MOUNT PLEASANT – It really hadn’t been Rochester Hills Stoney Creek’s year going into the MHSAA Finals.

The Cougars were the two-time reigning Division 1 champions, but they didn’t win their conference or their District or their Regional.

But on the biggest stage of all at Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena, the Cougars delivered once again.

Stoney Creek, which entered the postseason ranked No. 5, used another clutch performance in Round 3 to “three-peat” as Division 1 champion with 789.94 points – once again barely edging neighboring rivals Rochester (789.52) and Rochester Adams (789.16).

“Things haven’t been going our way this year, but these girls never stopped believing in themselves,” said 23^rd-year Stoney Creek coach Tricia Williams, who won her fifth Finals championship.

“They peaked at the state finals, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

It looked for a while that the Division 1 title might go to a West Michigan school for the first time since 2015, as Grandville held the lead after Round 1 and Round 2 before struggling in the final round and finishing fifth (785.56).

Brighton was also right in the mix in third place heading into the final round, but backed up a spot to fourth (788.58).

It was in the “money round” of Round 3, as has so often been the case in past years, where the three Rochester schools pulled away with their complex and more difficult routines – much to the delight of the rabid fan bases from each school.

Rochester posted the best Round 3 score of 321.80 to jump from fifth place up to second. Adams turned in a 321.00 to move from fourth to third place.

That just left Stoney Creek, going last in the final round for the second consecutive year, to see if it could do enough to hold off its rivals. The Cougars posted the same score as Adams, 321.00, to win by 0.42 over Rochester.

“I think the reason that we won today is because we didn’t win at Districts and Regionals,” said Stoney Creek’s Audrey Harvath, one of 13 seniors on the 26-athlete roster.

“We knew we had to keep climbing. We looked at each of our rounds in slow motion and tried to find every little thing that we could possibly improve, and that made the difference.”

Harvath was one of three returning first-team all-staters for the Cougars, along with fellow seniors Mia Badalucco and Natalie Marco.

Seniors Taylor Brandimarte and Kendall Keller and sophomore Kate Kacy were second team all-state last season, while senior Cassidy Niester and Isabel Williams were honorable mention.

It was not only the third-straight championship for Stoney Creek, but the eighth straight for a Rochester school and the 10th in 11 years – with Stoney Creek winning four and Adams and Rochester three each. The only non-Rochester school to win the title in Division 1 during that stretch was Sterling Heights Stevenson in 2018.

“At the end of the day, we are grateful to be in each other’s backyards because it forces us to keep getting better,” said fourth-year Rochester coach Samantha Dean. “What can I say, it came down to tenths of a point again. We can say we had the best Round 3 in the state, which is certainly something to be proud of.”

The three schools have battled each other for the last three Saturdays, with each of them winning a title – Adams at Districts, Rochester at Regionals and Stoney Creek at the Finals.

It was truly a bittersweet moment as those 13 Stoney Creek seniors lingered on the McGuirk Arena floor long after most of the fans had filed out.

The Cougars became the 13^th competitive cheer program in MHSAA history to win at least three Finals championships in a row.

“Going for back-to-back was hard enough, and we knew trying to get three in a row would be even harder against some powerhouse competition,” said Harvath. “It obviously took every last ounce of energy that we had.”

Click for full results.