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FALMOUTH — Even when the Falmouth boys lacrosse team isn’t at its best, it’s still very, very good. Wednesday’s Class A semifinal against Cape Elizabeth was proof of that.

The Navigators never trailed, but Cape never completely went away, either. The result was a 16-7 Falmouth win that felt closer than its nine-goal margin.

“I want to give a lot of credit to Cape. We played them twice early in the year in, I think, an 11-day span. You could see in that second game they were definitely starting to figure some things out,” Falmouth coach Dave Barton said. “Some of it was self-inflicted, sure, and we’d like to be a little more crisp this time of year, but I think Cape definitely made a lot of plays in the field in situations where we’ve got to be on, and we weren’t.”

No. 1 Falmouth (16-0) will face No. 2 Thornton Academy on Saturday as it goes for a second straight state title. Fifth-seeded Cape Elizabeth ends the season at 9-8 and will not play in a state championship game for the first time since 2019.

“All we were focused on is winning this game and getting two more days of practice. I know, as a senior, I didn’t want my last game to be on this turf. I want it to be at Fitzy. So we got the job done. That’s all we can ask for,” said Falmouth defender Miles Thaxter.

The Navigators led 3-0 after one quarter and opened an 8-0 advantage with a three-goal outburst in a span of 55 seconds in the second quarter. Barton said he was surprised to see the Capers in a zone defense, but his team had faced zones throughout the season and knew how to attack it.

“They gave us their best shot. They made us earn it,” Barton said.

Cape Elizabeth coach Ben Raymond knew Falmouth would get off shots. He focused the Capers’ defense on trying to force the Navigators to take shots from the perimeter, allowing goalie Luke Gagne to get clean looks at the ball.

“I think our defense played really well at times. They just weren’t able to do it consistently enough throughout the game,” Raymond said. “We were planning on letting them shoot. It’s OK if they shoot. We just wanted to dictate where they were shooting from. When Luke saw the shots where he wanted them to shoot from, he made the save. When they got more into the middle of the field and kept their hands free, it was a little bit more difficult.”

Falmouth led 12-2 late in the third quarter before the Capers went on a mini run. Bennett Hooper scored as the quarter ended. Goals by Alex Mainville and Brady Hanisko early in the fourth cut the lead to 12-5 before another outburst by the Navigators rebuilt the 10-goal lead.

Joey Guerrette scored five goals for Falmouth, and Gio Guerrette added four. TJ Saulter and Ian Christie each scored twice.

“I know in the first half, defensively we were communicating well. In the second half, the communication went downhill a little bit, but we figured it out by the end of the game,” Thaxter said.

Nathan Hanisko scored a pair of goals for Cape Elizabeth.