East Lyme — For one final play, Waterford coach Chris Landry was tempted to go back to sophomore Logan Bowdish. And who wouldn't be? Bowdish scored twice in the final three minutes of regulation to get the Lancers to this overtime session.

Bowdish, however, served as a decoy for this one.

And then there was Waterford's Michael LaForte, holding the ball calmly behind the net, appearing to be pondering just the right time to release it.

“Michael thinks a lot out there. He's a coach's son (son of Coast Guard men's lacrosse coach Ray LaForte). Michael has great vision,” Landry said.

All that led to the game-winning goal by Bray Griffith with 1 minute, 48 seconds left in overtime Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Eastern Connecticut Conference boys' lacrosse tournament.

Waterford High School, seeded second, topped No. 3 Norwich Free Academy 6-5 on Griffith's goal, assisted by LaForte, who found his teammate cutting to the net.

Waterford (13-4) goes on to meet No. 1 East Lyme (10-7) in Thursday's league championship game after East Lyme defeated No. 4 Stonington 18-7 in the first semifinal of the night. East Lyme has won 12 of the last 13 tournament titles, while Waterford makes it first appearance in a final.

“We talked to the kids about history, being a part of it, about doing this for the first time,” Landry said. “This is our first time in the championship game and we're excited.”

Bowdish scored four goals and senior goalie Taylor Huta made 11 saves for Waterford, which was deadlocked at 3 for three quarters against the Wildcats, including a scoreless third period.

NFA's Logan Morin finally broke the tie with 6:07 to play, scoring on a second effort after first shot was wide but kicked back out to him by Braydon Golas. Golas scored what appeared to be an insurance goal with 5:15 to play on an assist by Morin.

That's when things took an unlikely shift in Waterford's favor.

Bowdish scored on a power play with 2:58 to go, hitting the back of the net from the right side. The Lancers won the faceoff and Bowdish, a lefty, scored again quickly, charging down the left side.

“You've just got to get in there,” Bowdish said of the tying goal. “It just shows how connected we are as a team. Our whole team is a family. I didn't score those goals by myself.”

It was the second straight memorable victory for Waterford, which beat Stonington 6-5 last Thursday to force a share of the ECC Small Division title. NFA, the ECC Large Division co-champ along with East Lyme, is 11-6.

In the first game, East Lyme sophomore Connor Schofner scored five goals and Aaron Dixon, Ned Shields, Matt Boguszewski and Kyle MacDonnell had three each. Dixon added three assists, James McCoy and Shields two each and Ryan Janovic finished with 10 saves.

Boguszewski scored three straight power-play goals to make it 6-0 after one quarter and the Vikings led 7-0 on a goal by MacDonnell to start the second quarter.

Unlike the mistake-filled game East Lyme played in last week's loss to NFA, the Vikings were relatively error-free against Stonington, pushing the ball smoothly up the field.

Nick DeDominicis and Jack Hall scored two goals each for Stonington (12-5).

“It was disappointing (to lose to NFA), but you can't take back the loss,” East Lyme's Schofner said. “You've got to prepare.”

“We played a full game,” East Lyme coach Gary Wight said. “Last time we played Stonington we led 9-3 at the half and kind of settled and won 9-6. We're definitely improving. From the beginning of the year, I'm really proud of the progress we've made.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com