POULSBO — It came down to one last confrontation.

Port Angeles’ Luke Bissonette, who evaded his Viking defenders, was point-blank on a mostly open net, with only a goalie to beat in the final two minutes of the PA-North Kitsap match Wednesday.

But that goalie proved impossible for Bissonette — let alone any of the ‘Riders — to beat.

The vertically-stretched hands of North’s keeper Jacob Bryant knocked down the final PA scoring attempt, keeping the Vikings with a 1-0 lead and allowing NK (6-5-4) to finish with a winning season.

“First winning season in a long time, baby!” Vikes’ senior defender Spencer Thomas exclaimed. “The team chemistry on this team was huge. We just worked together all year.”

Thomas, a part of a defensive line that consisted of Seth Campana, Preston Mahaffey and Drew Hollenback on the day, held PA to few scoring chances. But their defensive backbone — Bryant in net — was the real surprise.

Bryant had no idea he’d be anywhere near the North Kitsap net Tuesday night.

A freshman at Kingston Junior High School who’s allowed to play for North because the Cavaliers have no soccer team, Bryant replaced year-long goalie Patrick Moore, who was out with arthritis.

And the freshman met the challenge, said his teammates and North Coach Pat Stickney.

“He was a leader on the field today,” Thomas said of Bryant’s performance. “He really stepped it up.”

“(Bryant) is extremely athletic,” Stickney said. “He’s also a very dynamic field player. I didn’t have to think twice about putting him in.”

Though he felt the nerves early on, Bryant said he adjusted playing for the varsity by the second half.

“Most of the time, I was nervous,” Bryant commented. “The whole first half, I was scared to talk but the second half I became more comfortable.”

NK had chances throughout the game, keeping the ball largely on the Roughriders’ side of the field. In the 10th minute, North’s Jonathon Critch hit the lower part of the cross bar to narrowly miss a goal.

The lone goal of the game came in the 53rd minute, on an odd-man three-on-two rush. North’s Marc Anderson threaded a pass in between two green Roughrider jerseys to a sprinting Critch, who beat PA goalie Chris Sohlberg on the left side for the tally.

With two minutes remaining in the game, PA’s Bissonette had finally arrived on North’s doorstep. But Bryant denied the Roughriders any chance to score.

“I had no vision but at the last second I saw the ball,” Bryant said. “It was scary.”

“It was a nice finish,” Stickney said of the game. “And it looks good for next year.”

Stickney added the team recovered well from a rough performance versus first place Gig Harbor Monday — one that saw three different Vikings get red carded to sit out versus PA — to take the final win. Critch said he had to represent his suspended comrades on the field in the game.

“All my buddies couldn’t play tonight,” Critch said. “So I wanted to play for them.”

Finishing the season at 6-5-4, North Kitsap doubled the win total of its previous season. And given Narrows League full of seniors combined with a North team that will graduate only a few, the outlook for next year is positive, added Critch, a junior.

“We should be in the playoffs next year,” he said.