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ANATOMY OF A TITLE: Guertin’s boys lax win had twists and turns

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Jun 22, 2025

This is a familiar sight: The Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse team celebrating a state championship, as the Cards got their fifth straight title plaque recently with a dominant 19-5 win over Pinkerton in Exeter. (NHIAA photo)

NASHUA – Brian Cameron remembers when lacrosse games against Pinkerton Academy would be all-out wars.

Going into the recent Division I title game, the problem for the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse coach and alum was his players knew nothing of those days.

Good thing there was time for he and his coaches, including his father, Cards assistant and former head coach Chris Cameron, to give his players a little history lesson.

But after Guertin’s resounding 19-5 win over the No.1 Astros in the finals at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium, these Cards made their own history.

“It was a motivated group,” Brian Cameron said. “We were sitting on this game. We had a great week of playoff preparation. And during the three days when we were preparing for Pinkerton, our guys had never lost to them. They don’t have the same respect that our coaching staff has for Pinkerton.

“We were focusing on sharing the history of the rivalry, the games, and each season. In 2006, we beat them, and they beat us in the championship. Same with ’18, ’19,,’15…We shared some stories, with the rivalry comes some heated stories and big hits that we wanted to share with our guys. And I think it was a motivated group.”

One of the reasons why was early peek Cameron had at the All-State list had him annoyed. “I didn’t think we were fairly … We’re appreciative of the recognition but I don’t think some guys got the respect they deserved. That serves as a little bit of motivation. But when you play Pinkerton in the state championship, it’s even bigger for the program than any other game.”

The Cards beat the Astros 15-6 in the title game two years ago, and the Astros were the last in-state team to beat BG, doing it 14-12 in the 2019 Divison I final. The way things went when both were on more equal footing, whoever won the regular season matchup would lose in the finals. That feeling was there this year, as BG handidly beat Pinkerton 16-8 in the regular season.

Cameron feels those days of BG dominance over the Astros is running out. “Pinkerton, they’re getting it back for sure,” Cameron said, noting that from 2010-19 the Astros had families that knew lacrosse at a high level, and rattling off names that he knew. Those years featured battles between Chris Cameron and Pinkerton’s Brian O’Reilly.

“They lost that a little bit, but they for sure have it back now,” Cameron said. “It was good to get this one, but they’re going to be back and they’re going to be really good for years to come.”

But for the Cards in their incredible 20th straight final, this was theirs, giving five crowns in a row. It was 8-3 at the half and 16-4 after three periods. BG outshot Pinkerton 17-1 in the second quarter, and they Cards outscored the Astros 8-1 in the third quarter with Paolo Vazquez dominating faceoffs. Owen King and Michael Ponto led BG with four goals each in the title bout.Sean McGarry had three goals. Just that kind of game where everything was spread out, as five other Cards got into the scoring act.

Of course, this was the younger Cameron’s first experience as a head coach, and he grew on the job.

“It was a real awesome staff dynamic this year,” he said. “I did the offense, coach (Luke) Solms did the defense, Coach Cam (Chris Cameron) had his hand in a little bit of everything and really focused on the rides and clears. And coach Fisher did the box and was really good at managing the faceoff and wing play. So we each had a different thing and I said it’s really like we have four head coaches from a knowledge standpoint and the players respect of all four of our coaches. It was a real good dynamic.”

Of course, Brian Cameron had to adjust to being the head coach and ultimate decision maker. “A couple of times at some of our games I was ‘Oh, I’m the one that’s calling the time out.’

“But the guys could not have been any better, they were bought into everything that we were doing, which makes it a lot easier.”

BG has a good nucleus coming back– Cam Hayden, King, McGarry, Drew Redfern, goalie Jonah Feliciano were all juniors. They could have as many as 16 seniors.

“We’ve got a good 2026 class and a lot of defensive depth, which is helpful,” Cameron said.

And while they had the luxury of Vazquez taking faceoffs for so long, that luxury is over (senior). But the Cards did mix Sampson San, a junior this year, into the mix and that should help.

“It’s going to be good,” Cameron said. “Paolo was a huge part of success, and this year for Sampson was so valuable for him to work with Paolo every day. The strides he made from the fall to now is really impressive, and he’ll make more strides this summer and going into March. He’s a legitimate top end faceoff guy by the time March comes around.”

Guertin didn’t rely on one player on either side of the ball, as Cameron said the team lived by the motto “any given night.” King had nine points in the quarters win over Concord; Ponto had five goals in the semis win over Bedford.

“A lot of players keyed in on Cam Hayden,” Cameron said, “which opened it up for everyone.”

Defensively, Cameron said, “Everyone had their own role.” But if you had to look for a centerpiece, it was junior Tyler McLeod. “He was our best defenser,” Cameron said. “He had a ton of goals and assists, but we could trust him on the top midfielders. He’s really steady, has a high IQ.”

But others, Cameron said, joined in. In fact, sophomore Andre Steinbrueck got the number one defensive assignment as the season went along. Plus others like Colin Foley, etc.

Guertin’s five losses were all to out of state elite teams, and they finished with the same record as the Astros, 16-5. Exeter gave the Cards a true scare in the next to last regular season game, as Hayden had to score with just under four minutes left to snap a 6-6 tie and avoid the upset with a 7-6 win.

“The Exeter game was definitely a wakeup call,” Cameron said. “We had a little bit of sense of urgency after that game. Four games we lost were to (teams in the) the Massachusetts and Connecticut state championships. Those games really helped us.”

So was good health – finally.

“I think the biggest thing for the playoffs,” Cameron said, “was we got six starters back from injury. For any team, that’s a lot. Once those guys came back and we were full force, things started to come together for us.”

Those players were Beau Dubois, Jeremy Warren, Noah Guerrera, J.P. Dunsmore, Hunter Duany and Avary Whitehead.

In the end, a season that was unlike the previous several ended in a familiar way: The team in Green & Gold hoisting up a plaque.