Hopkinton applied lessons learned in regular season to win third D3 title in a row

After the Hopkinton High School boys lacrosse team suffered its first loss in almost three years, the players didn't try to put that setback behind them as quickly as they possibly could.

The Hawks were determined to figure out what went wrong in their 9-5 loss to Pelham and fix those mistakes as soon as they could. With the game taking place on a Friday afternoon, some even spent the weekend going over the film.

So when Hopkinton got its second chance against the Pythons in last Saturday's Division III championship game, the Hawks were ready and knew what they had to do, as they won their third title in a row, 15-5.

"It definitely stung when we lost to them and it wasn’t the way we wanted to lose a game," Hopkinton coach Deacon Blue said. "We got a little caught off guard the last time we played them by how physical they were and what type of stick checks they were throwing. We were ready for it and we’ve been planning for it, watching the game tape. We just had a great day of lacrosse."

Just like in the regular season, Hopkinton took a 2-0 lead before the game was two minutes old. The Hawks' second goal might have been an indicator of what kind of day it was going to be for the defending champs.

After Pelham goalie Jaxson Snyder made a save, the rebound went off to his right and Hopkinton middie Paul Molnar took a golf swing at the ball. It hit the end of his stick and shot right back at Snyder, surprising the goalie to make it a 2-0 game.

But instead of watching the Pythons counter with a big run, like they did in the regular season, the Hawks kept the foot on the gas and all of a sudden, it was a 5-0 lead for Hopkinton.

"The first time we played them, when we went up two (goals), we got flat-footed after that," Hopkinton junior Colby Quiet said. "This game, we kept our momentum and momentum is everything in lacrosse. It’s easy to lose, but when you keep it, it’s easy to keep scoring and scoring."

During the regular season, Pelham was able to keep Quiet relatively in check, but on Saturday, the middie went off, scoring eight goals, including back-to-back goals midway through the third quarter to give Hopkinton a comfortable lead. He then added three straight goals in the fourth to put an exclamation point on the win.

"He’s an all-around great lacrosse player," Blue said of Quiet. "He pressures the ball on defense and he’s great on groundballs. He rides the ball well, he clears the ball well, he’s just all over the place. And he’s scoring several goals in a big game like this, where half the game, they’re shutting him off. He’s huge for us."

With a 9-4 lead at halftime, Hopkinton was prepared for Pelham to try to make a run to open the second half. But instead of buckling down on defense, the Hawks focused more on keeping the offense running at a high tempo.

"We liked to push the tempo and we knew they did, too, so we weren’t going to try to slow it down or anything like that," Blue said. "We wanted to get out to an early start, up the tempo and put it to them, be aggressive on offense, defense, transition. We have good depth, so we wanted to use that, we cycled our middies in and out.

"We didn’t want to slow it down until maybe midway through the fourth. We wanted to keep the foot on the accelerator, keep scoring. That’s why we were winning the game, we were playing that way and pushing the tempo. We didn’t want to slow it down because when they get the ball, they’re going to run it down and try to score. We’ve got to stick with the game plan."