LEWISTON – The Falmouth boys soccer team played the final 24 minutes of Saturday’s Class B state championship against John Bapst with only 10 players on the field.

Good thing the Yachtsmen already had built a 2-0 lead by then.

Falmouth (14-1-2) survived a red card midway through the second half and made its first- half lead stand up to sail past the Crusaders (14-3) 2-0 at Lewiston High School.

It was the seventh title in 11 years for Falmouth but the first since 2003.

“That team deserved to win today. They can play,” John Bapst coach Andy Frace said. “I’m not going to say they out-played us, but they can play.”

The Yachtsmen, who held a 9-4 shot advantage and a 5-0 edge in corner kicks, controlled the midfield early with crisp passes and patience.

They broke the scoreless tie at the 23:50 mark of the first half when senior Chris Labrecque beat a defender near the end line and fired a low shot past Crusaders goaltender Chris Smith.

“I looked over across the goal and saw a teammate wide open,” Labrecque said. “The goalie saw me look over there and started to go towards him, and I knew I had some room on the short side.”

About 10 minutes later, Falmouth added to its lead when freshman Gabe Hoffman-Johnson found himself alone streaking toward the John Bapst goal.

“I had a clear path to the net, but the ball kind of skipped up a little,” Hoffman-Johnson explained. “I was going to shoot it left-footed, but there was a defender there, so I cut it back and used my right.”

Even though Falmouth went into halftime with a 2-0 lead, it was John Bapst which came out firing in the second half.

The Crusaders had two strong opportunities early, but both ended with stops by Falmouth goaltender Parker Dalzell, halting any momentum for John Bapst.

“That’s absolutely a different game if one of those goes in,” Falmouth coach David Halligan said.

“You can only shift the momentum and we kind of lacked some momentum today,” John Bapst senior Sam Rioux said.

He also gave credit to his opponent.

“They move the ball a lot better than most teams we face. They played faster. They were physical,” Rioux said. “We’ve seen physical teams before, but none that were that skilled.”

Although the game was physical from the start, it turned somewhat scary midway through the second half when Falmouth’s Chris Marchetti tackled a John Bapst player hard.

Marchetti was whistled for a red card and was ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Yachtsmen would have to finish with one less player.

“It was kind of a freak thing. I don’t know what we could have done to stop it,” Labrecque said. “It changed things from a defensive standpoint, but I think we held up well.”

With a 2-0 lead, Falmouth was able to focus more on defense. The Yachtsmen shut down the Crusaders over the final 24 minutes.

“You have to take your hat off to them as far as their defense is concerned, they played it very well,” Frace said.

“I think we picked up a little momentum there, but they picked it up, too,” Rioux added. “That was just a little incentive for them to play harder.”

Halligan, who has built a powerhouse program at Falmouth, said starting early is the key.

“I think we have a good program,” he said. “We have a lot of people involved at the youth level and it doesn’t happen through just a couple of people.

“The year’s seniors were one of the most enjoyable groups to be around. They really supported each other.”