Brayden Harmer connected on a pair of goals in the second half to guide the Beavers to a 3-1 victory over the Boquet Valley Griffins in the sectional semifinal in Keene Valley.

Keene teammate Vann Morrelli also scored, while Hyler Isham assisted on both of Harmer’s goals. Carson Leibeck netted Boquet Valley’s lone goal.

With the win, Keene will set its eyes on its first boys soccer sectional title since 1985. The team will take on the Chazy Eagles, which won their semifinal matchup 2-1 over Schroon Lake/Newcomb, at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Beekmantown High School.

Beavers head coach Brad Hurlburt said just reaching the title game means a lot to this squad.

Keene’s Henry Crowl, left, battles for the ball with Boquet Valley’s Ben Pribble during Wednesday’s playoff game. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“We have six seniors on this team, and they have lost in the semis the last two years.” he said. “They’ve been working incredibly hard to try to put themselves in a position to win a championship.”

In 2022, Keene suffered a 9-0 semifinal loss to Chazy, and most recently a 1-0 loss to Boquet Valley last season.

“To get through this — since our goal this year was to try and play in the final and to try and compete for sectional championships — it feels really good,” Hurlburt said.

But their journey to the title game was anything but easy.

After Morrelli scored the game’s first goal around the halfway point of the first half on a loose rebound goal, the Griffins responded nearly 4 minutes later when Leibeck rifled a shot over the head of Robjent from 30 yards out. But Hurlburt was confident that his team could break through in the second half.

Around 18 minutes into the second half, the did just that. Harmer collected Isham’s pass through the middle of the field and split the Griffins defense for a goal.

Harmer added another when he netted Isham’s rebound around 10 minutes later to extend his team’s lead to 3-1.

“We stuck to our system of play and didn’t go away from it,” Hurlburt said. “We continued to be patient, apply pressure and trust that the system would work, and it ultimately did, but it was unnerving.”

Boquet Valley finished with an 10-8 edge in shots, but the Beavers had higher quality chances. Peter Robjent recorded eight saves in goal for Keene, including some key saves in the final few minutes. The Griffins’ Trenton Lyon had five saves.

“Pete’s come a long way as a goalkeeper,” Beavers assistant coach Mike Kaz said. “We have so much faith in him back there with his hands and his feet. He’s a major part of the system we play.”

The top-seeded Beavers, which improved to 16-1 overall, will now head into championship round facing the Eagles, which have won the Class D sectional title every year since 2015, and won 10 Class D state titles over the year, including one last season.

Keene previously topped Chazy 3-2 on Sept. 14, but Kaz said the playoffs are a completly different thing.

“We’ve told the guys over and over again that the regular season is over and this is a whole other season,” he said. “Really what we’ve told them over and over again too is, ‘It’s one game.’ Either you end 0-1 or 1-0 — that’s it.”