LEBANON — Head coach Dennis Reilly said he has been rebuilding the Lebanon High boys lacrosse team “brick by brick.” On Thursday, the construction job looked awfully sturdy as the Raiders notched a 10-6 victory over the visiting ConVal Cougars.

Under Reilly’s tutelage, the Raiders are jockeying for playoff position in NHIAA Division III for the first time in years.

“This is a big win for our program,” said Reilly, who took over as coach last year. “I believe this team has a lot of talent; however, they don’t believe it, and wins like this help them believe that they belong.”

Just 41 seconds into the game, the Raiders “belonged” on the field with a top-five opponent when one of their team captains, Abe Pearson, gave his team a quick 1-0 lead.

Pearson has been on a heater as of late. The junior had notched 19 goals in three games coming into the battle with ConVal.

“He is on fire,” said Reilly. “He has been absolutely fantastic. He’s our commander on the field.”

As the game continued, another thing became evident: if Pearson were going to cool off, it would not be on Thursday.

With the game tied at two goals apiece in the second period, the Raiders did their best to pull away on the strength of two more goals from Pearson, one of which was assisted by junior VJ Sites.

The Raiders combined the scoring with some strong team defense, which was highlighted by the work of Jordan Findley. The sophomore made things difficult all afternoon for the Cougars and made some dynamic plays to clear his defensive zone.

By the end of the third quarter, the Raiders amassed an 8-3 lead over the Cougars, including another goal from Price, two more Pearson goals, and a nifty one-handed interception from junior Benji Madory that he proceeded to put in the back of ConVal’s net.

Cougars cut the deficit to 8-5 with just over 9½ minutes left in the game.

With momentum shifting toward ConVal, the game got chippy, marked by hard hits and pushing and shoving after whistles.

“I want them to be aggressive, but I don’t want them to cross that line where they get a little out of control,” said Reilly, who acknowledged that emotions got the best of some of his players during the game.

Ultimately, the Cougar comeback attempt fell short. Two more late goals from Pearson, one of which was assisted by freshman Tucker Curtis, helped secure the win.

The Raiders’ second consecutive win improved their record to 7-6, good enough for 10th place in Division III with one game left in the regular season.

With a playoff berth secured, Lebanon will wrap up its regular season on the road on Friday against Pelham, a team that is 6-7 and one spot behind Lebanon in the standings.

“We haven’t been to the playoffs in three years, so this is a big deal for us,” said Reilly. “I couldn’t be more happy, the kids have worked hard, the coaches have really worked hard.”

Michael Coughlin Jr. can be reached at mcoughlin@vnews.com