Sometimes the bounces go your way, and sometimes they don’t.

Wednesday night, the bounces went Juanita’s way.

The Rebels scored a quirky goal in the 76th minute and held on to beat Sammamish 1-0 in the championship game of the KingCo 3A tournament in Bellevue.

With the win, Juanita moves on Saturday to face the No. 3 team from the Metro League at 6 p.m. in Kirkland.

“Historically, Juanita has been in last place forever,” said Rebels coach John Mach. “This is history that happened here tonight.”

After Juanita controlled much of the first half, both teams traded chances throughout the last forty minutes. The Rebels finally broke through when Totem defender Raechel Gano’s pass bounced off goalkeeper Kyra Lindstrom, then rebounded off of Rebels sophomore Karissa Radke and dribbled into the net.

“It’s luck sometimes,” said Sammamish coach Karsten Hoffman. “We made a mistake…fairly even game, we had some chances. The mistake cost us and that’s a big part of the game sometimes.”

Sammamish (9-4-4) had beaten Juanita 2-0 on Sept. 29, but the teams played to a scoreless tie on Oct. 22 after the Rebels changed their defensive tactics to try and shut down the Totems offense, led by senior forward Anna Geldenhuys (12 goals, six assists).

“We’ve always matched up well against them,” Mach said. “The second time we played them, we pressured them so much that we suffocated them. Our intention tonight was to do the same thing and just score one goal. That’s exactly what we did.”

The Rebels (6-4-8) defense, led by Midori Ogami and Kajsa Sporseen, kept Geldenhuys in check. In the one big scoring opportunity she had, goalkeeper Sabrina Grandke-Bawab stuffed the Sammamish seniors shot at the right corner of the goal late in the first half.

“She’s just been making terrific saves when it counts, every single game,” Mach said of Grandke-Bawab.

Sammamish’s bid to return to the state tournament for the second-straight year ended with the loss.

“This loss is harder because we had so much we wanted to do,” Hoffman said.

The Rebels, however, play Saturday for a shot at the state tournament for the first time since 1988, when the team lost to Kennedy 2-1 in the 4A quarterfinals.

“This is new territory for us,” Mach said. “It’s just awesome to see the look on all the girls faces. That’s what it’s all about.”