BARNSTABLE – The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Former longtime Cape and Island league foes Sandwich and Nantucket found themselves in a familiar position at midfield as they faced off for the Division 4 boys lacrosse state championship.

The No. 3 ranked Blue Knights left for the South Shore League this season but took on the top-seeded Whalers – who they split within the league last season – for all the state marbles.

Chalk the first nonleague win up for the Whalers and, not surprisingly, not a thing was decided until the final minutes of play.

Nantucket (21-1) took down its first-ever state title in the program’s history with in a 7-6 thriller over former nemesis Sandwich (19-4) as junior Nolan Mosscrop scored both of his goals inside the last six minutes of play to break up the fourth tie in the contest to lift the Whalers at Barnstable High School.

Mosscrop’s double play was followed by a Harrison Delman tally for Sandwich to get the Blue Knights back within one, 6-5, but Aaron Hanlon scored the second of his bookend goals of the game with 2:54 left in regulation for the eventual game-winner.

“I didn’t get to play my freshman year because I had shin surgery and this year, I had to ramp it up and it (finally) showed,” said Mosscrop. “There was nothing individual, everybody played together, and if there was one person scoring every goal we would not have won. It was a teamwork game and that’s how we did it.

Both teams scored a goal in the first quarter and a pair of goals each in the second for the 3-3 tie after 24 minutes of play.

Hanlon scored unassisted across the crease just under the crossbar to give Nantucket the lead with 1:46 left in the first quarter. Short-lived lead for the Whalers as Jack Connolly netted the equalizer with 45 seconds left.

In the second Cole Rodgers gave the Blue Knights the lead with a behind the back goal pretty enough for an ESPN Top 10 highlight in the first minute of second stanza.

But the patience of the Whalers’ offense prevailed the rest of the way as Nantucket grabbed a pair of goals from senior captain Colton Chambers with assists from Colby O’Keefe (one goal; two assists) and Jack Halick, who had two helpers.

The Whalers controlled the flow in the final seven-plus minutes minus the final 9.5 seconds of the half. Just enough time for Sandwich to go over 60 yards on an inbound from Devin Mahoney to Connolly then to Daniel Oman for a carbon copy cross-crease, top shelf goal like Hanlon’s first for the 3-3 tie with 3.5 seconds left in the first half.

“This has been the way we’ve been playing all year. We’ve given up six goals maybe two or three times all year so that has been the key,” said head coach Sam Aloisi, in his 10th year with the Whalers. “Our defense and then the transition, our offense struggled because Sandwich played really well, and we knew it would come down to the end one way or the other.”

Mosscrop’s goals both came in fantastic transition for the Whalers after three-and-a-half quarters of stalling a bit on offense and being patient, which not only paid off throughout, but set up Mosscrop for the heroics.

This was the third straight visit to the Division 4 state finals for Sandwich with no wins to show for it and head coach Mike McNeill could not have been more gracious in defeat as he made sure to say there is always a victory somewhere.

“Forty-eight minutes of lacrosse, we played all 48 and came out on the wrong end of that but I’m proud of my team, we played hard, the kids executed, they supported each other, sportsmanship was fantastic on both sides in my opinion, and what else could I ask for,” said McNeill. “I do not like that we lost but there is a victory there to be able to have the opportunity to work with these kids and the pleasure of coaching them.”

Hanlon’s second goal was not the end Avery Richardson never quit and potted his second of the game with 22 seconds left but the Blue Knights ran out of time in a classic.

“Nolan is a great player, but he came up huge. This is a little bit surreal at the moment, it’s great. The kids – they deserve it,” said Aloisi referring to the first-ever state title for his program. “They’ve been through a lot with all the hockey stuff they went through, a little bit of redemption for them.”