It was quite a year for the Xaverian Hawks.

Injuries hit this team hard, but it kept winning at a high level.

The finishing run included wins over Springfield Central, Needham, and St. John’s Prep (twice in six days). So, yes, this D1 state title? The Hawks earned every bit of it.

We spoke to Xaverian coach Al Fornaro to get his thoughts on the season, and how it came about.

This is an edited version of that conversation.

Adam Kurkjian: I saw a bunch of your games this year. I saw your biggest wins, and your biggest losses. But the one thing I noticed from those losses is, they’re incredibly close to good teams. Really good teams. But, although they were tough, I thought they highlighted your team’s resolve. In other words, you got better from each of those losses. Would you say that’s accurate?

AF: Absolutely. Any team should try to get better throughout the year. Sometimes you can think about that, and it’s not noticeable if you’re winning. Teams that go undefeated, they’re generally better the last game of the year than they were the first game. You learn from your mistakes, and you correct things, and move on.

AK: And it seemed to me, that there was something different about this year’s team. It just seemed like, not only did they get better, but they got better in the tight quarters, in the closer games. All those games toward the end of your season were good games. But you guys were really good in the clutch. Was that something that you knew all along? Or, did it take those other games for it to come through?

AF: I would say that early on we didn’t know. It’s always that unknown factor. How is the team going to react if you’re down by a touchdown? Or down by two right away? I think what they ended up doing is they had confidence in themselves, and they didn’t let it fluster them. It was evidenced in the state championship, (St. John’s Prep) comes out in the second half and score. Well, we’ll come down and score, too. Of course, I’d love to have it another way. I think they just had confidence in themselves. We had been in similar situations, so it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, what are we going to do?’ We’re going to do this. That’s all. Execute on offense, on the defensive side of the ball. It worked for us.

AK: What can you say about Henry that hasn’t already been said? You’ve had great quarterbacks there over the years: the Hasselbecks, Brian Mann, Zack Asack, Ryan Farrell. What set Henry apart, because I think he was in that elevated status, was he not?

AF: It’s funny you mention that because I was talking with (previous Xaverian coach) Charlie (Stevenson), and . . . I had an alumni say the other day, where would you rank (Henry)? I go, I’m always a jerk, ‘Oh, he’s in the top 10.’ ‘Top 10? I woulda thought . . .’ I was talking to Charlie, and you mention the young men. Athletically, Zack Asack was probably at the top of our list over the years. Henry came as close to being athletic and thereabouts. Zack was a track guy playing quarterback. And no disrespect to him. Henry is an athlete playing quarterback. His athleticism shone through numerous times. His leadership ability . .  . You know, sometimes, quarterbacks come off as being aloof. But from the time he took the job as a junior, he he built upon his rapport with his teammates. He’s the loudest guy at practice. He’s cheering for the other guys. Sometimes people say, ‘Is he being a clown?’ No. He’s genuine. His willingness to do . . . He was begging to run the ball at the end of the year. It was like, you know, that was in our plan, before he broke his nose on Thanksgiving. I think people picked up on the fact that we lined him up at wideout and motioned him in orbit motion and did a toss sweep to him on that Wednesday night. The speed that he has, he’s the fastest quarterback we’ve ever had. He’s a legitimate fast kid. He’s not just a straight-ahead guy. He has the ability, and whether ot not it’s from the other sport that he played, lacrosse, or just, he can put the foot in the ground. He’s not Barry Sanders. He made some guys look silly, because they’re coming up with a handful of air.

AK: The way that the season ended had to be so sweet because you into that St. John’s Prep (Thanksgiving) game full bore. You win that. You win the second one against the Prep. It has to feel like it means a little bit more than if you had beaten some other team in the Super Bowl. I’d also say, some of it had to be relief of a pressure-packed season. Was it a little bit of both?

AF: I will say this. There was a little bit of relief, because even though we are confident, you shouldn’t be cocky. I will say this, for me, and you never want to project this on the young men, although some might have thought it because they read blogs, and they read Twitter. It’s like, OK, you’ve beat them once, but can you do it in a game that really means it? But I thought, ‘What do you mean, in the one that counts? We just played one that counts.’ But I understand. Let’s just say for the sake of argument, that Prep decided, ‘We’re not going to really worry, because we can probably beat them with our base stuff.’ Brian St. Pierre’s not going to do that! And people should know that. You’re either going to play or you’re not. We know teams that sit their big guys down. Sometimes it’s how many more times, and the young men are more resilient than I am, are we going to be in a position where we have to do it again? And do it again? And do it again? How many more guys are going to fall by the wayside? Not lost on me, but we have a brand new offensive coordinator in James Carven, and a brand new offensive line coach, Mark White, who had been my freshman head coach. And they did a really good job. I told them at the beginning of the year, ‘The pressure’s on you. We better score 40 points a game’ (laughs). But I think there was a little bit or a, I don’t want to say relief that the season was over. You don’t want the season to be over, because, now, what do you do? But it was like, ‘OK, we did it. We proved we could do it. And we proved we could do it six days later.’ It’s not the question of, ‘Could you do it.’ No, we did.