GARDINER — For the fourth time in the last five seasons, the Yarmouth boys lacrosse team has a date in the state title game.

The third-seeded Clippers rolled to a 16-6 win over No. 2 Messalonskee in a Class B state semifinal Tuesday night at Hoch Field. Yarmouth (13-3) will meet top-seeded and reigning state champion York in Saturday’s championship game at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium.

York beat No. 5 Brunswick in the day’s other semifinal.

Eight different Clippers potted goals in the win over Messalonskee (13-3), including three each from George Brown and Colter Olson.

Hakon Yeo, Matt Cain and Ian Minnihan each added a pair of goals in the win.

“There’s another game to go, but it’s definitely exciting,” Olson said. “We’re a big ‘What’s the next step?’ kind of team. We know York is going to be the championship game, but we focused in practice on Messalonskee. We knew we had to get past this one.”

With the victory, six-time state champion Yarmouth secured the program’s 16th appearance in a state title game in the 26 years boys lacrosse has been a Maine Principals’ Association offering. Thirteen of the Clippers’ title tries have come in Class B, where they’ve claimed five state championships, the most recent of which came in 2021.

“Our team is different every year,” fourth-year Yarmouth head coach Jon Miller said. “The opponents are different every year. Every year is different, so it’s always exciting. We’re happy to be getting back to the state championship.”

The difference Tuesday night was in the Clippers’ ability to pressure the Eagles in various positions across the field, forcing Messalonskee into costly turnovers both in the defensive and attacking ends.

While Yarmouth turned some of those miscues into quick-strike goals, the Clippers were particularly effective at setting up offensively to find golden scoring opportunities they did not miss on.

“Passing up good shots for great shots is something we’ve been harping on,” Olson said. “Good offense is good defense, in my opinion. If we have the ball, they don’t have the ball and they can’t score. We were really patient on offense.”

“The name of the game is possession. We’ve got to get the ball,” Miller said. “We started locking off, riding really well and not giving them easy passes out of their zone. The guys did great.”

After closing out the first quarter with a 4-3 lead, the Clippers scored five of the game’s next six goals en route to a 9-5 lead at halftime. The two teams traded early third-quarter goals before three Clipper goals in a span of 2:44 late in the period opened up a 13-6 advantage.

For Messalonskee, Cooper Leclerc and Tyler Hanson each scored twice. But the Eagles were held off the board entirely in the final period and mustered only one second-half goal via Hanson’s second midway through the third quarter.

“I think it came down to just being the better team, to be completely honest,” Olson said. “We were more composed, we were more comfortable in this.”