Connor Bouvier (1) and his Bishop Guertin teammates hold up the Divison I championship plaque after beaing Pinkerton 15-6 in the title game Sunday in Exeter. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

EXETER – It’s coming. New Hampshire high school opponents brace for it, try to keep it from happening as much as possible.

But no one’s really been able to prevent that Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse flood of goals that eventually turns a competitive lacrosse game into a one-sided affair.

Sunday’s Cardinal Divison I title game vs. Pinkerton at Bill Ball Stadium was a perfect example.

The No. 3, 15-6 Astros had early 2-1 and 3-2 leads, but were down at the half 6-3 and by the end of the third quarter, it was 13-3.

Game, set, match. The No. 1 Cardinals finished 18-3 atop Division I for the third straight year, playing in their incredible 18th straight title game, 12th vs. Pinkerton. It was also Guertin’s 12th title, all under coach Chris Cameron. They’re 8-4 vs. PA in finals.

“”I think we were a little bit deeper than them,” Cards senior midfielder Connor Bouvier said after he scored four goals. “We just stayed confident in what we were doing. We were just turning the ball over a little bit and not converting in transition. Shots started to fall and we were capitalizing on opportunities.

“We’ve been talking about playing 48 minutes all year. We knew we certainly didn do that in the first quarter so we had to capitalize on the rest of our opportunities, and we certainly did that in the second half.”

“It was frustrating for me in the beginning, because everything we worked on, we were so prepared for this game,” Cameron said. “Defensively, we gave up (three goals), we weren’t disciplined. They had two goals in the first five minutes … We were rattled. But then we just wore them down. Finally in that third quarter, it was a 7-0 run. A lot of it was getting stops and just jamming it down their throat,and that’s what we did. We could’ve done that in the first half.

“Every year we’re in a championship, one of the teams has nerves. Let’s not be the team that has nerves. Maybe no matter what, with this many seniors, maybe we did have a little bit of nerves.”

But they went away fast in the second quarter, thanks to Tim Kiely’s three goals that helped BG to that 6-3 lead at the break.. The other thing that worked for BG was the fact it was able, after Pinkerton’s Ben Quintiliani’s second goal gave the Astros their last lead at 3-2, shut down Pinkerton’s offense completely. The Astros went scoreless for a stretch of 29:01, while Guertin put up 13 straight goals. Pinkerton was also without some of its firepower due to injuries.

“That,” Cameron said, “is what we’re capable of. … That was the other part of our game plan. When they lose (Matthew) Morrison and (Joey) Gallo, that stretches their depth even worse. Through the years we’ve been a conservative defense, make teams make mistakes. We just said today we’re going after that thing.”

That was big because the Cards couldn’t count on possessions with Pinkerton having talented faceoff man Cole Frank. But the Cards eventually wore even Frank down, with a good job by Paulo Vazquez. Meanwhile, leading that defensive effort was BG’s Colin Roark, a senior defenseman.

“We knew Cole Frank was going to win some, no matter how good Paulo is,” Roark said. “So we were just all over them. Half the practice, every single day this week, walkthrough, we were going over every single possible outcome we’d have.”

“When you win in that convincing fashion, there’s a lot of guys that stand out, but Colin Roark probably had seven or eight (forced turnovers),” Cameron said. “He was the Defensive Player of the Year for a reason. And Alex Dumont (junior midfielder) was dominant. They create havoc in the middle of the field.”

Besides Bouvier and Kiely, Guertin got three goals from Aiden Laurendeau, a pair from Jacob Caron, and single scores each from Brady and Alex Dumont, and Connor Guibord.

Besides Quintiliani’s pair, the Astros got two goals by Michael Uber, and then singles by Frank and Adam Scala during running time with things already in hand.

Another key moment was a late first half Astro penalty that gave the Cards a man-up possesion to start the second half, with no faceoff. Bouvier put one home to make it 7-3 and the Astros sagged.

“I think it was huge,” Bouvier said. “We were able to capitalize on that and blow the lead to 8-3, and just kept rolling from there.”

Bishop Guertin’s Colin Roark keeps an eye on Pinkerton’s Ryan Lynch (4) during Sunday’s Division I title game at Exeter. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Bishop Guertin’s Colin Roark keeps an eye on Pinkerton’s Ryan Lynch (4) during Sunday’s Division I title game at Exeter. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Pinkerton coach Steve Gaudreau was proud that the Astros had made it back to the finals for the first time since they won in 2019, but he also knew what his team would be facing.

“I can’t say enough good things about the seniors for what they did to put us back in this spot,” Gaudreau said. “BG’s obviously what BG is. They roll out a lot of talented players, and it’s tough to contend with.

“If we could have made a couple of offensive plays like we did early on in that first quarter, it would have helped sustain us a little bit.”

And now Guertin says good-bye to a senior nucleus that kept its eyes on the prize the last three years.

“Sometimes it’s really hard to stay focused with the blowout games,” Bouvier said. “We just knew we had to keep our focused going and energy high and we did that.”

“I was really happy for the kids,” Cameron said. “We were tough on them, but they bought in and they believed. It was a dominant team, a great group. I think they were 56-5 over their three (varsity) years, and 51-0 against New Hampshire teams.”

Who know what’s coming at them all too well.