East Lyme — Eighty minutes of intense, high-level soccer couldn’t decide the outcome of Thursday’s CIAC Class L second-round boys’ game.

Evenly matched East Lyme and Simsbury high schools battled into the second of two 10-minute overtime periods still deadlocked.

Finally, sophomore Max Montejano delivered the East Lyme program’s biggest goal in recent years, firing in a dramatic game-winner to complete a comeback and hand the third-seeded Vikings a 2-1 victory.

After surviving a frantic final nine minutes after the goal, the Vikings charged the field to celebrate while the Trojans bowed their heads in disappointment.

“It was an incredible feeling,” Montejano said about scoring the winning goal. “I felt like I had won my team the game. As a sophomore playing up this year and first time on varsity, I knew I had to do something special to make my name.”

East Lyme coach Paul Christensen called it one of helluva of a high school soccer game.

“Honest to God, in my 36 years, that was one of the best soccer games I’ve ever been involved in,” Christensen said. “It was unbelievable. It was back and forth. Two well-skilled, outstanding teams.

“ … The way we finished it, it was unbelievable.”

East Lyme (18-1-1) will host No. 6 Bethel, a 2-0 winner over No. 22 Middletown, at 2 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals.

With both defenses playing well and energy high from the start, Thursday’s game appeared destined for overtime.

There were few quality scoring chances. Simsbury’s Shane Small and East Lyme’s Ben Johnson came up with big saves when needed.

Both goals in regulation came on penalty kicks.

No. 14 Simsbury struck first, taking advantage of a hand ball to go up 1-0 with 3:38 remaining before halftime. Senior Max Berger buried his shot into the corner, beating Johnson who guessed the right side but had no chance to make the save.

The Vikings found themselves in an unfamiliar position, trailing for one of the few times in a game this season. They played a good chunk of the first half without senior forward Robert Stoddard, who went to the sidelines with a hamstring injury. He scored both of East Lyme’s goals in a 2-1 win over Windsor in the first round.

But they never panicked.

Christensen was pleased with his team’s reaction to the adversity.

“Unfortunately, sometimes this team has a tendency to get on each other,” Christensen said. “Today, they didn’t. They played as a team and they lifted each other up. … They supported each other and they did a great job fighting back.”

The Vikings finally scored the equalizer with 4:19 left in regulation. Following a Simsbury foul in the box, Stoddard cashed in, knocking in a well-placed penalty kick. He returned to the game about 25 minutes earlier.

“When we went down 1-0, we knew we had to persevere,” Montejano said. “We didn’t drop our heads. We stayed at it and kept our energy high. We knew we had to get one back.”

Simply put, the first overtime session was crazy competitive.

Exhausted players dug deep into their reserves. Play went back and forth as both teams pressed for the game-winner. Small made a great save, tipping a deflected shot wide.

Early in the second overtime, the Vikings finally seized the lead for good. Senior Dominik Stefanski sent a pass across the front of the goal and Montejano was there to bang it in from close range with 8:55 left. He had just come in the game as a sub.

“I was crashing the box and the ball got slipped through to (Stefanski) who played it across,” Montejano said. “I saw it go through the defender’s legs and it was just right there for me. It was a piece of cake.”

The Vikings held on from there.

The second round game took its toll on East Lyme. Stoddard is far from 100% while a few other players are also banged up.

“I’ve got so many people hurt right now,” Christensen said. “My practice (Friday) is probably going to be standing. They’ve got no legs and they’re banged up pretty good. I don’t know what is going to happen on Saturday. … But the reality is, we moved on and we’re in the quarterfinals for the first time in a while.”

g.keefe@theday.com