BROOKINGS — Pitching, defense and the Dinos are roaring into the Class B state championship.

No. 8 Clark Area continued its Cinderella story at Bob Shelden Field Tuesday with another upset win, knocking off No. 5 Platte-Geddes/Dakota Christian/White Lake, 1-0, in the semifinals.

The Dinosaurs will play for the Class B state championship later on today at 3 p.m.

“Another great job,” said Clark Area head coach Chris Bokinskie. “We felt confident in what we had with (Charlie) Luvaas coming out on the mound. He’s kind of been an unsung hero for us this year. Everyone knows Watson Grantham can go out there and shove, but Charlie has been a very solid No. 2 right behind him.”

The Dinos were guided by an efficient complete-game shutout by Luvaas, allowing just one two hits and one hit batter in 79 total pitches, striking out two.

“Going into it, I was a little nervous,” Luvaas said. “Had a horrible bullpen, got out there to warmup, not great. Got out there and just started humming. Defense really backed me up, proud of them.”

Through five innings of a pitchers’ duel with PGDCWL’s Kenyon Kuiper, the Dinos finally broke through with an RBI-single by Luvaas. While he didn’t think one run would be enough coming into today, Bokinskie said postgame with the Luvaas was throwing, he had a different opinion.

“I did not think one run would get it done, but after seeing Charlie out there throwing the way he did for three or four innings, I felt at that point one run would solidify the win for us.”

“I was mainly thinking ‘Don’t get out for another time in a row’,” Luvaas said. “Got in there, he jammed me a little bit but it all worked out.”

In the bottom half of the sixth inning, Maddux VanZee kickstarted the offense with a 1-out double and nearly scored the equalizing run, but Luvaas continued relying on his defense and forcing outs against an aggressive Honker lineup to get out of the jam.

“Right away, my mindset was to get in the zone, make them swing and then play on the outside after they started falling after stuff,” Luvaas said.

Luvaas got a ground out with back-to-back strikeouts to seal the win, keeping the Dinos Cinderella story alive into the state championship.

“Excited as you can be,” Bokinskie said of playing in the state championship. “I told the kids, Hudson (Fuller) and I, my assistant coach, we’re just along for the ride. We’re putting together the lineup, they’re going out there and doing the work and making us look good.”

Grantham added two hits while Cooper Pommer had one hit, and was the lone run scored of the game.

For PGDCWL, Kuiper suffered the loss despite 6.2 strong innings, allowing one unearned run on four hits and two walks, striking out eight.

VanZee and Isaac Leader each had a hit in the loss for the Honkers.

Clark Area will face the Madison/Chester vs Dakota Valley winner at 3 p.m. at Bob Shelden Field for the Class B state championship.