The Hopkinton High boys’ lacrosse team showed its quality against a Bishop Brady squad undergoing a rebuild with a new head coach and won decisively, 21-4, on Monday. Although the score did not go the Giants’ way, it was still a special day for their goalkeeper.

Sophomore Ray Weatherbee severely injured his knee nearly a year and a half ago, tearing his ACL, and was sidelined for multiple months. He rehabbed slowly and was told that his knee might never work the same again, and it took a toll on his mental state.

Monday afternoon he finally returned to playing sports and got his first varsity start in goal for the Giants. His coach, Sean Hockensmith, said that Weatherbee exceeded expectations in goal and kept his team in the game.

Also for the Giants, junior attacker Joey Richardson got to work and scored a hat trick to keep his team fighting.

Weatherbee finished with 30 saves on 51 shots and was icing his knee on the sideline after the game, but he said that he would not have it any other way.

“I forgot to take medicine before the game so I wouldn’t be able to feel it. I got told to take some medicine prior to the game,” he said.

“We have a bunch of great kids, a great mentality. I love their determination. I love hanging out around these guys; they’re literally family. Honestly, I’d take a bullet for them. They respected me first when I came here. I’m always going to respect them.”

For Hopkinton, senior captain Merrick Chapin scored six goals and added two assists, including a hat trick to open the game. He was everywhere around the field for the Hawks, always driving toward the goal to generate shots.

Sophomore attacker Jackson Westover also had a successful start to the season by scoring five goals for Hopkinton. Senior midfielder Ozzie Rosenholm dominated and initiated the Hawks’ swift counterattack offense by scooping up 15 ground balls, adding a goal and an assist.

Head coach Deacon Blue was pleased with his team’s performance but wants to see further consistency and discipline. The Hawks missed a few ground balls here and there and could have communicated better, according to Blue, but the significant lead win was a good place to start.

“That’s what we set out to do. We wanted to push the tempo, kind of play our game, be aggressive on both ends of the field. And they responded and did just that,” he said.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.