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BIDDEFORD — An explosive offense lifted the York boys lacrosse team over Freeport in the regular season.

With a berth in the state championship game at stake, the Wildcats’ defense gave the team a lift in the rematch.

Evan Anastas, Cooper Dodge and Quinn Walenta scored three goals apiece, Brendan Dowling made seven saves, and No. 1 York returned to the Class B final for the third straight year with a 14-7 win over No. 4 Freeport on Wednesday at Waterhouse Field.

“It’s our attitude going into games; this isn’t the end, there’s still more to come,” Dodge said. “It starts at practice, we practice how we play. Then we come into games and we’re focused.”

The win sets up a championship rematch against Yarmouth, which beat Messalonskee in the other semifinal 19-4. The Clippers beat the Wildcats last season, 13-12, and the teams have split two matchups this season.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Anastas said. “We don’t like them, they don’t like us. … That fuel from last year has been (driving) our whole entire season.”

York improved to 14-2. Freeport, led by four goals from David Ulrickson and two from Randall Walker, finished 11-5.

“York is a great squad. We were trying to do some things, scheme-wise, to try to throw them off,” said Falcons coach Brendan Boss, who also got a goal from Hunter Richard and 10 saves from Dom Randall. “(But) they made a lot more plays than we did, at the end of the day.”

It was the eighth straight win for York, which won the state title in 2023 before losing last year. One of those eight victories was an 18-11 win over the Falcons, which was the Wildcats’ second-highest offensive output of the season.

This time, York’s defense, led by senior Shea Buckley and sophomore Coen Camire, prevented Freeport from creating quality chances and held the Falcons to two goals in the first half, while two goals by Anastas helped the Wildcats build a 6-2 lead.

“I have a great defense in front of me,” Dowling said. “In the game, communication was perfect. Everyone was talking, Coen Camire stepped up. He’s really used his voice out there.”

Freeport found a rhythm in the second half and twice cut the deficit to two goals in the third quarter. Each time, however, York had a response. With 4:31 to go in the third, Ulrickson scored on the power play to make it 7-5, only for Dodge to answer right off the draw seven seconds later.

Ulrickson struck again from the far left with 2:36 to go in the third, but Dodge again scored off a Mason Walenta feed to make it 9-6 with 30 seconds left, and Quinn Walenta scored five seconds before the buzzer.

Quinn Walenta and Brett Aceto scored quick goals early in the fourth, and Anastas and Quinn Walenta struck after a Walker goal for Freeport.

“These guys have good heads on their shoulders,” York coach Billy McNamara said. “I think that showed today when that game got tight.”

Now comes the long-awaited rematch with Yarmouth.

“I want to play them,” Dowling said. “We’ve had that game circled for a while. We knew it was going to be them.”