When Brookhaven Academy beat Centreville Academy 19-0 last Tuesday to take game one of the South State Championship, Cougars’ head coach Tyler Parvin knew the challenge he had in front of him.

He knew that he had to find a way to make sure the Cougars understood game two of the series started at 0-0.

Fortunately for the Cougars, they figured that out after dropping game two of the series to the Tigers.

Dawson Flowers pitched game three for Brookhaven Academy, and Tanner Watts came in in relief to close it down and propel the Cougars to their first state championship appearance since they won it all in 2010.

“You have to give credit to Centreville,” Parvin said. “They really came in and played us well in that (second) game, and they really pitched well. They jumped out on us, and about the fifth inning I realized that we were going to go to a game three.”

That’s when he knew that Flowers was going to have the ball with a chance to advance, and Parvin said there was nobody else he’d want in that situation.

“That’s who we want in a game three,” Parvin said. “We held him for game three for that reason, and it worked out for us.”

Watts came in and finished the contest after pitching a one-hit shutout only 48 hours earlier, and it allowed the Cougars to play with confidence behind him.

“Tanner told me at school that day that his arm felt good,” Parvin said. “I told him that if we had a game three he was going to come in in relief, and sure enough he did. He was excellent for us.”

The Cougars will move on to the state championship series tonight against Tri-County Academy. Brookhaven Academy will host the first game tonight at 6:30 p.m. The Cougars will travel to Flora for game two and a possible third game on Thursday.

Parvin said that he knows how big winning game one is, especially in games 2 and 3, with the Cougars not having the home-field advantage for the first time in the postseason.

“Game one is critical, and we’re going to do everything that we can to win that one,” Parvin said. “You can take all the momentum and put all the pressure on them if you can win the first game.”

Tri-County Academy has won 22 games this season, and have figured out ways to win games in different types of ways.

“What I know about them is that they just win baseball games,” Parvin said. “Everybody that I talk to just says that they know how to win, and that’s a good trait in the postseason.”