After their first three meetings this year resulted in a win for each and a tie, the Vintage and Napa High boys soccer teams battled to the final whistle Saturday night.

The fact a Monticello Empire League title was guaranteed for the winner also made this Big Game intense for all 40-plus minutes.

Vintage was able to clinch its third straight league crown with a 2-1 victory, thanks to an early goal by Cristian Romero and a second-half penalty kick by Jesus Gomez.

The Crushers (14-6-2 overall, 10-2-2 MEL) survived a valiant comeback effort by the second-place Indians (14-7-1 overall, 10-4-1 MEL) that netted a Diego Hernandez penalty kick and with seven minutes left and a few close calls but no equalizer.

Vintage still has a makeup game at Vacaville on Wednesday, but takes 22 points into the finale — one more than Napa.

Romero opened the scoring in the 10th minute, taking a hard cross from Gomez and relaying it in off his foot.

“I kinda had that feeling something good was going to happen,” said Romero. “It was weird, because the hardest opportunity I had was the one I scored on. I had a couple of easier ones that I missed.

“This game gives us confidence and makes us feel good about ourselves, beating a good team like Napa. We feed off their intensity and they feed off ours,” added Romero, who credited teammates Alfonso Martinez, David Zentano, Adrian Maldonado and Mario Gallegos with strong games, as well.

The teams continued their physical battle until the 69th minute, when Martinez fell over Napa center back Jonathan Douma in the left side of the penalty box.

“If you do that and do it well, the refs will buy it,” Napa coach Felipe Nieto said of Martinez drawing the foul. “Jonny played solid all night.”

Gomez boomed the penalty shot straight into the goal as Indians goalkeeper Federico Aguayo guessed wrong with a dive to his left.

With his team down 2-0, Nieto had more players move up top to improve their scoring chances. It paid off with seven minutes left, when Juan Rodriguez was tripped at the top of the box.

Hernandez boomed a sinking indirect kick over the Vintage block to the left of Crushers goalie Aaron Robles to make it 2-1. There was no celebration. Hernandez, who had boomed a 30-yard right into the hands of Robles eight minutes earlier, got a few more chances. With five seconds left, he had a small opening. But center midfielder Martinez got in front of it and cleared it.

“I thought everything was over,” Hernandez said of trailing 2-0. “But we got more pressure, more intensity. I think we are going to learn a lot from this loss and do a lot better in the playoffs. We just need to not make mistakes in the back and try to score in the first few minutes.”

Nieto — whose team will join Vintage in the playoffs starting Nov. 6 — was pleased with how his players came back from the late two-goal deficit.

“My players kept on fighting back,” he said. “We sent more people up front, were able to capitalize, and we just kept on going. We had a few chances but we couldn’t make it. Jonny (Douma) and Kenny (Logan) did a great job in back, and (center midfielders) Carlos (Ochoa) and Omar (Delgadillo) didn’t have their best games but came back strong at the end.”

Ochoa received the game’s only yellow card, and Nieto thought Vintage should have received at least one.

“Players were getting desperate and there was a lot of kicking and elbowing,” he said. “But I think both teams improved during the season. We’re gonna learn from this, so it’s OK.”

Nieto he didn’t play one of his leading scorers, Noriki Oshida, toward the end, but said Oshida will play more in the playoffs.

“I didn’t think Noriki was my player for tonight. He’s more of a finisher,” the coach said. “This wasn’t his game.”

Vintage coach Dennis Sweeney, soaked in ice water after the game, said his team got nervous at the end with the risk Napa took in playing more people upfield.

“We made some mistakes in the back and let some balls bounce where shouldn’t bounce, but we got the job done,” he said.

Ricardo Moreno nearly made it 2-0 with 24 minutes left, drilling an open shot off the right post. The shot was so dead-on that it came back to him and he shot again, missing just left.

“I just got cast off after being out a month and I’m not really 100 percent yet,” said the junior, one of Vintage’s more dangerous scorers. “It was a hard game, pretty close. The intensity was like a playoff game.

Junior varsity: Napa 3, Vintage 1

The Indians finished their season by handing the Crushers their first MEL loss of the season.

Xavier Hernandez scored on a Juan Montanez assist, Fabian Quintana converted on a Kenny Hanton pass, and Martin Cuevas added an unassisted goal for Napa.