LEWISTON – Falling down never felt so good to C.J. Bergeron.

The St. Dom’s senior gained control of the puck just shy of the red line, with time ticking down toward the end of the game. His Saints held a precarious one-goal lead, and the Biddeford keeper was on the bench for an extra skater.

He wove his way through a crown, toward the right dasher. As he crossed the red line, he fired the puck toward the goal – and got crushed.

“I managed to twist a bit, to look to see if it went in, though,” Bergeron said.

It did.

Bergeron became the fifth different player to score for the Saints on Saturday night with just 10 seconds to play in the game, watching his shot wobble into the net 100 feet in the distance and sending St. Dom’s to its first Western Class A regional final since 2005 with a 5-3 win over the defending state champion Biddeford Tigers.

“It was a lot more intense than any game we’ve played this year,” Bergeron said. “Everyone gave it their all, including them until the last second. I’m dead right now, I’m going to go to bed as soon as I get home.”

The Saints are also smiling a bit as they look ahead. In each of the last two seasons, Falmouth has been the team to take St. Dom’s out of the playoffs, each time defeating the Saints in the quarterfinal round. Now, thanks to the win, St. Dom’s will get another crack at the Yachtsmen, when the two meet Tuesday at the Colisee in the Western Class A final.

“The seniors have been hungry all year long to get there,” St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette said. “It took us about half the season to get our systems working consistently, playing together as a team for three periods, but it’s all coming around.”

The defending champs, in the regional semifinals as a No. 8 seed, didn’t go down easy to No. 4 St. Dom’s, either.

The see-saw battle began early. Biddeford senior Cam Madore parlayed the same move into identical, lead-changing goals in the opening period. His first, at 2:50, came as he left the penalty box. He took a feed from Trevor Fleurent as he stepped back on the ice and took off, beating St. Dom’s keeper Shayne Curtis low with a backhand deke.

Casey Parker evened things off at one for the Saints at 6:43 with a rebound to the right side of the cage, but Madore struck again, with 56 seconds to play in the frame. This time, Madore sidestepped a Saints’ defenseman, and made the same move on Curtis, this time sliding the puck 5-hole for the score.

The Saints flexed their defensive muscles in the second, holding the Tigers to no shots in 15 minutes of play.

“Two things we talked about all year, play consistently and stay out of the box,” Biddeford coach Rich Reissfelder said. “They came out flying, they were all over us.”

On the other end, Alex Parker followed big brother onto the scoresheet with a great tip on a Paradis shot from the right point to even things up at 2-2 just one minute in on the power play.

Paradis followed at 4:00 with his own laser of a shot through a crowd to the top left corner, over Petit’s shoulder.

“That’s part of my job on this team, to help score goals,” Paradis said. “I had the open shot there, so I took it.”

Biddeford even enjoyed a power play in the second, but couldn’t get a shot through to Curtis.

Biddeford ratcheted up the pressure in the third.

“In the third period I think we found that desperation finally,” Reissfelder said. “When there’s 15 minutes left in the season you have to stand up and do something.”

Ben Randall converted an Alex Parker feed into a goal to put St. Dom’s on top 4-2, but the Tigers clawed back, getting one from Derek Reny with 4:24 to play.

Bergeron’s empty-netter clinched the game for St. Dom’s.

Falmouth dominates

Mike Chase scored a pair of goals and Dan Hanley and Mitchel Tapley scored one each to lift Falmouth to a 4-1 win over Cinderella-story Kennebunk at the Colisee on Saturday.

Chase had several tries at a hat trick, shooting wide twice and catching iron another couple times.

Jay Hurdmann made 17 saves to earn the win for the No. 3 Yachtsmen (14-6-0), losing his shutout bid at 6:11 of the final frame when Joey York slid the puck past him.

Kennebunk was in the game to begin with after upsetting both No. 7 Portland and No. 2 Thornton Academy, the latter coming in four overtimes.