MILTON­ – With time nearly expired, Cohasset senior Sam Ellinger received a pass from Ty Rudnik and buried it into the back of the net to give the Skippers a 3-2 victory over Lynnfield in the Division 4 boys soccer state championship game.

“It was just amazing,” Ellinger said. “I saw that he had the ball in the box and nobody was guarding me. I knew I had to win it for my team.”

This result wouldn’t have been in his mind just a few years ago, as Ellinger was a member of the Skippers football program. However, with many of his closest friends playing for the soccer team, he approached head coach Jim Willis with an idea.

“As a junior, he came to me and said he just wanted to play with his best friends,” Willis said. “He very quickly became a very integral part of our team. He saw an opportunity to join something special with his friends and now they owe him for life.”

Ellinger’s tally marked the only period of the game that Cohasset led. Lynnfield was quick to grab the first lead, as Dillon Reilly crashed the net and buried a goal just a few minutes in.

However, this was only a temporary setback as Cohasset’s Cian Casey netted the equalizer moments later.

“We just told everyone that if we go down a goal or score a goal it is no different,” Willis said. “We have just got to keep playing because in the end we just need one more than they have.”

This would be the extent of scoring at halftime, although Nathan Askjaer of the Skippers and Reilly both hit the post at different points.

Lynnfield got a similar boost in the second half, as Reilly dished the ball to Joel Anthony by the net and the senior midfielder found the back of the net.

Trailing in the second half was not ideal, but Cohasset’s comeback victory over East Boston in the semifinals had the team prepared for the moment.

“We experienced the same thing against East Boston,” Ellinger said. “I knew, my teammates knew, that we were going to come back.”

This gritty comeback effort started when Rudnik found a loose ball and deposited it into the back of the net with just under 20 minutes remaining.

“We never give up,” Rudnik said. “Everyone wants to be here and everybody knows that we are capable of scoring. We knew that we could play and I think that we showed that to everyone today.”

The tie score would hold until the final moments, but Rudnik’s setup for Ellinger was the play that finally tipped the game Cohasset’s way.

“He had a couple of goals early in the season but hadn’t scored since,” Willis said. “He saved it for the perfect time.”

As the magical season came to a close, Rudnik expressed his joy in the fact that the Skippers lived up to their true potential.

“We knew this team was special going in,” Rudnik said. “From the preseason trip we were clicking. We faced adversity all year, but we came here, went down and finally won our first state championship in program history.”