BANGOR – John Bapst High School senior Zach Means did what he does best in the first period and that was all sophomore goalie Dan Leighton needed.

Means had a natural hat trick and Leighton made 30 saves as the Crusaders upended Presque Isle 3-1 in their Eastern Maine Class B Northeast Division semifinal at Sawyer Arena.

John Bapst, 16-6, will face 15-5-1 Gardiner in their crossover semifinal Saturday night in Winslow. The hard-working Wildcats, who had a territorial advantage, wound up 12-10.

Means, who has more than 50 goals this season, scored 1:36 and 4:28 into the game and capped his hat trick with a shorthanded score at the 11:54 mark.

Joe Flenner, set up by the dynamic Darren Carlisle, scored for the Wildcats 2:49 into the second period, but that would be the only time they would beat Leighton. He came up with several gems and received plenty of support from his teammates.

“Everybody played real well defensively. Everybody backchecked,” said Leighton, who added that he had to face very few second shots.

“If I had to face second shots, it would have been a different game,” said Leighton.

John Bapst coach Doug Damon said Leighton was “awesome” and that his defense corps of Taylor Lynn, Kyle Maynard, David Sawyer, and Kim Meagher kept most of PI’s shots on the perimeter.

The Crusaders kept a watchful eye on the explosive Carlisle and converged on him when he had the puck.

“He’s a great skater and we knew we had to shut him down,” said Means. “Taylor Lynn did a great job on him.”

Means opened the scoring by depositing a 15-footer into a half-empty net off a nice backhand pass from Colby Theriault.

He made it 2-0 with a 22-foot wrister off a Lynn drop pass in the slot.

“Taylor veered off and took one of their defensemen with him. I saw the goalie [Travis Shaw] go back in his net, so I put it up high,” said Means, whose shot carried in off Shaw’s glove.

“That was my fault,” said the goalie. “My glove was back in the net.”

Means’ shorthanded goal came on a 40-foot slap shot off a Theriault feed.

“The goalie was back in the net again. I used their defenseman as a screen, and I knew if I could get the puck past his legs, I’d have a good chance to score,” said Means.

Shaw said, “It hit the tip of my right skate and deflected up and in.”

Presque Isle’s second-period goal came off a two-on-one as Carlisle drew the defenseman to him and dished it over to Flenner for a 14-footer.

“But that was about the only odd-man rush we got,” said Carlisle. “They played the trap since they didn’t have many players so we dumped the puck in. Their goalie came up with some big saves.”

A late second-period goal for PI was waved off because it was kicked in and Leighton made his best save of the game with 9:11 left when he dove across the crease to get his stick on Carlisle’s wide open rebound off his own initial shot.

“I dove across to try to get my stick or glove on it. I thought he shot it wide,” said Leighton.

“I tried to put it in the lower corner. I should have put it upstairs,” said Carlisle.

Shaw finished with 23 saves.

CRUSADERS 3, WILDCATS 1

Presque Isle (12-10) 0 1 0 ? 1

John Bapst (16-6) 3 0 0 ? 3

First period ? 1. JB, Means (Theriault, Motta), 1:36; 2. JB, Means (Lynn), 4:28; 3. JB, Means (Theriault), 11:54 (sh). Penalties: JB, Cossette, interference, 10:28.

Second period ? 4. PI, Flenner (Carlisle, Collins), 2:49. Penalties: PI, Gregg, high sticking, 7:48; PI, Elliott, tripping, 10:18.

Third period ? No scoring. Penalties: PI, Currier, roughing, 4:43; JB, Chapman, holding, 10:00; JB, Lynn, charging, 12:10; JB, Maynard, high sticking, 12:58.

Shots on goal: Presque Isle 14-6-11?31; John Bapst 7-8-11?26

Goaltenders: Presque Isle, Shaw (26 shots-23 saves); John Bapst, Leighton (31-30)

Power-play opportunities: Presque Isle 0 of 4; John Bapst 0 of 3

Attendance: 300 (est.)