As the night went longer and longer and longer, as players and coaches and even fans neared exhaustion, everyone knew they were involved in something special.

Last Saturday, two girls’ hockey South regional semifinal games went into overtime. A lot of overtime.

Top-seeded Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland got a goal from freshman Libby Hooper in the fourth overtime to defeat Falmouth 5-4. It is believed to be the longest high school girls’ hockey game ever played in Maine. Hours later, third-seeded Scarborough got a goal from senior Evelyn Boardman with eight seconds remaining in the third overtime to edge Cheverus/Old Orchard Beach/Kennebunk/Windham, 1-0.

Now, those winning teams get to do it all over – though they hope they don’t have to play quite as long. The Cape Elizabeth co-operative (13-2-2) plays Scarborough (11-5-1) Wednesday in the South regional championship game at Troubh Ice Arena in Portland. The game scheduled to start at 7 p.m. after the conclusion of the North regional final between Lewiston and Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland.

“The girls seem ready to go,” said Bob Mills, head coach of the CapeFlete Riots, as the co-op team is known. “Let’s just hope it’s not like the other night and all the overtimes.”

The teams are familiar with each other. They met twice in the regular season, a 2-2 tie on Dec. 23 and a 4-2 Scarborough win on Jan. 22. In each game, the Red Storm rallied in the third period, scoring twice in the third to rally from 2-0 down in the tie and then three times in the third to rally from 2-1 down in the win.

“It’s definitely going to be a battle,” said Scarborough Coach Taylor Fowler. “Cape is very good, very talented. Hopefully, our girls come out like they did Saturday, ready to work hard and ready to do what we ask them to do.”

Mills said his players know what they have to do: “We need to play three strong periods of hockey. … We have come back to win games in the third period. But you don’t want to be in that position in the playoffs. The kids are resilient. They’ve proved that.

“I think a lot of people who were in the building Saturday thought our season was over. But the girls showed a lot of resiliency coming back. The focus for Wednesday is for three strong periods.”

Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland trailed Falmouth 4-2 in the third period last Saturday, tying the game with 7.1 seconds remaining on a Katharine Blackburn goal. Then they played into the night.

Mills, sensing the exhaustion creeping into his players, had them meditate between the overtime periods. “We talk a lot about how the mind can overcome the body,” he said. “Even though you feel completely exhausted, your mindset can carry you through. So we used some meditation to calm them down, to close their eyes, take deep breaths and regain some composure, calm the nerves.”

As the Red Storm played deep into overtime, Scarborough’s Fowler said she and her assistants kept reminding the players to do what they normally do. “One thought kept going through my head, ‘As long as these kids keep doing everything they can, we’re going to stay in it,’ ” she said. “And they did just that.”

Neither team has a long bench. Both play two lines and three defensemen regularly. Scarborough has more experience, with nine seniors; Cape Elizabeth has eight freshmen and three sophomores.

Mills said his players know what happened in the two regular season games with Scarborough. “Those are the lessons a young team, which we are, needs to learn in order to get ready for the playoffs,”

The CapeFlete Riots roll out a top line of all freshmen: Marina Bassett (22 goals, 16 assists in the regular season), Hooper (12 goals, seven assists) and Catie Lee (12 goals, nine assists). They have a steady defense led by seniors Sofia Cook and Blackburn, junior Delaney Whitten and junior goalie Abbey Steinhagen.

Boardman leads the Red Storm with 21 goals and six assists while Meagan Donovan has 12 goals and 12 assists and Calynn Gendreau has 12 goals and four assists. Lillian Finley, Morgan Scoville and Gwen Diaz anchor the defense while goalie A.J. Swett has been stellar for Scarborough.

In the North regional final, top-seeded Lewiston (15-2) and second-ranked Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland (11-5-2) also will meet for the third time this season. That game kicks off the regional championship doubleheader at Troubh Arena at 5 p.m.

Lewiston has won the previous two games between the teams, beating the EL co-operative team 7-1 on Jan. 10 and 2-0 nine days later.

The Blue Devils won the state championship the last time the tournament was held, in 2020, defeating Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland 1-0. Lewiston had lost in the state finals the year before that.

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