New Jersey might not rank high on the list of Spring Break vacation hot spots, but a trip to the Garden State has done wonders for Marin Catholic’s boys lacrosse squad.

“We’ve put in so much hard work. We got a win against a good New Jersey team and it’s been really good for our guys. It really shows,” Marin Catholic senior Jake Holmes said.

Top-seeded Marin Catholic (17-5, 10-0 MCAL) had its groove working Saturday during a 9-3 victory over No. 3 Redwood High as the Wildcats successfully defended their MCAL title on their home turf.

Holmes scored three of his game-high four goals in the second quarter to give Marin Catholic a 6-3 lead at halftime. Marin Catholic’s pressing defense shut down Redwood (12-9, 8-3) in the second half to secure the title. Mattias Murdick netted three goals for the Wildcats, while Chase Ruegg and Auggie Chapman rounded out the scoring. Tate Sedlachek added a pair of assists.Just a week before the MCAL playoffs, the Wildcats took a cross-country trip to play two of New Jersey’s top teams for the second year in a row. Marin Catholic lost 7-6 to Rumson-Fair Haven, the 29th-ranked team in New Jersey. But the Wildcats, the 11th-ranked team in California, recovered for a 8-7 victory over Chatham, New Jersey’s No. 11 team.

“Before going to New Jersey we had a couple of losses to Sacred Heart and St. Ignatius, which we thought we should have won,” Holmes said. “We beat a good Chatham team in New Jersey and that win definitely gave us our mojo back.”

Redwood, still smarting from a 17-5 loss at Marin Catholic just two weeks earlier, upped its own game for Saturday’s contest.

“Redwood’s gotten better in the last two weeks,” Marin Catholic coach BJ Grill said. “Their zone was really difficult to handle and I was impressed with how they battled for 48 minutes, That’s a testament to their pride and their upperclassmen really battling and stepping up against us.”

Murdick opened the game with a dramatic play as he flung himself toward the crease and fired the ball midair into the net. Following a goal from Ruegg to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead, Emmett O’Neil swung a ground ball into the net for a Giants goal with just one second left in the opening quarter.

Rudy Vasquez answered a goal from Holmes in the second quarter with one of his own, but a goal from Murdick and two more from Holmes pushed Marin Catholic ahead, 6-2. The Giants’ Luke Tempero powered an overhead shot into the net with less than a minute to play in the first half, but that was the last goal the Giants scored the rest of the game.

Chapman found his mark on a bouncer late in the third quarter, and Holmes and Murdick scored in the final minutes of the game.

“There was no emotion for this game,” Tempero said. “We had nothing to lose. Everyone was expecting Marin Catholic to win, so coming in we just wanted to do our best. I feel like there’s a lot we can improve on, and there’s a lot we did well. When we meet them again in NCS, we’ll be ready.”

The North Coast Section playoffs begin Tuesday, with Marin Catholic preparing to defend its Division 1 title. Redwood reached the semifinals last year before falling 13-12 to De La Salle.

“I’m excited about who we are as we head into NCS, and I believe that we have a chance to repeat as champions there, too,” Grill said. “Our goal this season was to win NCS and MCAL. We got one title, so now we focus on NCS. It’s not going to be easy, though. We have a lot of work to do.”

Holmes, who has committed to Sacred Heart University next season, has seen the work paying off for the Wildcats.

“The standards were set last year by our seniors, and I have a lot of faith in our juniors and the rest of our guys to continue the success,” Holmes said.