In a matter of four days, Salisbury was on an emotional roller coaster in which it experienced the lowest of lows and highest of highs.

When the District 11 Class 3A tournament was set, the road to a state playoff push was paved for the Falcons. As the No. 2 seed in 3A, the Falcons wouldn’t have to square up against undefeated and presumed favorite No. 1 Pottsville until the finals. Not only that, but the Falcons’ road to a championship game appearance wouldn’t go through EPC squads Central Catholic and Bethlehm Catholic.

After a win over Jim Thorpe in the quarterfinals round, Blue Mountain awaited in the semifinals, a team Salisbury had faced, and beaten, in the season opener.

And while many anticipated Salisbury advancing with a No. 1 vs. No. 2 championship on the line, Blue Mountain had other plans. It came in gut-wrenching fashion, as Blue Mountain’s Mason Zerbe hit a game-tying three-pointer at the regulation buzzer to force overtime and subsequently down the Falcons in the extra frame, 66-64.

The loss certainly stung Salisbury, which led 59-56 with 1:20 to play. They could all but taste a district final appearance.

But with under 10 seconds left and after one missed Eagles attempt from three-point range, a long rebound gave them a second life.

“There was a timeout with eight seconds left and I was thinking should we foul at that point,” Weaver said following that loss. “I thought it was too much time. I thought our initial defense on [Mark] Chelius, [Chad] Cooperman did a great job. It was a tough shot...I don’t know how it got tipped out to him [Zerbe]. I don’t remember that in my head. It just seemed that the ball tipped out and the guy was wide open.”

Salisbury scored the first bucket of overtime, but Blue Mountain scored the next five to lead 64-61 with 26.7 seconds remaining. A game with so much emotions could have derailed Salisbury’s train from its track that lead to a state playoff berth.

“Tuesday night was a rough night,” Weaver said. “I wasn’t sleeping. I was angry. I was upset. I give credit to our captains on Wednesday; we had a really good practice and the attitude was positive. The energy was good. They were joking around. There was focus there and we weren’t defeated. I think that was the key and it sort of set the tone.”

Team captain and leading scorer Dylan Belletiere took the loss particularly hard, knowing what kind of opportunity the Falcons let slip through their fingertips.

“I let that out throughout the school day,” Belletiere said. “But then come practice, I knew that we had to play hard and play real physical these past two practices. We just blew it off because we knew we had another chance.”

Not only were those practice sessions key in getting over that deflating loss, but their own mentality of having a second life against Becahi on Friday boosted the Falcons’ confidence.

“It’s definitely good to bounce back from a loss to Blue Mountain, who everyone thought we could beat,” Belletiere said. “To come back from that and play a tough EPC team just shows how hard we’ve worked all season.”

And the rest is history. Salisbury rallied from a late seven-point deficit against the Hawks to win Friday’s third-place game and make it to states for the first time since 2013.

The Falcons didn’t let one game define their season. And they won’t let Friday’s big victory over Becahi dictate things either. There is still work to be done, and whether anyone gives Salisbury a chance against District 3 champion Bishop McDevitt in the state tournament or not is fine with the Falcons. They’ll be playing until the final whistle regardless of their opponent.