LISBON — L.J. Johnson’s flip throws are dangerous enough on their own. Throw in at least a half-dozen caroms and a scrum of more than a dozen players in front of the cage, predicting the ball’s path becomes nearly impossible.

Except, perhaps, for St. Dom’s sophomore Robbie Pallozzi, the Saints’ new resident pinball wizard.

Pallozzi crept to the top of the 18-yard box, timed his run and fired the ball through that scrum and over a diving Shane Tanguay to lift St. Dom’s to a thrilling 3-2 double overtime victory over MVC rival Lisbon on Tuesday.

“It was everywhere; it was pinball,” Pallozzi said. “It was all over, then it came to near my feet. I just timed it right, put it right in.”

The goal and the victory capped a mad scramble which typified the matchup between a pair of conference heavyweights. St. Dom’s remains unbeaten at 11-0-1, while Lisbon drops to 9-2-1. The Greyhounds’ only two losses have come at the hands — or feet — of the Saints.

“Last time we faced them, we really didn’t show up for that game,” Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester said. “Today I think we were a little sluggish in the first half, but I think we really showed that we can play with the top-tier teams. The guys proved a lot to themselves. We don’t like the outcome of course, but the guys did a great job. That’s a real tough team there.”

“They’re such a fantastic team to watch. They hustle; they’re skilled,” St. Dom’s coach Marty Bressler said. “We knew this was going to be a battle because whichever team won this game, or had a positive result was going to be in the conference championship, and we’re fighting for seeding. We needed this, and so did they.”

The Saints have essentially locked down the No. 1 seed in Western Class C with the victory. Lisbon still sits at No. 2, with unbeaten Waynflete hot on their heels at No. 3.

The reason the game went into overtime at all was largely due to one play and the favorable dimensions of the field. Trailing by a goal for the second time in the game and down to the final five minutes of play, Sylvester told his team to start taking chances, pulling the midfielders forward.

“We had to,” Sylvester said. “We were running out of time and they were playing strong.”

Tanguay gathered the ball inside his 18, sprinted to the top of the box and let fly a bomb of a kick that bounced first at about midfield. Two strong hops later, it landed at the feet of pinching middie Morgan Reeves.

“Morgan’s so strong shielding the ball, and if he gets through in the middle, he’s just hard to get off the ball,” Sylvester said. “Those are the opportunities we were looking for.”

Reeves split a pair of defenders and tucked the ball under Saints keeper Cam Hainey with 3:17 to play, ultimately forcing overtime.

“I saw the ball coming, and I just went 100 percent after it,” Reeves said. “I had to touch it to the left a bit. The goalie went to dive, I saw him stagger and then I saw the open spot and poked it left.”

The Saints had most of the pressure early in the first overtime session, though neither team managed a shot or forced a save in that five-minute frame.

Upon switching side, Lisbon had a crack at scoring with a long throw from the right side, but the Saints’ defense cleared the ball in time.

Racing back the other way, St. Dom’s forced the Lisbon defense to fire the ball out of bounds deep in the Greyhounds’ territory. Johnson, who had been firing flip throws into the box from the sidelines all afternoon, did it again from near the corner. The ball glanced off a St. Dom’s head toward the back post. Lisbon’s gaggle of defenders cleared it momentarily, but ultimately right to Pallozzi, who drilled it under the crossbar.

“It’s just a cluster in there,” Pallozzi said. “It’s hard to take the time and actually place it. If you get a nice open shot, you just have to take it.”

St. Dom’s struck first early. Troy Haefele fired a rocket from just outside the 18. Tanguay got a glove on it, but the ball had enough on it to glance into the cage for a 1-0 Saints advantage.

“That first shot had a nice little knuckle to it, there was nothing anyone could have done there,” Sylvester said. “They’re a good shooting team, and good teams will do that to you.”

Lisbon wasted little time in the second half getting that one back. Less than two minutes after halftime, Aaron Halls finished a corner off the foot of Brady Fenderson on the far side of the cage to even things up.

Johnson replied for St. Dom’s 10 minutes later with his own snipe to the top right corner of the net, again past a diving Tanguay, setting the stage for the Lisbon rally to force overtime.

The Saints finish the season with games against Wiscasset and Madison/Carrabec, while the Greyhounds will close out the season with contests against Winthrop and Telstar.

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