Rocklin did it with defense.

The Thunder fought through adversity throughout the season, but turned their defense up a notch when things got tough and it led to a Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship on Saturday at Folsom High.

The Thunder defeated Oak Ridge 3-0, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes, to put the game away early. It was the third straight shutout for the Thunder, who blanked Vista del Lago in the first round of the playoffs, 0-0, (winning 4-1 in penalty kicks) and Roseville in the semi-finals, 3-0.

Just three minutes into the game off a corner kick, Conor Delaney put the ball in following a scramble in front of the net.

“Cameron (Powell) put the ball at the front post and two guys went up for it and both missed it,” Delaney said. “I trapped the ball on my chest and put it in with my foot. It felt good being a senior and scoring a goal, let alone getting the game-winning goal.”

Though Delaney is a defender, he’s at his best in front of the net, where he scored his fifth goal of the season.

“Conor is our best guy in the air and he came through for us,” Rocklin coach Grant Depue said.

Seven minutes later, Justin Soria scored with a beautiful effort in front of Oak Ridge keeper Teddy Soloski. Soria took a pass and put it off the crossbar. The ball came right back to him and he headed it off of Soloski’s hands and into the net.

The Thunder controlled most the game, as Oak Ridge didn’t get many shots on net. The Thunder’s final goal came late in the second half by Joey Haug.

“We’ve been emphasizing defense the last couple of weeks,” Depue said. “We knew they had some fast forwards so we wanted to be sure we were on the backside of those guys when they received the ball and we executed.”

Oak Ridge coach Henry Reis said his team just couldn’t get anything going.

“We made a couple mistakes early by not clearing the ball the first time,” Reis said. “The second goal was a repetition of the first goal. We had a couple of opportunities, but they’re very fast. We just don’t match up very well with them.”

For the Thunder, after finishing third in the Sierra Foothill League, the team battled hard and won a section title.

“This has been our goal since the beginning of the season,” Depue said. “We lost 10 seniors from last year’s team and only have four seniors on this year’s team, but it was a complete team effort. We overcame some injuries and sickness, focused on defense and got it done.”

Rocklin finished the season with an 18-6-3 record, while Oak Ridge’s final record is 11-7-3.