COOL HAND LUKE: Hun School boys’ lacrosse player Luke Prybylski, left, tries to get past a Lawrenceville School defender last Monday in the state Prep A finals. Post-graduate and Villanova-bound Prybylski scored four goals in a losing cause as top-seeded Hun fell 13-6 to the second-seeded Big Red. The Raiders, now 9-6, host Montgomery on May 12 and Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) on May 14 before starting play in the 2016 Inter-Ac Challenge on May 16. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

When the Hun School boys’ lacrosse team played at Lawrenceville School in early April, its offense clicked from the start as it jumped out to a 7-3 halftime lead on the way to a 12-8 triumph over the visitors.

Last Monday, the teams met for a rematch at Hun in the state Prep A finals and it became readily apparent that things were going to go at a slower pace than in April as the contest was knotted at 1-1 after the first quarter.

“It was pretty clear from the start that they wanted to slow the game down and they did a really good job of that,” said Hun head coach M.V. Whitlow.

“I never thought I would see a Lawrenceville team slowing the ball down against the Hun team but I guess that is a sign of the times.”

With the Big Red finding the range in the second quarter, outscoring Hun 3-1 to take a 4-2 lead into intermission, Whitlow’s message at halftime was simple.

“We just wanted to get the ball,” said Whitlow, recalling his talk during the break.

“I felt that we were at a pretty severe face-off deficit and we needed to get the ball and we wanted to do better at the face-off X.”

But with Lawrenceville star Connor Kirst firing in four second-half goals, the Big Red pulled away to a 13-6 victory.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Connor Kirst at the face-off X and offensively,” said Whitlow, whose team had defeated the Big Red 14-6 in last season’s Prep A title game to snap a 13-year title streak for Lawrenceville.

“He is a great post-grad and he completely dominated the game. That was his victory. He was clearly the major reason that they were as successful as they were.”

Hun got a big game from post-grad star, Luke Prybylski, who scored four goals on the day, and helped the Raiders draw to within 8-5 early in the fourth quarter before a late rally fizzled.

“Luke is always going to get his goals,” said Whitlow, who also got a goal and an assist from senior star Owen Black with senior Griffin Moroney chipping in one goal as the Raiders moved to 9-6.

“He is a tough guy to cover; he is a tough matchup. They limited the other guys so much and they doubled Luke a few times well. I thought their defensive scheme really worked, they didn’t let us run.”

With Hun hosting Montgomery on May 12 and Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) on May 14 before starting play in the 2016 Inter-Ac Challenge on May 16, Whitlow knows that it is not going to be easy to bounce back from the loss on Monday.

“That is a great bunch of players on the Lawrenceville team, they have a lot of talent,” added Whitlow. “It is tough. Losing a championship is not easy, repeating is not easy.”