Mattituck sophomore Mario Arreola helped lead the Tuckers to a third straight county title Saturday afternoon.

CLASS B COUNTY FINALS  |  TUCKERS 4, RED DEVILS 2

Despite playing slightly more than half a game with a man disadvantage, Mattituck High School overcame a difficult Center Moriches side to record a 4-2 victory and capture the Suffolk County Class B boys soccer crown for the third consecutive time Saturday afternoon.

The Tuckers overcame some adversity, losing sophomore left back Walter Jacob to a red card late in the first half at Diamond in the Pines in Coram.

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Mattituck sophomores Kevin Williams (13) and James Hayes celebrate during Saturday’s 4-2 win over Center Moriches.

“The heart and the will of the team just showed today,” Mattituck coach Mat Litchhult said. “They took the punch of getting a red card. They took the punch of coming back at 2-2. And what did we to? We punched back twice in a row and took the lead. They have talked from Day One that it’s never been done before, a three-repeat, and nobody was going to take it from them. All the credit goes to those guys.”

Mattituck (14-3-1) will play the Nassau County Class B champion in the Long Island championship game at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

“We’re just going to go harder,” said Stephen Urwand, who scored the game-winning goal. “We’ve practiced all year for these games. It’s time to put it to the test.”

Added Litchhult: “We’re going to have to pick ourselves up again. We’re down a man. We’ll to have to regroup. One of our starters can’t play. But we’ll figure it out.”

Mattituck had control of the game, grabbing a 2-0 lead on the strength of Ryan Finger’s head with 34:30 remaining in the first half and Mario Arreola’s point-blank shot with 22:41 left.

But Jacob was awarded his second yellow card for a hard tackle on Kevin O’Brien with 5:46 remaining in the half, forcing the Tuckers to play with 10 men.

Center Moriches (13-4), however, took to the offensive, slicing the lead in half on Edgar Amaya’s goal with 4:52 left in the half. The Red Devils equalized on O’Brien’s goal with 18:50 left in the half.

The Tuckers might have bent, but did not break as Urwand broke the deadlock off a breakaway goal with 16:56 left before sophomore Kevin Williams added an insurance goal with 10:03 to go. He scored from a difficult angle from the left side as his is shot banged off the far post and into the net.

With 3:43 left in the game, O’Brien was assessed his second yellow card, evening up the teams at 10 players apiece the rest of the way.