Redwood High against Terra Linda has long been the marquee boys soccer game in the MCAL.

The two programs have combined to win every MCAL postseason title since 2018 and the Trojans have been the only team to stop this current group of Redwood players from hoisting the league pennant, taking the Giants out at the semifinal stage two years ago.

The two teams battled it out in the latest chapter of this rivalry with Redwood pulling out a 2-1 overtime win after both teams scored in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Sam Gersch put Redwood in front, Cole Greene equalized for TL, then Ike Gebhard won the game inside the first minute of overtime.

“Today was big time,” Redwood coach Will Finnie said. “This is my fourth [MCAL] semifinal and today was like — it’s not even close — today was the one that felt the best, the sweetest.”

The victory sends No. 2 Redwood (7-2-5) into Saturday’s final at 6:30 p.m. at San Rafael High against Archie Williams (9-3-5) in a rematch of last year’s title game — won 1-0 by Redwood. The regular-season meeting this year was a 2-2 draw at Redwood last week that enabled Archie Williams to win the league and secure the top seed.“We’re excited,” Redwood defender Owen Holt said. “First game [against Archie] we weren’t able to put away the win but, to be fair, we were down 2-0 but we came back. We were looking really good and we definitely could have won that game. They’re a very good team and since the beginning of the season all we’ve heard about is how good Archie is going to be and how Redwood is not as good as they should be, as good as they were last year. So we just want to rewrite that narrative that we’re the best team so we’re excited to play them.”

Gersch kickstarted a wild final 10 minutes as he slotted home a goal from inside the box to put Redwood up 1-0 in the 73rd minute.

“Sam Gersch — the amount of important goals, equalizing goals, winning goals, late goals — the guy has worked so hard to get to this point to be the guy who steps up,” Finnie said.

TL tied the game after Miles Reoch took a free kick from along the left sideline and almost back at midfield. Reoch’s service found Greene for a header inside the box to tie the game at 1-1 in the 78th minute.

“We were playing a 4-2-4 [formation],” TL coach Mike Crivello said. “We had nothing to lose and Cole finished it, found the back of the net and it was 1-1 and we had another life until we didn’t.”

As quickly as TL regrouped from the disappointment of conceding a late goal, Redwood flushed the disappointment of getting dragged into overtime even faster. Gebhard got the ball inside the 18-yard box after a misclearance by TL, took a touch, faked out a defender, then shot back across goal, tucking the ball inside the far post to end the game on a golden goal.

“I was like ‘I’ve got to get this off’ because, you know, I don’t want to lose this opportunity,” Gebhard said. “So I was like ‘I’m just going to take a swing at it and get over it so it stays low’ then I just hit it. Luckily it went in bottom left corner. It was sweet but it was all such a blur. It happened so quick.”

Gebhard quickly ended a tense, dramatic battle between the two longtime rivals. Redwood dominated the first half with its two best chances both coming in the 16th minute. Gersch turned over TL’s back line then blasted a shot on target that TL goalie Anton Schultz managed to parry off his crossbar. Less than a minute later, Ben Sherry put the ball into the net but was flagged for offside.

TL grew into the game in the second half, enjoying some success from pressing the Giants as they built up from the back. TL forced a pair of strong saves from Redwood’s freshman goalie Cade Jaffee — most notably when he denied Joseph Rodriguez a goal in the 62nd minute.

Even after TL scored the equalizer, Redwood almost won the game in stoppage time following a corner kick. Schultz swatted at the ball as it came into his box, getting just enough on it that Redwood’s ensuing header glanced off the crossbar.

Around the county

• Jackson Richardson scored on a free kick to give Archie Williams the lead then Sean Chamberlin scored the insurance goal as the Peregrine Falcons posted a 2-0 victory against Tam (7-6-5) in the other MCAL semifinal on Wednesday. Top-seeded Archie Williams (9-3-5) is set to face No. 2 Redwood in Saturday’s final.

• Johannes Summe, Alex Schoell, and River Jones scored goals to lift Marin Academy into the Bay Counties League West title game following a 3-0 win against San Domenico (4-8-3). Jones and Charlie Hansen had assists for MA (9-7-4), which faces No. 3 seed University in the final at 3 p.m. Friday at Beach Chalet #1 in San Francisco.