SALEM – Mt. Abram High School and Dirigo High School could play a hundred more boys’ soccer games and not get the roll of the dice that turned up Wednesday night.

The Cougars hope not, at least. Two of the top five clubs in the deep, tightly packed Mountain Valley Conference met under the bulbs at Avery Field, and the end result wasn’t even close.

Alex Crossman registered his third hat trick of the season in the Roadunners’ 5-0 victory, one that denied Dirigo a berth in the MVC championship game and might have shuffled the top four seeds in the upcoming Western Class C tournament.

“We were just hoping for a win,” said Jason Parrett, who added a goal and two assists for Mt. Abram. “We know this is a really good team.”

Mt. Abram (10-2-1) concludes the regular-season today against Hall-Dale. Dirigo (11-2-1) falls out of the MVC title game – now a battle between Georges Valley and Lisbon – and hopes it won’t tumble from the No. 2 seed in Western C.

“The Heal Points could shuffle big time now. All I know is we’re not in the MVC championship game, and like I told these guys, we’re lucky we get to play another game,” said Dirigo coach Dennis Hanson. “If tonight was next week at this time, we’d be going home and watching.”

Although the first half shot and save statistics were a virtual deadlock, Mt. Abram took advantage of two dead-ball situations and enjoyed a 2-0 lead at the break.

Sterling Hooke punched home a feed from Parrett at 1:46 after Tucker Lander dropped a free kick in front of the cage from about 25 yards.

Parrett also assisted Crossman’s first strike with 10:18 remaining in the half. Dirigo goalkeeper Archie Ray charged to stop Parrett’s initial shot. The ball caromed over to Crossman at the far post, however, and he redirected it into the empty net.

Mt. Abram proved such a lead wasn’t safe last year, when the Roadrunners spotted Dirigo an early edge before answering the bell.

“Last year was a really close game. They came out on us 2-0, and we came back. It was crazy,” Crossman recalled. “We knew we needed to keep doing whatever we could and shut down Jon Smith.”

The Roadrunners’ defensive stopper, Ronal Cabe, continued to clamp down on Dirigo’s skilled striker after intermission. Dirigo’s number of scoring opportunities diminished sharply in the second half, and most of Smith’s looks were launched from long range.

Meanwhile, Mt. Abram needed fewer than four minutes to make it a three-goal advantage, with Crossman taking a 50-50 ball away from Brett Staples and beating Ray to the lower left corner.

“We knew the next goal was either going to be the one that lets Dirigo back in,” said Mt. Abram coach Darren Allen, “or we go up three-nil and it’s tough for them to come back.”

Parrett got into the act at 10:16 of the second half with help from Noah Tranten at the end of a pretty right-left-right passing pattern. Crossman collected his third goal on a header off Lander’s corner kick at 18:35.

Mt. Abram’s speed and the energy from an impressive, partisan crowd each played a pivotal role.

“They’re very quick, and they put us on our heels,” Hanson said. “That’s the first game where our defense has looked so lost out there.”

“I think a lot of it is mental for us,” said Parrett. “I really noticed it tonight. In front of our home crowd, we step it up.”