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GARDINER — Cyrus Mills remained calm in a pressure-packed situation and made the play that lifted Telstar to the eight-player South boys soccer championship game.

With a Pine Tree Academy defender tightly guarding him, Mills made a move at the top of the 18-yard box to create some space and then booted a low shot into the goal to give the Rebels a 1-0 double-overtime victory Thursday at Gardiner Area High School.

“I waited to beat him, I guess,” Mills said. “I mean, he was playing great defense on me, and I just had to wait.”

Mills said he went low on Pine Tree goalie Colby Solberg (12 saves) to catch him off guard.

The Rebels (16-0-1) advance to the eight-player state final Saturday against Piscataquis (17-0) at Brewer High School.

Rebels coach Nic Conrad, who has coached most of the Telstar players since middle school, said Mills has a knack for making big plays at important moments.

“He’s the talisman of the team,” Conrad said. “He’s the calm guy, he doesn’t really need a spotlight, just the ball at his feet, he doesn’t need all the attention, he makes every effort count. He made that shot count when he had to, and it was amazing.”

Pine Tree (13-3-1) coach Jessica Remmes-Davis said the second-seeded Breakers played well throughout the game, but top-seeded Telstar was patient on offense and Mills made his shot count.

“They were able to counterattack and get that goal there at the end,”  Remmes-Davis said. “But I think that’s what they had to do to win today. … We had a better majority of the ball. That’s how you win games like that, is on counterattack. (Mills) just took advantage of that moment.”

The Breakers controlled play for most of the second half and the two overtime sessions but couldn’t get a shot past Rebels goalie Adam Stephenson (10 saves), who said he noticed the intensity of the crowd at Hoch Field.

“I mean, I can drown them out pretty well, but yeah, you definitely hear the crowd,” Stephenson said. “It definitely impacts what you’re focused on.”

Conrad said if it wasn’t for Stephenson’s play in the opening half, Telstar would have been on the losing side.

“I believe Miguel (Matos) had a great shot from 30, 40 yards that Adam tipped over the bar, and then a couple other crucial things,” Conrad said. “Adam has been an absolute stud in the net. He has let up only six goals this year.”