PISCATAWAY — The end of the Delbarton lacrosse season was everything Matt McBride ever dreamed it would be. Getting the ending he and his teammates wanted was about as difficult as he expected it to be, too.

The Green Wave players themselves knew that nothing comes easy when attempting to accomplish something that’s never been done before.

But they did it when McBride scored the game-winning goal 1:09 into overtime to lift Delbarton to a 7-6 triumph over Mountain Lakes to win its third consecutive NJSIAA State Championship in front of a crowd of 1,000 at Yurcak Field on the campus of Rutgers University.

McBride fired a hat trick and Reade Seligmann scored twice to help the Group II champion Green Wave earn the tournament title.

Delbarton (22-1) is the first boys team to capture three consecutive titles in the 29-year history of the tournament. They are also the first to win it in the Tournament of Champions format installed this year.

Paul Chiara scored a pair of fourth-quarter goals to rally Mountain Lakes (22-2). The senior midfielder tied the contest at 6-6 with 4:06 remaining. It is the second consecutive year that the Lakers have fallen to the Green Wave in the title game.

“It can’t get any better,” Seligmann said. “It’s the best feeling I’ve had my entire life and I’m sure it’s the same for all my teammates.”

“It was another great Delbarton-Mountain Lakes game,” McBride added. “It was something for the record books. It could have gone either way.

“They are a tough team. They always have been and that’s nothing new for us.”

The win gives the Green Wave five tournament titles overall, all of them in the last six years. Three of those titles were won with senior goalkeeper Alex Hewit between the pipes.

“It was amazing,” Hewit said. “A lot of these guys have been here all three times. We did a heck of a job. It was a good feeling to get all three wins. Experience is a big deal. They (Lakes) have experienced guys too but I felt very comfortable with our guys.

“The credit goes to all the kids,” Delbarton coach Chuck Ruebling said. “They set their goals high. They wanted this. They went after it. They did everything it took. They came out every day and did their best and hard work pays off.”

The victory in an intermittent rainstorm also decided the season series between the two rivals. The Lakers defeated the Green Wave 5-4 in a regular season contest on April 28. Delbarton toppled Mountain Lakes in the Morris County Tournament final 8-6 on May 18.

The winning scored was set up when faceoff specialist Seldon Clarke won the draw from Chiara. The Green Wave attempted to run a play called “Wabammy” that was invented by Hewit during the season and approved by the Green Wave coaches. It didn’t work but Delbarton improvised when a shot by Reade Seligmann deflected off the Mountain Lakes’ goalpost.

“After that fourth quarter we figured we have to win it now,” McBride said. “We didn’t want to give them any leeway because they will put it in the net.“

“The original play was to go to Pete Grom but it ended up that Pete didn’t have anything. He came back and gave it to me. I got lucky because my defender slipped on the turf. I had a good shot and I took it.”

The play got scrambled and Seligmann ended up getting the ball in the right side of the box. Seligmann got enough space to squeeze off a shot, which banged off the right goalpost.

“I wasn’t even thinking at that point,” Seligmann said. “I knew I was in the general region of the goal and (Lakers’ defender Joe) Cinosky was right on me. I hit the pipe and thank God Pete got that ground ball. That was unbelievable. I didn’t know what was going on. It was absolute mayhem.”

The deflected shot bounced to the left and Grom grabbed the ball and fed McBride who came from the back of the net and quick sticked it with a low righty shot. The Delbarton bench erupted. Players threw their sticks in the air and raced across the field to tackle McBride and begin the season-ending celebration.

“(Defenseman Nick) LaFiura played tight on him all day,” Ruebling said. “Matty just had an extra burst that allowed him to get free and bury that shot. It’s just a phenomenal, phenomenal effort.”

“He’s a competitor. He doesn’t want to lose. We talked about how this game was about character and people stepping up. He’s a character kid all the way. It was a perfect way to finish it.”

It seemed there was as much excitement as relief for the Delbarton players who were severely tested by Mountain Lakes in the second half. The Green Wave knew instinctively the Lakers wouldn’t make it easy on them, even after Seligmann rolled in a low lefty corner shot to make it 5-2 with 9:54 left in the third quarter.

The Lakers crept back into the contest with back-to-back third quarter goals by JJ Moran and John Dolny. Moran rolled in a righty shot from the top of the restraining line to make it 5-3 with 6:39 left. Four minutes later, Dolny cut it to 5-4 on a bounce shot off a Mark Lane feed. In the fourth quarter, the Green Wave extended its lead to two goals again when Peter Grom connected on a high lefty shot at the 10:20 mark made it 6-4.

That’s when the Lakers rallied on back-to-back goals by Chiara. The first one coming on a loose ball from a blocked Dolny shot at the 8:48 mark. A Delbarton holding penalty set up the second goal. The man-advantage score by Chiara came off a pass from Mark Lane with 4:06 remaining tied the contest. The rally gave the Delbarton players that sinking feeling that maybe the title was slipping away from them.

“Absolutely,” Seligmann said. “That third quarter and into the fourth. We were getting penalties and playing stupid. I think that’s where experience from being here sets in. Every year it’s the same exact thing on this field. We started to let the game go a little bit, but with a goalie like Alex and our defense, they settled everyone down.”

Delbarton had the better scoring opportunities in the final minutes of regulation. A shot by McBride banged off the right post at about the three-minute mark. Another hard effort by McBride was corralled by Lakers goalkeeper Kevin Croken with 1:23 left.

Going into the overtime the Green Wave players had faith in each other. They had been to the final many times before and they handled the pressure of overtime, the first in the state championship game since Mendham and Ridgewood’s triple overtime contest 10 years ago.

“It’s always sweet to win a state championship especially the third,” Cocoziello said. “It was also a relief. We had a lot of expectations this year. It’s just a great feeling.”

Delbarton 7,

Mountain Lakes 6, OT

Mt. Lakes 1 1 2 2 0– 6

Delbarton 1 2 2 1 1– 7

Goals: Matt McBride (D) 3, Pat Calabro (D), Reade Seligmann (D) 2, Peter Grom (D), Mark Lane (ML), Nick Bevacqua (ML), J. J. Moran (ML), John Dolny (ML), Paul Chiara (ML) 2.

Assists: Chris Ryan (ML), Mark Lane (ML), Moran (ML), Tim Campbell (D), Calabro (D), Grom (D).

Goalkeepers: Alex Hewit (D) 9, Kevin Croken (ML) 10.

Records: Delbarton 22-1, Mountain Lakes 22-2

Mark Kitchin can be reached at 973-428-6677 or