As the players took turns passing around – and even kissing – the district championship plaque, the emotion of the moment was a real one.

“I about cried,” Houston junior Sterling Jackson said. “Most of the guys did.”

Why not? The journey to restore success to the program has been a long and many times difficult one. And it finally arrived.

The Tigers put the finishing touches on a breakthrough season Wednesday by hoisting the district title for the first time since 2007 and seventh time ever. Behind junior Jacob Koch’s strong start, Jackson’s grand slam and back-to-back seven-run innings, No. 2 HHS hammered fourth-seeded Mountain Grove 15-5 in five innings to win Class 3 District 10.

“This means the world to us,” Jackson said. “Almost all of us have gone to school here since we were in kindergarten. It means everything.”

Especially considering where this team came from.

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The championship – advancing Houston to the sectional round Monday at Fatima – culminated a complete turnaround for the program. Since their last district title game appearance in 2010, the Tigers experienced their first six losing seasons of coach Brent Hall’s 21-year career. It bottomed out in 2017 with a 5-18 mark and wasn’t much better last season at 7-17.

There was no all-conference transfer player added to the roster or star freshman joining the team. Instead, Hall said the same players who hadn’t experienced a winning varsity season continued to work hard and became unified.

“It’s the kids. I’ve had the same system,” Hall said. “There was some selfness here. Our goal this year was to be servants to one another. They’ve done that. They’ve had each other’s back and been positive. The bickering that we’ve had in the past hasn’t been an issue.”

Trevor Mitchell’s two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning plated the runs that invoked the run-rule and set off a wild celebration on Houston’s home field. There were hugs, tears and a cooler of water dumped on Hall. Family members joined the players on the infield for selfies and photos with the championship plaque.

The 2019 Tigers joined HHS teams from 1959, 1960, 1975, 1980, 1992 and 2007 as district champions. The ’07 team, which finished second in the state, is the only one to win its sectional game.

“Knowing that the last time was 2007, it’s absolutely amazing to get one of your own,” Koch said.

It was a complete team effort for Houston (16-9). Eight different players had hits and 10 scored runs. Cody Allen led the way by going 2-for-3 with three RBIs from the leadoff spot. Koch and Mitchell complimented Jackson’s four runs knocked in with two RBIs apiece. Hunter Stilley scored three times.

The strong offensive effort complimented an impressive start from Koch.

The junior right-hander only struck out one batter, but he scattered four hits over four innings and walked none. He threw 34 of his 53 pitches for strikes and induced six of his eight recorded outs as groundouts.

“His fastball had a lot of life,” Allen said.

Koch, who lowered his team-leading ERA to 2.14 and won for the seventh time in nine starts, emerged as the top pitcher for a staff that carried the Tigers this season. Houston pitchers have a combined 3.03 ERA and 241 strikeouts in 162 innings under the direction of pitching coach Jeff Richardson.

“Coach Richardson is as big a part of this or bigger than me,” Hall said.

Sophomore Alex Castleman, who homered in Houston’s 5-1 semifinal win the previous day against Cabool, singled home the game’s first run in the third.

After Mountain Grove (10-16) answered with a two-out triple in the top of the fourth, the Tigers created some distance by scoring seven times in the bottom half of the inning.

No. 8 hitter Devin Wallander had a two-run single to make it 3-1 and Allen brought home another run with a sacrifice fly. With two outs and first base open, the Panthers elected to walk Castleman to load the bases for Jackson, the team’s clean-up hitter.

After taking a first-pitch curveball for a strike, Jackson drilled the next delivery over the 315-foot sign in right field for a grand slam and 8-1 HHS lead.

“It was a fastball at my knees – a little inside – and I just turned on it,” Jackson said. “It felt like a good swing. I didn’t know if it would go out or not.”

It did. And it was a huge blow.

“He smoked it,” Allen said. “Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

But it didn’t completely put away the Panthers.

Playing in their fifth straight district championship game – and one day after upsetting No. 1 Licking 8-7 in the semifinals – the Panthers rallied to score four times in the fifth inning off Jackson, who relieved Koch. None of the runs were earned, though, as Houston committed three errors.

“Hats off to Mountain Grove,” Hall said. “They had no pitching, but they battled us and put a scare in us after we knocked them down. They just didn’t have enough to compete the way they wanted to.”

The game was close but not for long.

With Mountain Grove down to a freshman pitcher who hadn’t thrown an inning this season, the Tigers added another seven runs in the fifth to end it. Koch and Mitchell had the biggest hits with consecutive two-run singles to bring home the final runs.

Hall, who has now won two districts as a coach and one as a player at Houston, said he understands the difficulty of winning a district title. After a 12-year wait, his Tigers are champions again.

“I tell the kids you only get a few opportunities in life where all the morning practices, time in the summer and the grind of it all, there’s that moment when it’s all worth it,” he said. “It doesn’t happen for everybody. I’m glad these guys get to experience it.”

BOX SCORE

HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Cody Allen c 3-0-2-3. Connor Wilson ss 4-1-2-1. Alex Castleman 2b 3-1-1-1. Sterling Jackson 1b 3-2-1-4. Jacob Koch p 3-2-1-2. Trevor Mitchell 3b 2-1-1-2. Brecken Adey 1b 0-1-0-0. Braedin Groff rf 3-1-1-1. Devin Wallander dh 2-0-1-2. Wiley Sisco cr 1-2-0-0. Hunter Stilley cf 0-3-0-0. Robbie Mortenson pr 0-1-0-0. Totals 24-15-10-15.

HR: Jackson. SF: Allen. SB: Stilley 2.

IMAGES FROM THE GAME

“Knowing that the last time was 2007, it’s absolutely amazing to get one of your own.”

-JACOB KOCH