Bishop Guertin's Cam Hayden reacts after scoring late the first half to tie the game at 5-5, as Jack Redfern runs into congratulate him. (Photo by Dan Doyon)

EXETER – The Bedford High School boys lacrosse team withstood the initial surge out of the locker room Bishop Guertin came out with to begin Wednesday night’s Division I semifinal to take a lead.

Four-time defending champion Bishop Guertin made sure that wasn’t going to happen again.

After No. 2 Bedford erased a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead, the third-seeded Cardinals turned things around en route to a 12-8 victory at Exeter High School’s William Ball Stadium. Senior Michael Porto led the way for Bishop Guerin with five goals.

“We let off the gas a little bit,” Porto said. “We went into halftime up 6-5, and from there we kind of took it to them and finished them off.”

With the win, Bishop Guertin (15-5) will play in a remarkable 20th-straight championship game on Saturday. The Cardinals will return to Exeter to play longtime rival No. 1 Pinkerton Academy, which beat No. 4 Exeter 13-6 in the other semi.

First-year Bishop Guertin head coach Brian Cameron has picked up where his father, and now assistant coach Chris Cameron, left off. The elder Cameron has guided the Cardinals to 13 Division I championships.

“We put in a lot of work into this game and our guys knew that this was likely the matchup, so we had a good 10 days to prepare for this game and their personnel and I’m really proud of the way the guys executed,” Brian Cameron said. “We stuck with the game plan throughout adversity and performed in the second half.”

Bedford (14-5) countered its initial deficit when Luke Purnell and Teddy Lapointe scored to close to within 3-2 through the first quarter. John Purnell then scored a pair of goals early in the second to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead.

Porto and Cam Hayden scored to give Bishop Guertin back the lead before Bedford’s Dylan Riccio. Porto gave BG some momentum by scoring with 2.1 seconds left in the second quarter for a 6-5 halftime lead.

“We were pretty happy at halftime and we felt like we were in a good position,” Bedford coach Steve Gaudreau said. “Then I think we kind of got down a little bit and they’re a good team. I was happy with the way we fought today.”

The Cardinals started to pull away after Porto sandwiched a pair of goals around a tally from Beau Dubois to give the Cardinals a 9-5 lead late in the third quarter. Bishop Guertin built a 12-5 lead before Bedford scored three late goals in regulation.

“It was just staying true to the game plan and we knew they were going to go on runs,” Brian Cameron said. “Earlier on when they were up by one, we were getting so many good looks. I didn’t feel like we were lacking opportunity, it was just a lack of capitalizing on those shots.

After missing all but the playoffs last season with a shoulder injury, Porto hasn’t taken this season for granted and is ready to add to the Bishop Guertin dynasty.

“I missed six months, I couldn’t play hockey and I couldn’t play lacrosse until the end of last season,” Porto said. “Luckily I have been healthy this year and it’s great to play full time.”