Nationally-ranked West Lauderdale admittedly had not played its best in the postseason, while cross-county rival Northeast was riding an unprecedented hot streak.

In the last 48 hours, both of those trends came to a screeching halt.

One night after run-ruling Northeast in Collinsville, West flexed its muscles again in a 9-1 win at Glynn Frazier Field Friday night to sweep the best-of-three, Class 4A South State Championship Series in the MHSAA state playoffs.

The win sends the 31-2 Knights to Trustmark Park next week for a chance at a state championship; and it ends the season for a senior-laden Northeast team which had won 17 of 19 and finished 23-11.

“This is probably one of the best teams we’ve had, especially in a good while,” legendary West head coach Jerry Boatner said. “This bunch can beat you with hitting, bunting, stealing, pitching … we’ve hit it well and didn’t have to bunt as much as we have with some of our teams.

“I think we’ve got a good chance to go and win the whole thing.”

One night after saying he wanted to emphasize getting the leadoff hitter on, Boatner watched his team complete that task in seven consecutive innings on Friday —  and get the only runs it needed with a two-run homer from Jake Mason in the first inning.

The Knights got plenty of help from a shaky Northeast defense, as well. The Trojans committed seven uncharacteristic errors, had four wild pitches and gave up seven unearned runs.

Not that West Lauderdale needed any help.

After the first Northeast hitter of the night reached on an error, West Lauderdale starter Ben Ethridge retired the next 12 hitters in a row. Ethridge ran into a little trouble in the fifth frame, but he and fellow sophomore Kameron Partridge were never seriously threatened.

“Ben was lights out,” Boatner said. “Last time he pitched, he wasn’t getting a lot of swings-and-misses but he was on tonight.

“He’s so sneaky … he has great deception. His ball just kinda comes up on you and he throws strikes. And the other guy we went to tonight is a sophomore and he came in and did a great job of shutting them down. That’s two sophomores there … I think our future looks bright too.”

Ethridge and Partridge combined on a three-hitter, giving up just one run while striking out 10.

Mason had the two-run homer, Jordan Herrington singled and doubled and Tyler Lantz also had two hits for West. Chance Denson had a hit and scored three times, while John Ross Briggs had a hit and scored twice.

Northeast’s only run came in the fifth when Braxton Lee’s RBI double scored Brock Butler. Luke Harper and Landon Harper had the team’s other hits.

Long after West Lauderdale’s celebration ended on the other side, the seven Northeast seniors lingered in the right-field corner. Trojan head man Josh Snider, himself an ex-West standout, tipped his hat to the group.

“What an incredible run by our guys. I know I enjoyed it,” Snider said. “And we owe it to that group of guys.

“They were freshmen when we came in four years ago and those guys bought into it. The rode the boat, never questioned what we asked them to do. They set the tone and they got us here.

“I told them ‘I want y’all on that balcony up there in the future when we get back here.’ Because we’ll be back.”