As Brandon Stegman walked toward home plate at Erdle Field to collect the 4A baseball trophy, he and the Falcon players received a shower of applause from fans who traveled to the game. 

Then, as the Falcon coach ventured back toward his team Saturday with the silver plaque in tow, he paused, looked toward Pueblo County and shared a message.

“Great team,” Stegman said after Falcon’s 9-4 loss to Pueblo County in the state championship game. “You guys are a great team. You deserve this.”

All class from a coach and team that displayed heart and hustle throughout the season to arrive at Falcon’s first baseball title game. 

“When I first took over this program, all we wanted to do was make the playoffs,” Stegman said. “Then we get to the regional finals and win that. We get to (the) state (tournament) and win a game. We did that. We wanted to get to the final four. We did that. We get to the championship. We did that. The next one is we have to win it. Program trajectory says we’re on that path.”

When Stegman took the reins at Falcon in 2019, the Falcons finished 7-16. Six years later, the Falcons have three consecutive 20-plus-win seasons. 

The Falcons (22-6) earned 4A’s No. 3 seed this season and beat Cañon City and Holy Family in the first and second rounds at UCCS. Falcon then secured its first victory at the United States Air Force Academy with a 4-3 victory against No. 8 Ponderosa on Friday in the fourth-round consolation to advance to the title game.

Falcon hoped to finish the story with gold against Pueblo County, but the No. 5-seeded Hornets stymied the Falcons and their hitting. 

After the Falcons built a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Hornets launched a barrage of singles and doubles to send runners home. 

The Hornets (23-6) had all but one player finish with at least one hit and Pueblo County’s defense held Falcon without a run from the second through sixth innings. 

“I’m proud of all of these boys,” Aaron Jaquez said. “It’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be all right.. I think all the juniors, sophomores and freshmen can see what we’ve done and really work hard on their craft and get better. We want to see them keep it going.” 

The Falcons attempted a rally similar to last week’s semifinal game with Pueblo County, where Falcon scored five of its six runs in the final inning, but lost 11-6. Falcon scored three runs in the seventh Saturday. But the Hornets again thwarted the rally and bolted to the field to celebrate the school’s first baseball title.

That’s not the ending the Falcons envisioned, but Stegman said his players have no reason to dread the season finale. 

“It’s not necessarily about the plaque; this is about your teammates, the experience and your brothers,” Stegman said. “They might not come back to the high school for years and they might not see that plaque, but they have teammates and coaches for life. You can call on a teammate and you can call on a coach; you can’t call on a plaque.”