Bedale Reserves captain Jonny Coombs was presented with the league championship trophy by league secretary Richie Haslam.
The presentation took place at the Heck Harrogate League Supplementary Cup semi-final at the Heck Stadium on Saturday.
The trophy was first presented in 1946 to HMS Ceres, the Royal Naval Reserve Unit for the city of Leeds and the surrounding area and has been won by Bedale previously in 1971, 1989, 2013 and 2018.
On a glorious sunny afternoon in front of a decent crowd, Hampsthwaite which finished sixth in the division above Bedale were the visitors, and they started strongly, with only good goalkeeping by Kieran Hare keeping the score level.
In the 15th minute the visitors took the lead with a well taken goal by Matthew Vincent, only for Daniel Baxter to equalise with a rasping drive into the roof of the net.
Keeper Gareth Davies then produced a great point blank save from Baxter to prevent the hosts taking the lead.
After the break a defence-splitting pass from Col Anderson saw Baxter run through to score his second to give Bedale a deserved lead.
mmediately after the restart Baxter had a chance of a hat-trick but his 25 yard shot rattled the crossbar.
Matthew Libera replaced David Cook for Bedale and on 55 minutes a rash challenge by Sam Bracken allowed Vincent to score his second from the penalty spot.
On the hour, keeper Hare collected a cross and immediately sent Baxter away who ran half the length of the pitch to fire high into the roof of the net for his hat-trick, and Bedale’s third.
John Henry had the ball in the net but strangely, this was disallowed for offside.
Christopher Hope, Sam Lyon and Michael Ingram replaced Alan Beatty, Will McWhinney and Sam Bracken on 70 minutes.
Keeper Davies produced a remarkable double save from Henry and Anderson to keep the visitors in the game.
With 15 minutes remaining Bracken returned to replace the injured hat-trick hero Baxter
Against the run of play Jack Wood equalised for the visitors with ten minutes remaining after some sloppy defending.
On 88 minutes, a great ball saw Charlie Bingley driving down the wing and his cross was bundled over the line by John Henry for the winning goal in this thrilling semi final.
Keeper Hare then prevented Vincent claiming his hat-trick with a fine save in the final minute.
Final score: 4-3
The final will be played at the Heck Stadium on Saturday, May 20 between Bedale Reserves and Boroughbridge, kick off at the later time of 5pm.
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