SAN JOSE — Saturday’s Peninsula Athletic League boys’ lacrosse championship match involved the two teams who have dominated the league since the PAL started boys’ lacrosse action approximately seven years ago.

Menlo School won the title the first three years, while Bellarmine was looking for a three-peat Saturday. In the end, it was all Bells, who cruised to a 14-5 home victory. The teams were playing for the second time this season, with Bellarmine (18-2) winning the first meeting, 8-6. But the much-anticipated rematch was over by halftime. The score was 2-2 early in the second quarter when the Bells went on a 6-1 run to take a commanding 8-3 lead into halftime.

Menlo, which finished another fine season at 17-7, seemingly had the momentum early in the second period. But Chris Kvamme’s goal was disallowed 45 seconds in after the referee ruled his body went into the crease on the follow-through, and less than a minute later the Bells scored to take a 3-2 lead they would never relinquish. Bellarmine quickly scored twice more to take a three-goal lead, and just like that Menlo was on its way to a long afternoon. Knights coach Todd Blumbergs said even if Kvamme’s goal stood, it wouldn’t have affected the outcome of the game.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference if we kept on playing the way we did,” Blumbergs said. “It was an interpretation call. Some refs allow the body to carry over into the crease area on a goal, and some don’t. But without a doubt you give credit to Bellarmine. They exposed our weaknesses and forced us to get away from our offensive sets.

“They put a lot of pressure on us and forced a lot of ground balls. It looked like our kids were really nervous and they got away from everything we’ve practiced. Before you know it, it’s 8-3 and we start pressing and forcing things, which is not the way we play lacrosse. It comes down to patience, and our offense was supposed to be patient, but at times today it looked like we didn’t know what we were doing, things we worked on all year.”

While the Knights did get off to a slow start — they trailed 2-0 — they came back strong as Kyle Bullington scored the team’s first goal on a nifty, spinning move in front of the Bellarmine goal. Then Graeme Radlo tied things up on another strong effort, as he circled around the back of the net before getting to within point-blank range and firing a shot to the upper corner with 46.7 seconds left in the opening period. The Knights were clearly feeling good about themselves entering the second, but jubilation quickly turned into frustration and deflation after Kvamme’s goal was disallowed and the Bells went on the decisive run that would put things away.

Kvamme did bring Menlo to within 5-3 when he scored off a great pass from Joe Foster, who was stationed behind the net and found Kvamme up top at the center point. Kvamme then rifled a shot past the Bellarmine goalie with 3:39 remaining until halftime, but that’s as close the Knights would get. Bellarmine scored two backbreaking goals — 35 seconds apart with less than a minute to go — before outscoring Menlo 5-0 in the third to break things wide open. Save a few possessions, the Knights were unable to get on track in any phase of the game.

This despite the Bells giving them chances to get back into the match. A host of Bellarmine penalties gave the Knights plenty of man-advantage time, a total of four minutes. But Menlo couldn’t take advantage, finishing only 1 for 4 with the man-advantage. Bellarmine, meanwhile, had zero chances with the man-advantage, but obviously it didn’t need it. The Knights never established a rhythm of settling the ball for long periods of time and getting to their slides. Bullington’s second tally of the game with 6:48 remaining snapped a Menlo scoring drought of over 21 minutes, during which time the Bells scored seven times.

“It’s disappointing for the players they went the entire year doing the things they were taught to do, and in the last and most important game of the year they got away from it,” Blumbergs said. “It just takes one day of not showing up to play, and unfortunately for us it was this day.”