Campbell boys lacrosse storms into D3 semifinals with win over Bishop Brady (video)

LITCHFIELD - With 10 days between games, the Campbell High School boys lacrosse team had plenty of time to work on the kinks in its play.

All that time off also made the Cougars a little antsy to get back on the field.

It showed, as No. 2 Campbell scored three goals in the first four minutes, led by nine goals at halftime and sailed through the Division III quarterfinals Saturday with a 16-6 win over No. 10 Bishop Brady. The win sends the Cougars back to the final four for the second year in a row, where they will face No. 3 Pelham at 5 p.m. Thursday at Laconia.

Andrew Willnus led the way for Campbell (14-2) with six goals and three assists while Wyatt Tarr had two goals and an assist and Cruz Sundquest and Nate Lencki also scored twice.

After taking a 5-0 lead into the second quarter, the Cougars scored six goals in a span of 2:46 to blow the game open.

"The first half was probably one of the better halves we’ve had all year, so it was nice to see them come out flying right away," Campbell coach Josh Knight said. "The offense looked really good, the defense was playing the way they can play.

"I think that 10-day break, where we really got to break down what we did wrong over the season, was really beneficial. Having that little bit of a breather, watching some film, being able to break things down to basics was super beneficial. It’s a playoff game and you’re always going to get a little more excited."

Lucas Craig added a goal and two assists, and went 50 percent on faceoffs against Bishop Brady's Tucker Townsend. Zac Hannah also had a goal and an assist while Alex Kirby, Scott Hershberger and Hunter Grant chipped in with a goal apiece.

Ryan Guerrette finished with 10 saves, a handful of which came on an early manup for the Giants (6-10) that kept the Cougars in control of the first quarter.

"Having Ryan back there, he knows what is happening," Knight said. "He’s watching film, he knows the scouting report, he knows hands. We’re trying to play a lot of matchups. It’s been a huge emphasis the last 10 days, team defense. It’s one-on-one until that’s broke and then we’ve got to play six-on-six."

Bishop Brady got three goals from Xander St. Pierre while Nate Nelson added two scores and Jason Doyle had one. Brayden Murphy made nine saves, but the Cougars' offense, which had put up nine goals on the Giants in the regular season, was too much this time around.

"We played a team that was a better team," Bishop Brady coach Frank Lamparelli said. "Bigger, stronger, faster, they have large poles and we didn’t win the possession battle like we have been most of the season.

"We couldn’t hold the ball in the offensive end either. They were pressing out on our guys. They wanted it a little bit more (Saturday) than we did and we were flat. They took away the clear. We just couldn’t get the ball out of the defensive end."

Tarr got Campbell going, scoring his first goal 1:24 into the game and then adding the second one with 8:29 left in the opening quarter. After a faceoff win by Craig, Hannah added another off a rebound just eight seconds later to make it 3-0 and force the Giants to take a timeout.

Bishop Brady's defense was able to hold the Cougars off for a while after that, but the Giants couldn't get anything going offensively, turning the ball over seven times in the quarter. Campbell tacked on two more goals in the final two minutes before ramping things up in the second quarter.

The Cougars led 6-1 when Sundquest scored off a Giants' turnover, and just 1:03 later, Willnus found the back of the net on manup to make it 8-1. Nelson got one of the goals back for Bishop Brady, but Willnus and Lencki scored 27 seconds apart for a 10-2 lead.

Willnus added another goal with 4:45 left before halftime to stretch the lead to nine-goals.

"That was probably the most well-rounded offensive performance we’ve had," Knight said. "Those 10 days have been nice."