The score didn’t surprise anyone.

Bishop Guertin opened up its boys lacrosse season earlier this past week with a 19-5 rout of Londonderry, and it’s just another example of the haves and have nots in local high school lacrosse.

The Cardinals’ chief rival, Pinkerton, took a slight step back in 2021 and now the question is how far they and the rest of Division I can move forward to catch the Cardinals as they continue to separate from the rest of the pack.

In the other divisions, don’t discount Hollis Brookline in Division II and Campbell in Division III. Here’s a look at how things shape up as the season has just gotten underway with a couple of games per team:

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DIVISION I

The Cardinals defensively graduated three Division I players, so developing that chemistry is key. Nick Dahl is a key on defense in front of goalie Zach Connerty, a junior, while on offense the Cards are led by players like Quinn Campel (four goals in the opener). Senior Xander Dunsmoore leads the midfielders that includes talents like Tim Kiely and Connor Bouvier. Senior Quinn Cepiel, back from injury, will play at both attack and midfield.

They have some young players who continue to develop, like sophomore Brady Dumont, who had four goals in the season opener.

J.J. Murphy will be a key on facoffs, and of course that’s where the strength of any good team has to be as possession is 10 tenths of the law in lacrosse. And that shifts to Guertin’s speed, as the Cards run the field better than

anyone.

“Dominating faceoffs and controlling possessions will be a focus this year,” Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. “Limiting turnovers and bad shots ae the key. We’re still going to be playing fast, pushing transition when possible.”

The Cards are playing a few out of state games as they did before the pandemic hit, the first big one will be April 19 when Massachusetts power Xaverian visits Stellos Stadium.

Nashua South had a great start to the season with a 17-0 rout of Keene, and it should be a good indicator of things to come. They have perhaps the best goalie in the Division, senior Ethan Johnson, and it goes from there with senior midfielders Connor Rowsell, Nate Campbell, Rhett Medling, Mike Rutstein and Griffin Johnson on attack. All Johnson did in the opener was have 10 points (five goals, five assists)

Junior Cody Goode keys the defense while freshman Beau Dubois will also be one to watch on attack.

“We’re a senior laden team,” Panthers coach Bill Monsen said, “who had a great offseason.”

At Nashua North, the growth continues as second year coach Matt Muser – that’s important as the Titans have their first repeat coach in a while – tries to revamp the program. Eight freshmen this year will help.

As for experience, keep an eye on junior midfielder Jack Peters, senior attack Trent Gerlowski, senior goalie Devyn Lavoie with defenseman Josh Kane by his side, plus sophomore midfielder Alec Jenkerson.

“We’re expecting to grow like we did last year,” Muser said. “We hope to gain skills and stay more in games than last year and always give it 100 percent.”

Merrimack is hoping to compete, all while Division I is getting tougher and tougher. The Tomahawks fell to Souhegan in the opener (don’t be surprised if one or both end up in Division II in the future). Three seniors are key: Matthew Todd (hat trick in the opener) on attack, Shea Goodwin at midfield and Maverick Landry amd Camden Wheeler on defense. Juniors Kyle Dunn (attack) and Reimello Hyde (defense) will also play important roles.

“The keys are teamwork, communication on the defensive end of the field and patience and poise in transition/settled situations,” longtime Tomahawks coach Brian Miller said.

Souhegan has a new coach, Nick Lambros, and certainly had a good start. The Sabers are looking for offense from the likes of Chris Weeder, Tony Garrant and Cole Manning, while Andrew Mullin got his first win the other day between the pipes. It will be interesing to see where the Sabers, who lost to Bedford n the early rounds of the tourney last spring, stand among that second tier of teams.

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DIVISION II

This could be an interesing spring for Hollis Brookline. The Cavs had a good regular season last spring and expected to go further in the tourney, falling in the quarters. And they started off this season in fine fashion with a convincing win over Goffstown.

There are several seniors, led by senior midfielder Jake Roy on offense and Colin McGary on defense, but it’s a strong junior group, too, paced by the likes of junior middie Tommy Anderson and defender Ben Petrella.

At Alvirne, improvement is the goal. The Broncos have two key seniors in Jared Graham on attack and midfielderr Erick Allard. Watch out too for some key juniors, such as midfielder Cole Bucknam.

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DIVISION III

The Cougars are coming off a good season under Josh Knight in his first year as head coach, and with 31 on the roster this spring, including 12 seniors, led by three First Team All Staters: Brendan Boschi (second in Offensive Player of the Year voting) on attack, Jack Noury at midfield and Eric Coates on defense (second in Defensive Player of the Year voting). Another All-Stater, junior Jackson Kanaley, is back at long stick middie. Other keys include junior goalie Ryan Guerrette (Second Team All-State), sophomore attack Andrew Willnus and senior midfielder John Newell.

All indications are the firepower on this team won’t change as they blew away Bishop Brady 19-4 and Stevens 20-2 in the first two of three scheduled games this past week.

“With last year being our first year together everything we inputted was brand new,” Knight said.

“This season is off to a completely different start as we now have more time to concentrate on adjustments and variations of our offense/defense/transition. Our senior class will be huge in our success this year. With 12, and eight being starters we will go where that class takes us.”

Milford got eight games in last spring in the shortened pandemic schedule, and have five returning starters: senior midfielder Logan Barnhill, junior midfielder Chuck Urda, senior defender Luca DeRosa, plus sophomores Harris Jones (attack) and Tyler Descoteaux (defense). There are as many as eight other returners, led by juniors Jack Seale (midfield) and Andrew Herner (attack).

There are a handful of newcomers, possibly most notable being freshman goalie James Brew. They fell to Laconia in their season opener and will pick things up again vs. Plymouth on Monday.

“Like all the teams in the state, we’re a young team and need to develop our skills, tactical knowledge and get to know each other to play as a cohesive unit,” Spartans coach Rick Urda said.