Some tired legs and on the field frustrations somewhat spoiled a championship clash between two of the premier soccer programs in the state.

But take nothing away from Sunnyside. Down a man, the Blue Devils exhibited some of that south Tucson grit the program is known for to claim a coveted crown Saturday morning.

Sunnyside won its fourth game in as many days, earning a 1-0 victory over Hamilton in their Arizona Soccer Showcase finale. Sunnyside made the nearly four hour round trip every day during the tournament at Legacy Park in Mesa.

The final trip back home was more than likely a pleasant one for the champs.

“It’s a final, and this is their (Hamilton) tournament and close to their home,” Sunnyside coach Casey O’Brien said. “For us, we’ve been on the bus for 20 hours in the last four days. Our kids and our families have put so much time into this tournament. It’s emotional, because you want to win. It’s our winter break, and the kids are dedicating their time to this.”

With the emotions charged, a handful of cards were distributed, leading to a couple of ejections.

A Hamilton assistant and a Sunnyside player each received two yellows.

The second yellow for the Sunnyside player came in the 52nd minute of what was a scoreless match. Both teams struggled to organize scoring chances, but Sunnyside finally capitalized right after a direct kick while playing with 10 players late in the match.

Javier Gonzalez slipped a shot just inside the near post for the only goal in the game.

“The ball rebounded off one of my players and I just quickly shot it with my left and went in to the bottom left,” said Gonzalez about scoring his first goal of the year in his team’s biggest game of the season so far. “It feels good honestly. It just proves that we are ready for state, and even down a man we still fight.”

Sunnyside, the only Arizona team in the top-10 nationally this week, was ranked No. 9 by maxpreps.

It’ll head into the new year with a 15-0-1 record and a lot of momentum. Hamilton (10-3) hadn’t lost to an Arizona team this season until Saturday.

“It was a good week for us,” Hamilton coach Tim Vance said. “We had two big wins (Friday) over Desert Vista and Salpointe. I was proud of our guys. And obviously to play Sunnyside, a good quality side, it was good. I thought we had some chances early in the second half to put them away, but the ball didn’t bounce our way to carry over that momentum.

“We are battle tested. We are hungry, hungry for more. It’s a senior led group that wants to end this season on a positive note.”