PEARL — The third time was not the charm for the Vicksburg Gators.

Adam Wade and Michael Skaggs each scored a goal, and Pearl used a dominating defense to turn back a spirited Vicksburg squad 2-0 in the boys’ Class 4A North State championship game Tuesday night.

It was Pearl’s third victory this season over its division rival, all of them shutouts. The other streak the Pirates continued is even more impressive — they advanced to Saturday’s Class 4A championship game against Florence for the eighth straight time. A win there would give Pearl its fourth consecutive state title and sixth in that eight-year span.

“It seems like it gets better every year,” said Wade, a junior.

Vicksburg was playing from behind from the get-go. Starting defender Angelo Toole-Carriere received a hard red card in last Saturday’s second-round win over Pontotoc and had to sit out the game against Pearl. His absence forced VHS coach Jason Bennett to shuffle his lineup, including moving leading scorer Ryan Ferrington to defense.

The new alignment didn’t work too well. The Gators didn’t put a shot on goal until only 8 1/2 minutes remained in the first half, and only had two in the game. Pearl’s aggressive defense took away a lot of the Gators’ offense, but when VHS did get the ball deep in Pirate territory it was tentative and seemed to be looking for the perfect shot instead of just any shot.

“We started off at a disadvantage because of Angelo having the red card. It hurt us offensively,” Bennett said. “We had to move Ryan over to defense and switch some other guys around. That’s where the offense went to.”

Further complicating matters for the Gators was Pearl’s continuation of yet another streak. Five minutes into the game, Wade took a pass from teammate Chris Williams, won the ball from his defender, turned and sent a weak shot toward the goal. VHS keeper Bowen Woodson reacted late to it, and the ball dribbled into the net for a quick 1-0 Pirate lead.

It marked the third time this season that Pearl scored in the first five minutes against Vicksburg.

Despite eight shots on goal by Pearl in the first 15 minutes, though, the Gators didn’t go away. They settled down and held Pearl in check most of the way.

The Gators didn’t get many chances of their own, though, and Pearl finally sealed the game when Skaggs scored to make it 2-0 with about four minutes to play.