: Pinkerton's Dylan Stingel tries to get the ball away from Bishop Guertin's Paulo Vazquez after Vazquez won a faceoff during Thursday's game in Derry. (Photo by Joe Marchilena/NH-HighSchoolSports.com)

DERRY – The Granite State’s greatest boys lacrosse rivalry may have become one-sided in the last couple of years, but it certainly hasn’t lacked any intrigue.

Pinkerton Academy forced Bishop Guertin into some undisciplined play at times throughout Thursday’s regular-season meeting. The Astros threw a solid zone defense and stellar goaltending at the Cardinals and mucked up faceoffs just enough to be frustrating.

But in the end, Bishop Guertin played enough of its game to pull away in the second half for a 13-3 win over Pinkerton in their Division I game in Derry.

Caleb Yeung had four goals and an assist and Carter Jozokos added three goals as the Cardinals (12-2) won their ninth in a row and seventh straight against the Astros (9-6). From 2015-19, the two teams played 10 teams, with each winning five times.

“I thought it was a dominant performance,” Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. “Pinkerton came out sharp and ready to play. At one point, it was 6-0, and I felt like it could have been 12-0. We left a lot of goals on the table. We were prepared for their zone and it slowed us down, but we were getting a lot of shots. Their goalie was outstanding.”

Pinkerton freshman goalie Owen Perkins finished with 15 saves before coming out midway through the fourth quarter. Eight of those stops came in the first half, as Bishop Guertin took a 6-1 lead into the break.

“I can tell you, as much as our offense is still a work in progress, and we’re still trying to find a way to capitalize on opportunities, our defense has gotten progressively better and a big part of that is Owen Perkins,” Pinkerton coach Steve Gaudreau said. “Five-goal game (at halftime), we felt if some of those opportunities we had early in the game went, then certainly that puts a lot more pressure on them.”

The Cardinals outscored the Astros 4-0 in the third quarter and a manup goal by Yeung to open the fourth made it 11-1 and put the game out of reach.

Brady Dumont and Cam Hayden each added two goals while Owen King and Liam Connerty had a goal apiece. Will Murphy made four saves and Paulo Vazquez helped the Cardinals win 11 of 19 faceoffs, but Pinkerton’s Dylan Stingel found ways to keep Bishop Guertin from turning those wins into scoring opportunities.

“I don’t know what the number was (Thursday), but it might have been closer to 50 (percent),” Cameron said of faceoffs. “To have a goalie make double digit saves on us, and do that well facing off against us, we still put up 13 (goals). The problem for us has been discipline.

“We define discipline as reducing the turnovers, take good shots, and no penalties. When we did that, we were sharp. But when we turn the ball, we take bad shots, we get penalties, that’s what slowed us down.”

Pinkerton got goals from Cole Summers, Adam Scala and Cody Santomassimo, with two of those scores coming in the fourth quarter on manup.