AUBURN — The game had just ended, and in front of the goal, one team gathered in a huddle, hugging and crying. Ten feet away, the other did the same. Same embrace. Same tears.

And it’s no surprise, given the way the Class B field hockey state championship game played out Saturday afternoon.

Halle Tarbox scored in the first round of post-overtime penalty corners, and Belfast defeated Yarmouth, 2-1, to win the state title at Edward Little High School.

The Lions (17-1), one of the state’s more decorated programs, captured their eighth Class B championship, but their first since 2011. Yarmouth, playing in its first state championship game since 1995, finished 16-2.

“It’s so unreal,” Belfast senior forward Bre Shorey said. “We were working hard the whole game, and it was a hard-fought win. … It’s definitely unbelievable, we’ve been working at this all season, all four years. We wanted this.”

There were tears of joy and tears of relief for the Lions and their six seniors, who endured losses in the regional finals the previous two years, then rallied from a second-half deficit against Yarmouth to claim their prize.

“(They) have worked since they were little girls for this moment. So it was so emotional for them, to (see) all their hard work pay off,” Coach Jan Holmes-Jackson said. “They’ve dreamed of that their whole little lives. What a way to end.”

For Yarmouth, the tears were of disbelief, and the pain of seeing a spirited run fall just short.

“We knew coming into this game that it was going to be difficult, and when it got to overtime 7-vs.-7, we’ve practiced it every single day that we’ve been in the playoffs,” senior back and captain Harper Featherstone said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done. But we really tried to pull through.”

The Clippers struck the opening blow in the second quarter on a goal by Erica O’Connor, and Belfast pulled even in the third quarter when Payten Wadsworth scored. Possession tilted toward Belfast in the second half, but Yarmouth’s resilient defense, led by Featherstone, Chloe Wright, Brooke Abbott, Zoe Sammon and goalie Emma Shannon, kept withstanding the Lions’ threats, including 16 corners through regulation and two overtimes.

Holmes-Jackson, though, suspected her team’s time was coming.

“In that second overtime, I was like ‘Man, I hope they just don’t knock one in and get a lucky break,’ because we had been dominating and working so hard,” she said. “But I was pretty confident going into the corners, when you’re down a defender, too, that we could score.”

Belfast’s Ava Markham tries to push the ball past Yarmouth goalie Emma Shannon during the Class B field hockey final Saturday in Auburn. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Yarmouth lost the ball out of bounds on its try, giving Belfast a chance to end it. Wadsworth had a shot that was saved but kicked back to her, and she sent the ball across to the left side.

Tarbox was waiting, and the junior fired a shot into the net to set off the celebration.

“(I thought) just put it in the back of the cage and don’t mess it up,” she said. “It’s so amazing, I’m so happy.”

Yarmouth took the lead with 7:15 left in the second quarter when Sally McGrath found O’Connor cutting alone toward the goal, with Maya Nasveschuk also picking up an assist.

Wadsworth tied it with 3:06 left in the third, taking an insertion from Jocelyn Valleau and blasting in a shot from the top of the circle.

“You feel a little down (with the deficit), but earlier in the season, Gardiner beat us at their field, and we kind of shut down,” Wadsworth. “We learned from that situation. If we get scored on first, we can always come back.”

Belfast maintained the pressure after the goal, but the Clippers kept turning the Lions back even after losing Sammon, a senior captain, to injury in overtime.

It was a blow, but a program that two years ago was in the middle of the pack in Class B South didn’t give in.

“We were all playing for her,” Featherstone said. “It’s unfortunate, but we love each other so much, and we’re really happy that we could prove everyone wrong that Yarmouth could get here, and we could compete.”