LUDLOW — Mabel Carillon stood at midfield and hesitated before making the long walk to the penalty stripe. A make would crown the No. 1 Granby girls soccer team as Western Mass. Class D champions, a miss would allow No. 2 Hopkins Academy a chance to extend the game to another set of PKs.

Assistant coach Ken Mick pulled Carillon aside, told her to take a breath and then made her laugh. Finally, after about 20 seconds of waiting, Carillon walked up to the ball and placed it on the line.

There was no question where she was going with it.

Every day in practice, Granby head coach Bob Weaver practices penalty kicks for moments like Friday night, and every time Carillon aims for the bottom left. So when she approached the ball and booted it toward goal, her calm reaction to clinching the Western Mass. title can be credited to the hundreds of reps she’s put in during practice.

After losing in the Class D title game a year ago, the Rams defeated Hopkins 4-2 in penalties after a scoreless regulation and overtime last Friday to win their first sectional crown since 2018.

“Obviously there were a lot of nerves, but just relying on the practice and the repetition, doing it over and over again you try not to get in your head,” Carillon, a senior, said. “Just relying on your abilities, thinking back to practice trying to calm myself down… [Last year] was definitely a moment I did not want to feel again, the feeling of putting in all that work for nothing. It’s such a good feeling to come back and prove everybody wrong.”

Carillon comes off the bench for Granby, and while she plays some minutes at outside midfielder, she wasn’t on the field on Friday until it was her turn to kick the penalty. However, Weaver had no doubts that Carillon was going to be a part of the Granby five to shoot.

He asked her what number in the order she wanted, and she asked to be fifth – a pressure-packed spot. With about 10 minutes to go in regulation, Carillon started warming up by kicking balls off the side of the fence on the sideline to prepare herself for the moment.

“I went up to Mabel and I went, ‘Do you want three or five?’ And she goes, I want five,” Weaver said. “Beyond me if a girl wants to take a certain PK. Mabel practices with us and is very calm, relaxed. You can’t rattle her. She just walks up, hits it, and walks back.”

Molly Zumbruski started the penalty kicks off with a goal for Granby, followed immediately by a well-placed shot from one of Hopkins’ captains, Sadie Cyr, to tie it at one. Kalli White walked up and blasted one home to put the Rams back in front 2-1.

Golden Hawks captain Maggie Potter then had her PK denied by Granby keeper Meredith Bartosz, and Hopkins keeper Emmy Schmidt responded by saving Rams senior Lydia Kicza’s attempt – keeping the score the same. Alayna Bailey tied it at two until Brenna Moreno once again netted the go-ahead.

Morgan Augustin of Hopkins watched her attempt scoot just over the crossbar, setting up Carillon’s heroics.

One hundred minutes of soccer wasn’t enough to decide a winner on Friday, and each team had its handful of chances. In a Western Mass. final, even play is expected, and Granby and Hopkins were as even as it could possibly get in the two teams’ first meeting since 2021 – the Western Mass. Class D quarterfinals.

“I don’t even know if proud is the right word, I think if there is a word further than proud, that’s what it would be,” Hopkins head coach Vincent Catania said about his team. “They played 100 minutes of pure heart, and I couldn’t be any more proud of them.”

When Catania started as a junior varsity coach, this year’s Golden Hawks senior class was in seventh grade. They didn’t win a game in his first year. Catania was promoted to head varsity coach in 2021, and since then Hopkins has won 13 or more games in every season.

As much as he and his group of four seniors wanted a different result, Catania knows his team was good enough to come out on top on Friday – and they’ve been working to get a crack at the finals after losing in the quarterfinals or semifinals the past three campaigns.

“This was the goal from day one, to make it to the Western Mass. championship and give it our all to go after it,” Catania said. “That goal is checked. We went after it. We knew we would have to score one goal, that’s all it was going to take, because not many people score on us.”

Hopkins is ranked No. 25 in the MIAA Division 5 state tournament and will open its tournament with No. 8 Hopedale on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at NEFC Mendon.

Granby is No. 20 in the same tournament, and the Rams will travel to No. 13 Quaboag as the newly crowned Class D champions. The details of that game have yet to be announced.