BEAR — Everything was going well for Delmar High for the entire first half and for the first nine or so minutes of the second.

The No. 11-seeded Wildcats led 1-0 and created a few scoring opportunities to potentially extend that lead.

But in the span of just two minutes early in second half, Caravel Academy put both the game-tying and the go-ahead goal in the back of the net to swing the momentum on the way to a 5-1 DIAA Division II boys’ soccer semifinals victory Wednesday night.

“We struggled in that first half,” said Caravel coach Lance Berry. “I think they (Delmar) had a great game plan and they executed it well, but we just weren’t ourselves in that first half. Once I was able to talk to them in the locker room at halftime it kind of woke them up and made them realize that it’s do or die and they responded extremely well. I am so proud of the boys and what they did tonight.”

The No. 2-seeded Buccaneers (14-3) move on to Saturday’s state championship game at Dover, where they will play No. 12 St. Andrew’s, which defeated No. 9 Newark Charter 2-0.

Caravel is making the program’s first title game appearance since winning the championship in consecutive seasons in 2017 and ‘18. The Bucs will look to capture the program’s fifth overall boys’ soccer title, all of which have been won since 2009.

Senior Samrath Singh knotted the game 1-1 with a goal in the 49th minute, with the assist from junior teammate Michael Cooke. With a penalty called on Delmar in front of the net, Singh slipped the ball past the goalkeeper on a penalty kick in the 51st minute to put the Bucs ahead, 2-1.

Goals from Cooke, Zain Akhtar and Parmeet Singh put the exclamation point on the five-goal performance for the Bucs.

“It was brilliant, we made an adjustment — we put Cooke up front — and someone played a ball into him, he was able to bring it down, he slid the ball to Samrath who was able to slide it home,” Berry said of the tying goal.

The Wildcats had been seeking the program’s first title game appearance, but instead end the season at 11-7. They defeated McKean 2-1 in the first round and No. 3 Indian River High 3-1 in the quarterfinals to set up the showdown with the Bucs.

The Nov. 9 win over McKean went into penalty kicks while the Nov. 13 win over IR was thanks to a two-goal performance from senior forward Mason Ball.

“Overall, Delmar played a really scrappy game, they executed their game plan in that first half and they were really tough to break down,” Berry said. “I think it was tough for them to continue with their game plan once we got one or two, but overall they were a much tougher opponent than we had anticipated for.”

Caravel out-shot Delmar 11-3 and attempted nine corner kicks to the Wildcats’ one. Senior goalkeeper Carl Kurten made six saves in goal while Caravel’s sophomore keeper Alejandro Marte made two.

It was senior Jack Ford who put the ball in the net in the game’s 20th minute on a corner kick attempt to put Delmar ahead 1-0. The Delmar back line and Kurten stepped up and kept Caravel’s offense off the scoreboard for the whole first half.

Once Singh’s consecutive goals hit the back of the net, the floodgates opened for the Bucs. Cooke headed the ball into the net on a free kick attempt by freshman teammate Jacob Wojciechowski in the 69th minute to give the Bucs a two-goal advantage.

Junior Zain Akhtar took advantage of another penalty kick with just over two minutes to play, drilling it past the goalkeeper for a 4-1 advantage. Parmeet Singh’s score on a corner kick attempt put the finishing touches on the win during stoppage time.