The Helper Merchants punched their ticket to the Utah American Legion State Championship tournament with a third-place finish Saturday in the Southern Divisional Playoffs.

Registering a win in the opening round by forfeit over South Sevier, Helper’s tournament championship hopes were dashed with a 4-2 loss to Pleasant Grove in the semifinals. The Merchants rebounded by topping Vernal in the third place game to clinch a spot in the state tournament.

Back-to-back losses in the first two rounds brought an end to the American Legion season for the Price Raptors. Needing at least one win to climb into the top four, Price suffered losses to St. George and Roosevelt.

The Southern Division tournament ended with St. George defeating Pleasant Grove to clinch the championship. Entering the No. 2 seed after winning the tiebreaker with Helper, St. George scored wins over Price and then Vernal to qualify for the title game.

St. George, Pleasant Grove, Helper and Vernal will be the four teams representing the southern division in the Utah State Tournament Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Kearns. Matched with four teams from the north, the winner of the tournament will advance to regionals next month.

Below is the complete schedule for Wednesday’s games, which will take place at Gates Fields:

Game #1: Helper VS Lone Peak- 10:30 AM
Game #2: St. George VS North Cache- 1:30 PM
Game #3: Bear River VS Pleasant Grove- 4:30 PM
Game #4: Layton VS Vernal- 7:30 PM