YARMOUTH — Bill Jacobs finished with three goals and second-seeded Yarmouth clamped down on defense Wednesday to win the Eastern Class B boys’ lacrosse championship with a 10-4 victory against fourth-ranked North Yarmouth Academy.

The Clippers (12-3) will play Cape Elizabeth for the state title at 12:20 p.m. Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland – the third straight year they’ve met in the final, with Cape winning the last two.

“We wanted to come in and spin the ball around fast,” Jacobs said. “We really turned it up and executed well in the second half.”

In a first quarter marked by strong defense for both teams, Jacobs scored with 9:38 remaining.

After Jake Rasch tied it for the Panthers, Jacobs gave Yarmouth a 2-1 lead with 12 seconds left in the period.

“We had kind of a slow start,” Clippers Coach David Pearl said. “But once they settled down and started playing confidently, we began to move the ball around and began scoring in transition.”

NYA scored first in the second quarter, when Trevor Lachance connected from 1 yard to make it 2-2.

Midway through the quarter, three goals were scored in a minute, with Henry Venden and Tim Pietropaoli scoring for Yarmouth, and Lachance countering for NYA.

The Clippers led 4-3 at halftime.

When the game resumed, the Clippers took over.

Attackman Will Garrett scored first on a 5-yard overhand shot with 9:36 remaining in the third quarter. Then Pietropaoli scored his second goal of the game to give Yarmouth a 6-3 advantage.

Joe Oliva, who assisted both goals to begin the second half, scored from 5 yards away with less than a second remaining in the third period, giving Yarmouth a 7-3 lead.

The Clippers allowed one goal in the second half.

“Our defense is really dominant,” Pearl said. “We have a veteran group that’s played together for three or four years. They work incredibly hard in practice and it shows in games like today.”

The Clippers then put the game away early in the fourth quarter when Remi LeBlanc found Jacobs for his third goal of the game.

Silas Chappell and Samuel Morris also scored in the quarter for the Clippers, who pulled out to a 10-3 advantage with two minutes remaining.

The Panthers scored their final goal with 1:58 to play when Rasch scored unassisted from 2 yards.

“The shot selection for us needs to be better moving forward,” Pearl said.

“D.J. (Nicholas of North Yarmouth Academy) is an incredibly good goalie, he’s hurt us before, but we were able to get some separation at the end.”