DELAND — West Orange conceded costly goals in the first half Saturday night and never recovered while falling short in an FHSAA boys soccer state championship game for the third time in 12 seasons.

The Warriors (14-5-1) nearly tied the Class 7A final after scoring for the only time in the closing minutes of a 2-1 loss vs. Boca Raton (24-0-2) at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.

“We knew that if we didn’t make mistakes we were going to win the game,” West Orange coach Scott Fisher said. “After we made the mistakes on those two goals, we had to change formations and press a little bit more to try to score, but we could’ve picked it up a little earlier.”

A Boca Raton header was stopped by West Orange’s goalkeeper just 10 minutes into the match, but the ball bounced to the turf and was poked into the back of the net off the right foot of Brian Silva.

The Bobcats scored again nearly six minutes later when a long shot attempt bounced off the keeper and back toward Cesar Patrullo, who countered with a hard shot from the right side of the 18-yard box.

The Warriors picked up their pace of play during the final 40 minutes.

“I thought we played well in the second half,” Fisher said. “It’s probably the way we should’ve been playing in the beginning.”

But West Orange missed out on numerous scoring opportunities after the halftime break until putting a header into the upper right corner for a goal with 6:47 remaining.

The Warriors appeared to tie the match two minutes later when the ball was caught up in a scrum among players in front of Boca Raton’s goal.

“Ultimately, you can’t wait until that late to score,” Fisher said. “You’ve got to get those opportunities early on.”

West Orange also lost narrow state finals in 2013 and ’15 vs. Weston Cypress Bay.

The Warriors advanced to the state tournament this time around by beating the No. 1 (Jacksonville Mandarin) and No. 2 (St. Johns Creekside) seeds in 7A Region 1.

They won 3-1 vs. overall top seed Doral Academy (15-3-2) in Thursday’s semifinal.

Boca Raton overcame two ejections to defeat Windermere High (16-2-1) on penalty kicks in the other 7A semifinal.

The Bobcats, a state semifinalist last season, are state champions for the fifth time overall and first time since 2020.

Email J.C. Carnahan at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com.