A year after losing a heartbreaker to Simeon in the sectional final, Harlan was looking to make sure the same thing didn’t happen again. The Falcons prevailed, 7-5, over Jones to win the Class 3A St. Ignatius Sectional championship Saturday morning. The win marks the first sectional title in the program’s history.

But the win didn’t come without some tense moments in the last two frames.

Down 7-1 going into the sixth inning, Jones had to start hitting Harlan starter Stephon Edwards, who had only allowed one Eagle baserunner after giving up a run in the top of the first inning. After the first two Jones batters grounded out, the Eagles started a rally by hitting three singles with a walk mixed in between. Luis Gomez and Adrian Bruzuda each brought home one run.

As it had done the previous inning, Jones (14-17) mounted a rally in the top of the seventh against a tiring Edwards. Edwards allowed Vince Lindsey (double), Gabe Sanchez (single) and Philip Van Zale (double) to reach before getting Jordan Jackson to foul out to the first baseman. Edwards then hit David Barboza and walked Gomez before inducing Bruzuda to ground out to shortstop, ending the game with the bases loaded.

“They weren’t really getting to me,’’ said Edwards. “I was just getting tired. I knew I had to get through though to help my team.’’

After each team scored in the first, both Edwards and Bruzuda settled down, keeping their opponents at bay until the fourth inning, when Harlan pushed a run across on a Terrell Steward single.

The Falcons (26-10-1) got some much-needed insurance runs in the fifth by taking advantage of two Jones errors to extend their 2-1 lead to 7-1. The Falcons scored all five runs with two outs.

Tyler Johnson started the scoring in the fifth on a groundout that brought home Torrion Towers, who had reached on an error by the second baseman. The next six hitters all reached base for Harlan. The big blow was an error on the left fielder that brought home two runs and allowed Christian Bland to get all the way to third base. Bland would score on Steward’s second RBI single.

“This game is all about momentum,’’ Steward said. “Once you get on a roll, you just keep going, try to get as much as you can.’’

The first sectional title sends Harlan to the Standard Bank Stadium Supersectional on Monday at 5 p.m.

Steward had a note to future Harlan opponents.

“The city kids are just as good as the Catholic League kids, don’t think any different.’’

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