DOVER — It was a familiar situation for the Cape Henlopen High boys’ lacrosse team.

Just five weeks earlier the Vikings were in a nearly identical situation.

Unfortunately for Cape, the end result was nearly identical, too.

After falling behind in the first half, the No. 5 seeded Vikings battled back and tied the score in the third quarter, but ultimately fell 12-10 to nonconference rival Salesianum School in the DIAA state championship game at Dover High Thursday night.

It marks Salesianum’s first state title in lacrosse since defeating Caesar Rodney 14-9 in the 2018 title game. It’s the program’s 11th state title dating to 1995.

“I think our kids are really great kids, they have great character and it’s really exhibited in situations when they’re down and they can comeback as a team and work together,” said Cape coach Mark D’Ambrogi. “It’s unfortunate that we got ourselves into that position, but what I will say is that we lost to a team that is a really good team — Salesianum did a good job tonight.”

With no season in 2020, the win dethrones the Vikings (13-5) as state champions. Cape defeated Salesianum 12-10 in the 2019 title game.

Six players scored goals for second-seeded Sallies (14-3), led by a game-high four from junior Caelen Driggs. Griffin McGovern, Rowan Nurry and Dylan Mooney netted two each while Connor Lucey and Colby Bushweller added one each.

Senior Jaden Davis led Cape’s scoring with a hat trick. Junior Hank D’Ambrogi added two while senior William Bragg, junior Mikey Frederick, senior Blake Gipko, freshman Jacob Schell and senior Gabe Best netted one each. Best also recorded three assists.

Trailing 7-4 at halftime, the Vikings slowly chipped away, outscoring Sallies 3-0 in the third quarter to tie the game 7-7 heading into the final 12 minutes.

When the two teams faced each other on April 19, Cape had also trailed 7-4 at halftime and battled back to tie the score in the second half before losing an 11-10 thriller at Abessinio Stadium.

“Unfortunately for us, we do this to ourselves a lot,” D’Ambrogi said of falling behind early. “We’ve had a few games this year where we got behind but we don’t count ourselves out and that’s a great characteristic.”

Salesianum kept possession for most of the opening quarter, but Cape’s defense held strong and kept them in the game even after spending the first five full minutes on their defensive side of the field.

Even as sophomore goalkeeper Michael Sposato was being peppered with shots, Cape trailed just 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.

“It was a good battle between two good teams,” said D’Ambrogi. “We’re lucky we have multiple players that are good (on defense), so we rotated guys in and we kept guys out there and I thought we did a good job of staying on their hands and keeping guys in front of them.”

Salesianum’s five-goal fourth quarter was enough to fend off the late comeback attempt.

With just under 10 minutes to play and the score tied 8-8, Sallies rattled off four consecutive goals over a five-minute span to take control. A pair of late scores from D’Ambrogi and Best in the last two minutes weren’t quite enough for the Vikings.

“A lot of guys did a great job tonight, and we had a great senior group this year,” said D’Ambrogi. “They’ve given us their best every day, so we’re fortunate.”