John Bapst scored early and scored late to secure a 2-0 victory over Winslow and win the Class B North boys soccer title on Wednesday at Cameron Stadium in Bangor.
The Crusaders, who lost to Winslow 2-0 in last year’s regional final, avenged the loss and punched their ticket into the Class B state championship game against South champion Yarmouth on Saturday at Hampden Academy.
Yarmouth beat Cape Elizabeth 3-2 on Wednesday.
Jack Mason quickly got No. 1 John Bapst (16-0-1) on the scoreboard, scoring on a volley from the left side of the penalty box off a pass from Hunter Clukey and finding the back of the net to put the Crusaders ahead 1-0.
“It was a great ball in from my teammate and when you get a good ball like that you’ve got to just keep your composure and get it on target,” Mason said.
The early goal was important for John Bapst and allowed the team to play possession-based soccer.
“That was huge,” John Bapst coach Jason Pangburn said. “A goal five minutes of either side of the half is important and so that goal set the tone and allowed us to relax and allowed our midfield to key in on [Winslow’s Andrew Poulin] because he’s really dangerous.”
John Bapst put up five more shots on goal that were saved by Winslow’s goalkeeper Jason Reynolds.
“We wanted to keep the ball at our feet and play the possession,” Pangburn said. “We knew their goalie was really good and to score on him we needed to move the ball from side to side which is what happened on that first goal.”
The Crusaders enjoyed much of the possession in the first half, but No. 2 Winslow (15-1-1) did get some in the final 20 minutes and had two shots saved.
Poulin, who scored 50 goals this season, had a shot go off the crossbar with seven minutes left in the half that kept the score at 1-0 in favor of the Crusaders.
In the second half, both teams continued to battle in an up and down contest.
John Bapst goalkeeper Matt Fitzpatrick made a diving save to keep the Crusaders’ 1-0 lead with 22 minutes remaining.
Reynolds saved six more shots in the second half, but John Bapst was able to find the back of the net again with eight minutes to play.
Garrett Fletcher came streaking down the right side and slotted the ball inside the near post for the second and game-sealing goal.
“I think we were composed in possession, played to feet and kept the ball as long as possible,” Mason said.