ELLSWORTH – With the final seconds of the first half of the Ellsworth and Mount Desert Island boys’ soccer game ticking down Tuesday night, and the senior night crowd ready for a halftime cup of hot chocolate on a chilly autumn night, Ellsworth’s Matt Wood sent a low hard pass from the right wing into the penalty area.

The clock showed three seconds remaining and the pass could have easily been dismissed at that moment as being harmless. However, the Eagles’ Seth Mayo met the ball at the top of the box and slammed a left-footed shot on the dead run that crashed into the net a split second before the halftime horn went off.

The goal gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead and proved to be the game- winner as the Trojans came back in the second half to score twice. The win improved the Eagles’ record to 9-3-1 while MDI fell to 6-6-1.

“That’s the way we planned it,” Ellsworth coach Brian Higgins joked about the goal. “I thought we’d score more too so I wasn’t concerned [about MDI making a comeback].”

The Ellsworth goal was a just reward for Wood, who had repeatedly sent balls to the front of the MDI goal in the first half from the right wing without a result.

“It was a good play,” Wood said. “I gave the ball to Seth and he gave it back and we connected.”

The Eagles opened the scoring in the 22nd minute on a direct kick by sophomore Jensen Rich. Rich struck a left-footed shot from 25 yards that curled over the MDI wall and into the top right corner of the goal.

Sophomore Noah Jordan scored 14 minutes later for the Eagles after a scramble in front of the goal. Casey Lock picked up an assist on the play.

MDI had few scoring chances, producing just four shots in the game, but the Trojans made the most of the two shots they took in the second half, scoring on both. Ellsworth goalie Noah Brown didn’t have to make a save.

The first came on a Booth Dargis penalty kick and the second when senior Kyle Jones’ shot deflected off an Ellsworth defender and trickled into the goal.

“[At halftime] I told the kids we’ve got to play another half, forget about the first half … The kids didn’t give up and that’s all you can ask,” MDI coach John Rosenfeld said. “The kids came back and made a game out of it.”

Higgins prophecy of more Ellsworth goals almost came true when they struck the crossbar four times in a 15-second flurry but the ball stayed out.

MDI goalie Adam Thurston made seven saves on 23 shots.