Pinkerton boys lacrosse returns to D1 final with win over Bedford

NASHUA – Brett Dattilo knew one thing was certain as the Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse team entered Wednesday’s Division I semifinal against Bedford.

The Pinkerton junior knew the No. 3 Astros were a much better team than they were when they lost by eight goals to No. 2 Bedford in the first week of the regular season.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they didn’t know that.

Pinkerton jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter and never let Bedford get back in the game, as the Astros advanced to the title game for the third year in a row with an 11-5 win at Stellos Stadium. Pinkerton will face No. 1 Bishop Guertin for the seventh time in the final, which will be held Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

“They beat us by a lot, so they had reason to take us lightly,” Dattilo said. “I’m just glad we played our game, like how we knew we could play. We played so well as the season progress and now we’re at the top of our game.”

And it starts with Dattilo – who had a game-high four goals – according to Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly.

“(Dattilo) won just about every faceoff,” O’Reilly said. “Brett is one of the few faceoff guys who plays the game. He wins, he stays on, he plays offense, he shoots, he plays defense.

“(The Bulldogs) have two excellent faceoff guys who win faceoffs and then run off. They’re fresh the whole game. They hurt people from the second quarter on by winning faceoffs. Not only did he win the faceoffs … he’s a machine coming down that way.”

Tod Billetter added three goals for the Astros (17-3) and Drew Strople had two while Madson Barchard (assist) and Jack Hanaway had a goal each. Nick Richard made 10 saves in goal, including several early in the game and the third quarter, when Bedford was trying to get back in it.

“Nick Richard in goal, he was awesome,” O’Reilly said. “He made some point blank saves that should have been goals. Those are the kind of saves that really boost the team up.”

Bedford got two goals from Brandon Howe and a goal each from Tyler Sullivan (two assists), Dakota Clark and Zach Tucci. Sean Tierney made nine saves, but like the rest of the Bulldogs, struggled early on.

“We made way too many unforced errors,” Bedford coach Matt Guerard said. “We beat ourselves all night. The end result was a loss, and there’s nothing we can do. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised about the way we played. We put in some good efforts here and there, but it was just too few.”

Two of Dattilo’s goals were momentum killers, coming right after Bedford had scored in the second half.

The Bulldogs got the first goal of the third quarter with 2:40 left in the frame, making it a 7-4 game, but Dattilo won the ensuing faceoff and raced down the field to score just 11 seconds later. Strople added another goal 38 seconds after that to put Pinkerton up 9-4 going into the fourth.

Tucci scored his goal nine seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 9-5, but again, Dattilo won the face and scored, this time seven seconds later, to put Pinkerton back up by five goals.

“It’s great to stop momentum,” he said. “It’s a powerful thing in lacrosse because it’s so fast.”

The win was the 11th in a row for Pinkerton, as the Astros have continued to progress after dropping three of their first nine games, including the one to Bedford.

“We got killed on ground balls the first time we played them, but every time it was coming down (Wendesday), it was coming up us,” O’Reilly said. “Our rides were good, and they had trouble clearing the ball against us. We got great matchups taking care of (Samuel) Stanton and taking care of Clark.

“I don’t think it mattered what the coaches thought. Matt is an excellent coach and I know that he was ready to go. I just felt that, based on what they did to us last time, and then they had the immense game, one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen for a regular season game with BG, the kids are looking right past us. That’s an insult to us. You need to bring it to them, and we did.”

Now Pinkerton will have another shot at Bishop Guertin, as the Astros are 1-5 in title games against the Cardinals.

“I want to play BG in the championship,” Dattillo said. “We’re a much different team. We’re playing together, we’re working as a team, we’re moving the ball well.”