There’s an old saying that defense wins championships. Porters Chapel’s defense probably isn’t good enough to take them that far, but it at least has them in the mix.

Both the Eagles and Lady Eagles open the Academy-A North Central State tournament today at East Holmes Academy, the second leg of the three-week journey to crown a state champion. Both teams have used their defense to get them here.

The Eagles (13-12) held Tri-County to 29 points in the first round of the District 4-A tournament to advance to North Central State, then blitzed Veritas in the second half of Saturday’s third-place game to get a better seed. They’ve won four of their last five heading into today’s 5:15 p.m. game against Immanuel.

“We put some points up against CM&I and Veritas, and the first time we played Veritas I don’t think we scored 55. But it was all because of our defense,” said PCA coach Mike Grzanich, whose team failed to score more than 46 points in its first two meetings with Veritas this season, then won Saturday’s game 68-50. “When you play good defense, it creates good offense.”

The Lady Eagles (19-8), meanwhile, have been shutting teams down all season long.

They’ve only allowed more than 45 points five times and are giving up just 37 points a game. One of those was Saturday against Rebul in the District 4-A championship game, won 51-40 by Rebul. The loss dropped PCA to a No. 2 seed for North Central State and into today’s first-round game against Calhoun at 4 p.m.

While PCA’s defense has been stout, it’s own scoring average isn’t much better than its opponents. The Lady Eagles have found success by slowing foes down and forcing them into tedious, low-scoring games.

PCA is averaging only 44 points on the offensive end and hasn’t surpassed the 50-point barrier in its last seven games. Grzanich said that’s not necessarily indicative of the Lady Eagles’ offensive abilities, though.

“I think we play a good transition running game, and if a team wants to run they’re not going to play good defense and we have some good shooters,” said Grzanich, whose roster includes solid scorer Annie Beaugh. The junior averaged more than 20 points a game last season.

Although the Lady Eagles have played well this season and surpassed some expectations by winning the regular-season district title, getting to the state tournament is the team’s goal. They can do that simply by winning today, since the top four teams in the eight-team tournament advance.

Once there, PCA would match up with several powerhouse teams – including host Delta Academy – that Grzanich said are simply in another league than his team.

“There’s some great teams in this (North Central State) tournament. If we can make it to the state tournament we’re going to run into some teams that we just can’t compete with,” Grzanich said. “But it’s basketball. You throw that round ball up and anything can happen.”

The PCA boys are following the same philosophy. There are several teams in Class A that have proven their superiority against all comers – including district rival CM&I, which beat PCA by 58, 30 and 35 points in three meetings this season, and looms as a possible second-round opponent.

Yet a win today over Immanuel would put PCA into the state tournament for the first time since the 1996-97 season, making it a successful year by any means. And with the way the Eagles are playing lately, they just might win a few games before running up against one of the Class A titans.

“I think we can come into North State and do some damage,” PCA senior Allen Cassell said. “It’s definitely what we’re shooting for.”