke up.

&#8220Woo hoo. What do we get for that? Another sign? We don’t get a ring,” Busby said calmly.

Indeed, while the school’s fourth trip to the state finals in six seasons is something to be proud of, it’s not what the Eagles had in mind when they started the season in February. There is still work to be done, a championship to win, and a ring to collect. Then, and only then, will it be time to celebrate.

&#8220We didn’t get a whole lot of reaction. They’re focused on one goal, and that’s to win a state championship,” Wright said.

PCA can take the first step in the final leg of its journey toward that goal by going on the road and beating Huntington in Game 1 of the Academy-A finals. Game 2 in the best-of-three series will be on Wednesday at PCA, and Game 3 will be back at Huntington on Friday.

The South State finals were delayed by rain over the weekend, but Huntington closed out the series and carries a 19-10 record into the championship.

The last three times the Eagles have made it this far, in 2001, 2003 and 2004, their opponent was Heidelberg. PCA’s only state title in those three finals appearances came in 2003. In 2001, PCA beat Huntington in the South State finals.

&#8220Huntington is a very well-coached team and we’ll definitely have our hands full,” Wright said. &#8220They’re going to be a very fundamentally sound baseball team.”

PCA has also shown that it will be a formidable opponent in this week’s series. The Eagles have swept all three of their playoff series so far, winning six straight games in as many different ways.

They beat Benton Academy in round one with hitting, scoring 10 runs in each game of the series. Against defending state champion Tunica Institute, PCA’s pitching was dominant, allowing just five base runners and registering 27 strikeouts in 12 innings of play. Then, in the semifinals against Tri-County, they won a sloppy contest (four errors in Game 1) and a rain-delayed momentum-sapping Game 2.

Through it all, PCA has done a lot of little things to give itself a boost and keep its opponents down: