WILMINGTON — It probably comes as no surprise that Monday night’s showdown came down to the final few seconds.

It’s just the way things tend to go when boys’ lacrosse heavyweights Cape Henlopen High and Salesianum School meet each other.

In the latest edition of the nonconference rivalry at Abessinio Stadium, Salesianum won an 11-10 thriller to remain unbeaten at 5-0.

The victory avenged the program’s 12-10 loss to Cape in the 2019 DIAA state championship and is the first time they’ve defeated the Vikings (4-3) since an 11-6 win in the 2018 state title game.

Junior Caelan Driggs netted the go-ahead goal with just nine seconds remaining to seal the win.

Tied at 10 with 1:34 to play, Salesianum’s offense held onto the ball for more than a minute to set up the last second goal.

“I’ve got some experienced guys who are willing to make plays to make their teammates better,” said Cape coach Mark D’Ambrogi. “We made some errors in the first three quarters that I thought put us in that position.

“While I’ve got some guys who are willing to make those plays, we’ve got to do a better job in the first three quarters … Salesianum played a good game. They play hard, they play fast, they played the way you’d expect them to play, we have to just do a better job so we’re not putting ourselves in that position.”

Driggs finished with a team-high four goals for Sallies (5-0). Colby Bushweller netted two goals, while Dylan Mooney, Rowyn Nurry, Dominic Rottura, Matt Riley and Griffin McGovern netted one each for Sallies.

The only other losses for Cape this season came against a pair of tough out-of-state opponents in Episcopal Academy (Pa.) and Gilman School (Md.). The Vikings turn around and prepare to host Henlopen North foe Smyrna High Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Junior Hank D’Ambrogi led the Vikings in scoring with four goals, including two consecutive goals in the fourth quarter to bring the score to within 10-9 with just under five minutes to play.

Seniors Jaden Davis and Gabe Best and junior Mikey Frederick each scored two goals for the Vikings. Goalkeeper Michael Sposato made nine saves.

It was a Best goal at the 2:01 mark of the fourth quarter that tied the game up 10-10 after the Vikings had trailed by as many as four goals in the third quarter.

Salesianum struck first with a goal at the 9:07 mark of the first quarter before Davis sprinted down the field and scored on Cape’s ensuing possession to tie it up 1-1.

Goals on consecutive possessions by Driggs and Mooney gave Sallies a 3-1 lead with 2:27 left in the quarter but unanswered goals by D’Ambrogi and Davis with under a minute to go made it a 3-3 score at the end of the first.

Cape carried that momentum over into the second quarter as they put up four quick shots in the first minute, but narrowly missed on each one against Sallies goalkeeper Jackson Skinner. Skinner finished with nine saves.

Salesianum’s offense put pressure on the Cape defense, spending the majority of the first half on the offensive side of the field and taking a 7-4 lead into the halftime break.

“We failed to clear the ball,” said D’Ambrogi. “What happened was we failed to clear early in the game about three times in a row and that gave them extra possessions, overworked our defense and while we had opportunities to score — and we did — you can’t put your defense in that position.

“We gave up a quick run at the end of the half — I think we gave up two in a row — so it goes from a one-goal game to a three-goal game, so we just had some errors that we have to fix and try to work on.”

Salesianum came out in the second half and continued to put pressure on the defense, leading by as many as four goals at 8-4, 9-5 and 10-6 before Cape slowly put together the comeback in the fourth quarter.

A pair of fourth-quarter goals from Best and D’Ambrogi gave the Vikings a 4-0 run over the span of eight minutes to tie the game up for the third time, 10-10, before Salesianum’s game-winner.