The Generals made sure it didn’t come down to that again Friday evening.

Led by leading scorer Tshibuyi Karekamera’s three goals, No. 6 Lafayette overcame a slow start to beat No. 5 Southwestern 4-1 and claim the Section VI Class B2 title on a cool evening at West Seneca East High School.

“We were down a goal really quick,” Lafayette head coach Brad Brodnicki said. “We rebounded really quickly to get our first goal and then we just kept steamrolling from there.”

Next up for the Generals will be a Class B crossover date with Class B1 champion Lewiston-Porter, which beat East Aurora 1-0 in Friday night’s second title game.

Southwestern’s Spencer Bell, center, goes up for a header off a corner kick during Friday’s Section VI Class B2 championship game against Lafayette at West Seneca East High School in Buffalo.

“They’re a great team,” Southwestern head coach Jason Deering said. “I really felt like they were a mirror copy of what we were trying to do. Balls just fell better for them than for us today.”

Southwestern, which scored in the final 15 seconds Monday to beat Allegany-Limestone and advance to the final, found the back of the net in the opening 15 seconds Friday.

The Trojans dropped the opening kickoff back to Neves Hoose, who sent a ball deep into the Lafayette end of the field.

Southwestern leading scorer Connor Young eventually gained possession and after putting a move on his defender to the right of the Generals goalkeeper, found a gap by the near post to deposit his 34th goal of the season.

“That was a last-second adjustment we did off the kickoff based off something I saw (Thursday) night,” Deering said. ” … It was a good start, we just couldn’t keep it going.”

the Trojans’ Nolan Froah battles the Generals’ Benjamin Wilondja for possession. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Southwestern continued to control the game for about another 10 minutes before Lafayette found its footing.

Taking away time and space, the Generals began to possess the ball in the Trojans’ third of the field and in the 12th minute were able to tie the score when Karekamera hit a right-footed volley into the corner of the goal past a diving Jonas Gesing for his 35th goal of the season.

“I felt like theirs was a lucky goal,” Karekamera said. “When we scored our goal, I felt like we were going to beat them.”

Lafayette took the lead for good in the 22nd minute. Bubasha Shemi got free in the middle of the field near the top of the 18-yard box and hit a shot with the outside of his right foot that fooled the Southwestern keeper for Shemi’s second goal of the year.

The Trojans nearly tied the game less than two minutes later, but Nolan Froah’s header in close was slapped away by Generals goalkeeper Aiham Almuallam.

Neither team produced much offense in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, but Lafayette’s constant pressure began to wear down Southwestern’s defense and midfield.

“I think there was a little bit of a panic,” Deering said. “We were pressing a little too much in terms of rushing things and trying to make too many things happen individually. We were trying to play it more to the outside. We started to get a little bit more of that in the second half, but it was just not enough.”

In the 58th minute, the Trojans cracked. A defender pulled down a Generals attacker inside the 18-yard box, leading to a penalty kick. A surprise to nobody, Karekamera was called upon to take the attempt and beat Gesing to the goalkeeper’s right as the Southwestern junior guessed left.

“I didn’t even think about it,” Karekamera said about his approach.

“At 3-1, I was a little more comfortable because anything can happen, a penalty shot here or there,” Brodnicki said. “I like to have at least a two-goal lead.”

Karekamera completed his hat trick in the 62nd minute when a corner kick slipped through Gesing’s hands onto the waiting foot of the Lafayette sophomore, who poked home his 37th goal of the season.

“He’s a great scorer. We were concerned about him, but I thought we played him pretty well,” Deering said. “Some balls fell in front of him and he managed to get a couple of goals.”

While the Trojans came up short in their quest for the program’s third sectional title, they’ll likely compete for another one next year as they lose just three seniors — Spencer Bell, Froah and James Pirrello — while returning Young and Seth Vaughn, their sophomore leading scorers.

“I think we have a really good chance because we’re loaded with sophomores,” Deering said. “We should be around again.”