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TOPSHAM — Mt. Ararat boys soccer coach Jack Rioux was reacting to his team’s loss in the first game of Tuesday’s Battle of the Bridge soccer doubleheader, but the statement holds true for both matchups:

“It’s just a Brunswick-Mt. Ararat game. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Each team knew the Class A North rivalry games would be physical, the student sections loud and execution of the essence, especially as the clock wound down.

For the Brunswick boys team, a defensive stand in the final 10 minutes that sealed a 2-1 victory.

“We just wanted it,” Brunswick’s Judah Greenwald said. “You have to stay switched on. We wanted it, so we focused up and we locked them down.”

The Mt. Ararat girls team won with a stellar offensive attack in the final 10 that pushed them ahead to a 3-1 win.

“We decided that, you know what, it’s important to beat your rival team,” Mt. Ararat’s Emma Berry said. “You’ve got to work hard and you just got to finish the game.”

Greenwald started the scoring for the Brunswick boys (6-3) in the 18th minute with a powerful shot from the top of the box that zipped through the outstretched hands of Mt. Ararat (5-3) goalkeeper Brady Yazwinski, who saved three other shots.

With 10 minutes left in the half, the Eagles responded. As was the case with most of Mt. Ararat’s first-half shots and passes, Dylan Trockman’s initial ball was blocked by the Brunswick defense. The senior midfielder regrouped the ball along the left end line and sent a pass into the box for Aaron Paul to head in and tie the game.

In the 52nd minute, Asher Foushee played “one of the most beautiful goals” Brunswick coach Mark Roma said he has seen in a while, a ball that curved from the left outside corner of the box into the top right corner of the net, to give the Dragons the lead.

“I don’t know if it was just playing Brunswick, and they got over-amped. I didn’t feel like we played a great first half,” Rioux said. “They hit us right in the mouth right away, and it wasn’t the same team I’ve seen for the first seven games. … But I thought, second half, we settled in, kept all the pressure on them early. They get one break, they finish and we’re down 2-1.”

For the rest of the second half, the majority of play was in the Mt. Ararat’s attacking side of the pitch, but throw-ins, free kicks and corners were all thwarted by the Brunswick back line. Goalie Edgar Meardon saved four shots and punched out multiple crosses.

“We knew what we were in for,” Roma said. “In situations like that, when you are playing high-powered teams like this, especially at their home, they’re going to keep coming, and you just have to be mentally tough enough to take it. Defend and go, defend and go.”

Berry and her Mt. Ararat (6-2) teammates watched the final minutes of the boys game and knew that in order to beat Brunswick (3-4-1), they couldn’t let the previous result affect them — or the Dragons’ quick sixth-minute goal by junior midfielder Eva Kousky on an assist from senior striker Lexi Morin.

“We’ve been doing this thing after getting scored on, or even after scoring, (where) we’ve been connecting as a team and talking about what we maybe did wrong (or) what we can do better,” Katherine Therriault said. “I think that’s really been helping us.”

The Eagles spoke about keeping their head up and staying on the attack, which helped Therriault equalize the game off passes from Julianna Allen and Berry with 1:08 left in the opening half.

The Dragons struggled to get across midfield after their first goal, only taking two more shots on goal the rest of the match, but the defensive line was able to limit the Eagles’ offense just the same.

“A lot of girls couldn’t go back in and play for whatever reason, so we’re forced to go a little bit deeper on the bench,” Brunswick coach Kevin Bachman said about the stretched offense. “People I wanted out there couldn’t stay out there, but I think they played as well as they could.”

In the 71st minute, Berry notched her second assist, this time a corner kick headed in by Islah Godo. The Eagles extended their lead five minutes later, when CeCe Minet chipped in a goal on a breakaway.

“I’m just ecstatic for the girls,” Mt. Ararat coach Kevin Flaherty said. “We talked about having a calm, composed atmosphere internally, but understanding that the crowd is going to play (a role) on the atmosphere, and how we have to play our game. I thought we executed fantastically, our three goals that we scored were MTA soccer goals.”

The two programs will meet again Oct. 22 in their season finales in Brunswick.