Waterford — The score was tied 14-14 on a backhanded flip by Bacon Academy's Sam Blumberger with 11 minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I boys' lacrosse championship Thursday and the fans for both sides were howling — booing one moment and rooting happily the next.

That was the goosebump-inducing atmosphere, giddily post-pandemic, in which the game's ending unfolded.

Ryan Whaley, East Lyme High School's senior attack, side-armed the eventual game-winner a few moments later in the top-seeded Vikings' 18-14 victory over No. 2 Bacon.

Whaley finished with eight goals and the game's James Courtney Most Outstanding Player Award on a night both East Lyme lacrosse teams, boys and girls, won ECC Division I titles to remain unbeaten heading into the start of the state tournament, each as the top seed in Class M.

In the second game of Thursday's ECC doubleheader, the No. 1-seeded East Lyme girls' team topped No. 2 Fitch 21-8, getting five goals from Dani Bruno, four goals each from Nancy Alden and Sydney Sager and four goals and three assists from Most Outstanding Player Ryan Nagle.

"It's fantastic to have all the fan support. It inspired us to work hard," East Lyme boys' coach Gary Wight said. "... We won this (tournament) a few times. Every one is special to me and special to the team. It's so meaningful to have this win."

"It was definitely a dogfight," Whaley said. "But we came out in the second half and we came to play as a team. I wouldn't be able to do it without my whole team getting involved, for sure."

East Lyme led 5-1 early before Bacon tied the game 7-7 with 2:29 remaining prior to halftime. Whaley's fifth goal of the half gave the Vikings (14-0) an 8-7 lead at halftime and East Lyme scored three straight to start the second half to make it 11-7 before Bacon came back once again.

Bacon's Jake Chapman scored with 13 seconds remaining in the third quarter with the Bobcats holding a two-man advantage, pulling within 13-12, but the next dramatic goal belonged to East Lyme's Wes Williamson with one-tenth of a second on the clock in the third on an assist by Cooper Pazzaglia to push it back to 14-12.

Bacon's Kellen Paparella, who finished with five goals, scored to start the fourth quarter and Blumberger struck just 14 seconds later on an assist from Jack Holmes to even things once again.

East Lyme closed with goals by Whaley, Matt Valakos, Williamson and Whaley once again for the final margin.

Bacon finished the regular season atop the ECC Division II standings and chose to play in the Division I tournament instead of staying on its own turf and perhaps hanging a Division II banner.

"We always just like to compete," said Bacon coach Brian Martin, whose team is 14-2 overall, with both losses to East Lyme. "Our guys don't back down from any challenges. I'm just proud of these guys overall. We've never been to an ECC championship game before. We wanted to get to places we hadn't been."

Valakos finished with four goals and seven assists, Williamson with four goals and Miles Hinckley with a goal and three assists for East Lyme.

The East Lyme girls, who led 10-5 at halftime against Fitch, are 14-0 headed to the state tournament, which they won in 2019 prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season due to COVID-19. This year, the Vikings haven't been able to test themselves outside the ECC, but coach Phil Schneider said his team has continued to improve.

"It's been like any season, ups and downs and you hope you play your best at the end of the season," Schneider said. "We have a lot of good teams ahead of us."

"I think we're a very united team," said Nagle, who is new to the East Lyme program this year after moving from Long Island. "We were facing hardship with Stonington (9-8 victory last week) and we came through. I feel like we've been getting more and more comfortable with each other."

Rita Sefransky and Bridget O'Leary each had two goals and an assist for Fitch, which is 12-3 with all three losses to East Lyme.

v.fulkerson@theday.com