CONTOOCOOK — The Hopkinton and Kearsarge boys’ lacrosse teams are in different places. The Hawks are “retooling,” as head coach Deacon Blue describes it, but still expect to compete for a championship. The Cougars, meanwhile, have a more inexperienced roster that’s still trying to find its footing in the young season.

In misty and windy conditions in Contoocook on Monday afternoon, the Hawks proved to be the better team from start to finish in their 14-4 victory, even if it wasn’t the prettiest game of lacrosse ever played.

Here are three notes from the Hopkinton victory over Kearsarge (0-3):

The Hawks combined offensive control with stout defense: Hopkinton (2-1) dominated possession in the first quarter, leading 4-0 through the first 12 minutes. When the Hawks had the ball, they patiently passed it around the arc waiting for the right moment to shoot. And in the relatively rare moments when they didn’t have possession, they quickly gained it back.

Kearsarge frequently found itself going one-and-done on its offensive chances. Meanwhile, Hopkinton was able to grab momentum early.

The Hawks received two goals from senior captain Lincoln Wilson and a goal each from fellow senior captain John Despres and junior captain Patrick Buss.

“I thought John Despres really came into his own dodging. He was able to get by one or two defenders and find the net,” said Blue, now in his 11th season as Hopkinton’s head coach. “Lincoln Wilson did a good job early on. It’s a rainy day. We wanted to bounce shots, and he heeded the call and did that and got some goals out of it.”

Hopkinton led 9-2 by halftime and held off Kearsarge in the second half to come away with the 10-goal win.

Equally impressive as the offensive performance, the defense shined as well.

“We’ve got Cam Bassett and Steven Reddy. They’re just really tough defenders, put the pressure on well,” Blue said. “We were able to exploit mismatches on D and keep the pressure on and take the ball away and then again, the little stuff of going and getting that ground ball when they do drop a pass.”

Hopkinton’s starting to find a rhythm: Just three games into a 15-game regular season, the Hawks still have a long way to go before thinking about avenging last season’s championship game loss. But with some new players mixing in with returnees like Reddy and Bassett, Blue’s pleased with what he’s seen so far.

The Hawks lost their season opener, 10-9, to Coe-Brown before bouncing back with a 16-0 win over Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough. They continued to build off that first win on Monday.

“We did a good job of passing and being aggressive and opportunistic but also (being) smart and pulling it out when we needed to,” Blue said. “On defense, we were aggressive, played the ground balls, pressured hands, all the things we talked about, so I was really happy with that.”

Next up for the Hawks: a matchup with 2-0 Gilford at home on Wednesday.

“We’re gonna keep the momentum going and try to go 3-0 on the week,” Blue said.

Kearsarge coach optimistic: Coaches always talk about how there are two things they can’t coach: effort and energy. When players bring that themselves, it makes things much easier. And that’s why Kearsarge coach Tucker Johnson thinks with some more game experience, his group can figure things out.

“We’re a pretty young team,” he said. “A lot of guys playing a lot of different positions, so we’re still trying to figure out a lot of who’s going to be playing where for us towards the end of the year. … I’m really proud of how these guys are coming together as a team. We’ve had three tough games to start with against three really good teams, with Hopkinton, Campbell and Trinity, three teams that I’m sure will be playing in June, no doubt. But I’m excited to see this team come together end of the year.”

With the result of Monday’s game rarely in question, the Cougars could’ve coasted through the final two quarters, especially in the subpar playing conditions. But they continued to fight until the final whistle.

“Biggest thing is continuing to build on the effort and energy we have together as a team,” Johnson said. “Those are two of our biggest strengths, and we need to make sure that when things do get tough and we do get down as a team, we can come back and battle through.”

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