DANVERS — It seems as if no matter when St. John’s Prep and Xaverian play, in any sport, it’s never an easy game for either team. That was the case again Thursday.

The boys lacrosse game began as if the 7-0 Eagles would run the Hawks right off Glatz Field. But by the time the game ended, Xaverian, 4-5, let The Prep know it had been in a ballgame. The final score, 12-9, was testament to the fact that the Eagles’ Catholic Conference rival rose up off the mat in the final 24 minutes to throw a real scare into St. John’s.

“We haven’t had a tough, hard game like that in a long time,” said Eagles’ coach John Pynchon, almost giddy afterward at the amount of competitiveness and physicality the teams showed each other. “We haven’t had many. We need games like that.”

The score at the end of the half was 6-1, Prep, and the way the Eagles were playing, it seemed as if the game was close to being over. But Xaverian proved that even a five-goal lead isn’t enough sometimes. After the teams traded goals early in the third quarter, to make the score 9-4, the Hawks closed out the third period by netting three straight goals and all of a sudden, it was 9-7 entering the final 12 minutes.

“They are one of the four or five best teams in Division 1,” Pynchon said. “They’re seven goals away from being 9-0. They keep playing these close one-goal games.”

Xaverian’s tenacity was on full display in the fourth quarter. It looked as if St. John’s regained its footing in the early part of the quarter, with Jake Vana (4 goals) and Madden McGowan scoring by the four-minute mark to extend St. John’s lead to 11-7. But the Hawks never let the Eagles pull too far ahead. Johnny Black scored one of his three to bring Xaverian to within three again. However, Cam McCarthy gave St. John’s its four-goal lead back, before Black stuffed another one home with only 53 seconds left for the game’s final goal.

“They (Xaverian) play with a tough, hard edge that we didn’t have (at the beginning of the game),” Pynchon said. “We had to develop it quickly as the game went on.”

“We played very well on defense,” Pynchon said. “And we were able to make some plays when we needed to on offense. But we had a few turnovers we’d like to have back that led to some goals for them.”

Other scorers for the Eagles included Brendan Powers (3), McCarthy, Grayson Ambrosh, Luke Kelly, Josh Haarmann and McGowan.