ALBUQUERQUE — On any other day, the hard shot hit by Los Alamos' Graham Delano in the 71st minute of the Class AAAA Boys State Soccer Tournament championship match would've gone in.

But Saturday was one of those days, and instead, the hard shot set by the tallest of the Hilltoppers sped to the waiting hands of Farmington goalkeeper Brycen Campbell like a steel bolt to a magnet, and Los Alamos' best chance evaporated into the clear November sky.

"It came down to who wanted it more, I think," Delano said after the fifth-seeded Hilltoppers loss 3-0 to the third-seeded Scorpions at the APS Soccer Complex. "They just wanted it more (Saturday). We didn't come out as hard as we would've liked."

It was the first title for Farmington (19-3), which placed second in its other two finals in 2006 and 1994.

Los Alamos (17-7) matched Farmington as the match developed into a quick moving affair that would likely be decided by a lightning quick strike — which is exactly how the Scorpions scored their first goal in the 23rd minute.

Farmington midfielder Ryan McGovern managed to find fellow midfielder Thaddeus Carter streaking all alone down the right side of the 'Toppers defense with a long pass and Carter moved into the box and managed to beat senior 'keeper Ryan Dunham, who came off his line to try and snuff the attack out.

"I came out way too early. I should've let him dribble in before that, let my defenders get back instead of trying to go there. And he just chipped it in," Dunham said. "I thought I could get there before he could and it obviously didn't work out."

Even before the goal, you could sense the Hilltoppers were losing the edge they started the match with.

"We came out hard and we got kind of comfortable with the way we were playing and they came out and adjusted and started playing harder and we never picked up our intensity," Delano said. "We were pretty even teams, we just gave them too many breaks and we didn't finish our own opportunities."

Junior captain David Wyman agreed with Delano.

"It all started from not pressuring hard enough," he said. "When we let up the pressure we gave them more time on the ball, which really helped them in creating their second and third goals."

Whatever chance Los Alamos might've had to find an equalizer seemed to evaporate when the Scorpions' Nathan Rodgers headed in a corner kick from forward Jeff Woolsey in the second minute of stoppage time right before halftime. Nico Lewis added an insurance goal for Farmington in the 73rd minute to seal the match.

Los Alamos head coach Evan Gartz said the Scorpions were able to effectively take the Hilltoppers out of their tactics for most of the match.

"We thrive on bringing the ball from the back to the middle to the front," he said. "We really couldn't develop from our defense the way we wanted to. They took us out of our game. We just lacked that finishing touch."

Even in defeat, Dunham said he and the team's seven departing seniors have left a good foundation for the future.

"We're going to keep coming back and we're definitely going to win it," he said. "I'm just glad we got here. Yes, it's disappointing that we lost, but we can still take away good things from it. And the guys will do that next year."

With the team's midfield and defense returning largely in tact, Gartz said he's excited for the 2010 season.

"This was my third year and it's kind of been a developmental thing every year," he said. "It's gotten better and better each year.

"This team really over-accomplished, coming in as a fifth seed, which we deserved, and going out as number two is pretty cool. I'm really proud of the seniors and what they did for us."