Isaac Cruz’s shot was angry.

The Valley Central Vikings had crawled back from a four-goal halftime deficit to tie the game, his fourth goal of the game broke the tie, and helping lift the Bushmen to a 12-9 win on Friday night at Pine Bush High School’s Thomas Lonergan Field to win the Division 1 championship.

“It feels great to go undefeated in league play,” Cruz said. “I’m proud of my guys. Everyone has been the best this year. We played so good together and we’re only getting better.”

The Vikings, however, were determined to send the divisional championship to the tiebreakers, as Connor Stafford scored a man-up goal to pull the Vikings to within three goals. Then about 40 seconds later, Stafford assisted on a goal by Dylan Butcher to cut the Bushmen’s lead to 9-7 with 7:40 to go in the third quarter.

Then with 3:58 to go, the roles were reversed as Stafford scored off an assist from Butcher, pulling the Vikings to within a goal at the end of the third quarter.

“They’ve been connecting all year,” Valley Central coach Tom Stoddard said.

“The key has just been being consistent. We’ve been very inconsistent. So, tonight, we had some consistency.”

Then with 7:19 left in the game, Julian Rodriguez tied the game at 9-9.

Cruz was penalized in the third quarter for running over a Viking, getting a minute in the penalty box, but once the game was tied, he wouldn’t be denied.

He ran the ball up the field, loaded up to the right of the cage, and rifled a shot into the top-left corner of the cage. Valley Central goalkeeper Cooper Sherry had no chance to block.

“I was kind of upset with myself,” Cruz said. “I was in my own head. They got disoriented and they didn’t have a guy on me. So, I just took the late slide and stuck it in the corner.”

The Bushmen’s Colin Carey and Chris Sgourdas scored late goals to give their team some insurance. Sgourdas finished with three goals and Carey scored two.

“They’re finishers,” Pine Bush coach Michael Ciarelli said. “Realistically, what happens when we rotate like that, they are open and ready to finish. They complete the play for us.”

Cruz led the Bushmen with four goals and Gavin Vendy had a goal and an assist.

Gavin Carey added two goals for a Bushmen team that, along with the division title clinched the top seed in the upcoming Section 9 Class A playoffs.

“We’ve been dreaming of this moment all season long,” Cruz said. “We knew we were going to do it, and we came out here and did what we had to do.”

Stafford led the Vikings with three goals and two assists and Butcher had two goals and three assists. Avery Zipkin had a goal, and an assist and Colin Kinsley had a goal. Rodriguez had two goals and an assist.

The Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders’ win over the Kingston Tigers leaves three teams with 3-2 records and a three-way tie for the second seed. The Vikings have beaten Monroe-Woodbury but lost to the Tigers.

“I’m glad we had the game we had today,” Stoddard said. “I wish it would have been a win, but hopefully we learn from this.”