Bishop Guertin's Zach Kouchalakos (5), Kevin Broderick (15) and Zach Connerty (9) lead the Cards' Division I title celebration after they downed Exeter, 11-6, Sunday night in Exeter. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

EXETER – Why was the Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse Division I title win over Exeter nearly a week ago so satisfying for the Cardinals and their coach, Chris Cameron?

Because it took a lot of work, especially for Cameron in terms of making sure his players weren’t thinking they could just show up and win against the good teams, especially Exeter.

“You know, this was one of my biggest challenges,” Cameron said after the 19-2 Cards beat the Blue Hawks 11-6 at Bill Ball Stadium. “Seventeen of the 20 guys who play (regularly) are underclassmen. And it was a group where we – I was close to going to a very slow type offense because we weren’t handling playing fast very well – but it turned into one of my favorite teams I’ve ever coached.

“Not the most talented – because we were young and had so many holes – but when you win that many face-offs, the kids all like each other and play together as a team, it was just an enjoyable group, enjoyable season.”

Cameron said the focus was “really getting better as an individual, individuals. That’s what we were looking at at practices.”

The day before the finals, Cameron said, was perhaps the best practice of the season. He saw one thing: vast improvement from March 21, the first day of practice/tryouts.

“Everybody got better,” he said. “That’s what we needed to do. It’s tough for (say) J.J. Murphy (dominant face-off man) to get better. But we asked guys to take different roles and step up and they all accepted their role. For me, when you have that many guys (as many as eight) that are going (Division) I (in college) …”

It’s not easy to do. But there were players like Quinn Cepiel, who cherished every moment, on the team. Cepiel tore up his knee a year ago and missed not only the 2021 lacrosse season but the 2021-22 hockey season as well. He’s headed to Brown University, but this BG title run – he had a goal in the finals – was special.

“This means everything,” Cepiel said. “Having to sit out a whole year and watch my teammates get better and better without me, I just wanted to be part of the team. I think integrating myself back in, I appreciate every single one of the coaches, teachers, mentors and peers who helped me get back.”

There were more ingredients. The Cardinals – and some other teams have followed suit when they can – play a few games against strong out-of-state competition, and for example, when a Murphy wins only 50 percent of his faceoffs against those teams – especially in the two losses to Staples (Conn.) and Acton-Boxborough (Mass.), it showed the Cards they couldn’t rely on those possessions.

“That’s what we emphasized to them, ‘Look, we can’t rely on J.J.all the time,'” Cameron said. “So we got exposed. It makes a big difference.”

So those losses opened the Cardinals’ eyes to the fact they had to make the most of every possession. The other ingredient was trying to figure how the tourney pairings would play out, and who the potential finals opponent might be if they made it. Cameron was guessing Exeter, whose only two losses all season (20-2) ended up being to Guertin. So the Cards prepared well ahead of time for the Blue Hawks.

“We were thinking either Exeter or Pinkerton,” he said. “I was guessing the way it was going to shake out it was going to be Exeter. So we were preparing for this game for probably a month.

“So we were preparing for a month, but in the end we did what we usually do, we just got better at it. But we knew it was going to be them because they’re a focused and driven team. … Those (Exeter) kids, you could see how much they wanted it. And they, for a first year coach (Matt Brewster), he certainly inherited talent, but he did a great job with them.”

By the time they reached the finals, Cameron’s players were advanced enough that they were able to play a possession game in the last five minutes, holding the ball for the majority of that time, without a shot clock rule to limit them.

“We were up five,” Cameron said. “If it was a two-goal game, I wouldn’t have done it, because you know you’re going to cough it up eventually. But when you have five and you’re winning faceoffs, you can be a lot more (free). And they (the Blue Hawks) were gassed.”

“We won a ring,” Cepiel said. “We won a ring, that’s our goal, and we achieved our goal together.”

After the game, Guertin’s Nick Dahl, whose high school career ended, went up to his good friend, Exeter’s top scorer Aiden Drunsic, whom he shut down and held scoreless, basically keeping him away from the ball.

“Right when the final horn blew, I went up to him and told him that he made an impact on that (Exeter) team,” Dahl said. “I wanted him to make sure he remembered that. He’s got a bright four years at UMass, so it’s not over for him.”

Thus it’s no wonder Cameron felt this BG team was special because of its nature.

“This turned out to be one of my favorite teams ever,” he said. “They weren’t a team that thought they were great because so many of these guys didn’t have roles last year. They weren’t main guys, so they didn’t come in with that arrogance that sometimes you get, ‘Hey, we’re BG, we’re going to win.”

But then the Cards beat LaSalle of Rhode Island, that state’s dominant team, 15-7. But before any of that overconfidence could seep in, BG lost to Acton-Boxboro, so that gave the Cards some humility.

“It brought us right down,” Cameron said. “And I was able to get the message across that ‘Hey, you’re not that good. You can be good, if you work hard, play tough, and don’t be a hero.’ ”