This championship road is familiar to the Ironwood Eagles.

But it’s been a while since they exited a season with the biggest prize.

The program will get a chance to snap its champion-less streak on Saturday thanks to what it did Tuesday. Spurred by its defense’s strong second half performance, Ironwood advanced to Saturday’s 5A title tilt after defeating Campo Verde 1-0 at home.

The Eagles advanced to their 11th championship game—fifth most ever in the state. But it’s been 13 years since hall of fame coach Tim Beck and his Ironwood program hoisted a gold ball.

On top of that, last year’s 4-1 loss to Horizon in the championship match left a bitter taste.

“Every year is a different year,” said Beck, now in his 30th season as Ironwood’s soccer boss. “This is a good group. Most of them were with me last year. It (2023 title loss) hurt. It hurt for a while. But those losses, even though I’ve been doing this for a long time, they still hurt me just as much it hurts them. That’s why I know I’m still supposed to be doing this. But the boys responded tonight. That’s a great team we played against.”

That Campo Verde made it this far, playing without four injured starters at the beginning of the season, is a testament to the team’s grit and leadership.

“I would have never expected us to be in the semifinal game at the beginning of the year when we were putting everything together,” veteran Campo Verde coach Andrew Guarneri said. “But I’m super proud of where we finished at.

“We grew as a group. It took a lot of effort and energy.”

The first half of Tuesday’s match between top-seeded Ironwood (18-3-1) and 4th seeded Campo Verde (17-4) was well played by both sides.

Each team had chances to score, but the squads’ goalkeepers stopped the best opportunities. Ironwood, however, capitalized on a missed clearance to score the only goal in the match with less than four minutes remaining in the first half.

Junior striker Bryan Romero got to the loose ball and had the space to take a shot but instead passed it to Gavin Sanchez, who one-timed it in from close range.

“We are a team,” Romero said. “We are a brotherhood. We don’t like to be selfish around here. When I see a player open that’s my cue to pass him the ball. I trust them enough and know they will finish off the job.”

Sanchez did just that and Ironwood’s defense as well in the second half.

That defense limited Campo Verde to just three second half shots on a field that has likely seen better days but is still providing Ironwood great memories.

“It’s win or go home,” Ironwood’s tall and talented center back Ben Rouse said. “We have 14 seniors. The back line wants to do anything but go home. It’s been the same back line for two years. We know how it felt last year, and we knew we weren’t going to let anything pass in the second half.”

Ironwood will attempt to atone for last year’s title loss when it meets Northwest Region mate Sunrise Mountain on Saturday in the 5A final at Mesa High.