Congratulations on the victory, Winnacunnet.

Here’s your spotlight.

Like a basketball game with a bunch of lead changes, the label of “team to beat” in Division I this year is getting passed around frequently, and spending an awful lot of time on the Seacoast.

When the season began, it was tough to look past Portsmouth High School and the program’s 43-game win streak, even if the Clippers were replacing three key starters, one of them a 6-foot-6 future scholarship player.

Then the Clippers went to Manchester Central for their opener, played poorly in the second half of a 63-46 loss, and headed back to the gym to work on defense as everyone crossed them off their lists.

“It was good for us to get beat up,” acknowledged Portsmouth coach Jim Mulvey, a few weeks later, his team on a win streak.

A lot of eyes were on Exeter at the start of the season, for good reason. An array of perimeter shooters, led by senior point guard Cody Morissette, an impact freshman and an influx of players from a state champion JV team put the deep Blue Hawks on the short list of favorites.

But even as the team kept winning — seven in a row to open the Division I season, plus a good showing at the Queen City Invitational — veteran coach Jeff Holmes dismissed the notion that his team sat atop the heap.

“I just try to take a little bit of the Patriots,” he said. “Take it one game at a time. … Spaulding had a shot at the buzzer to beat us and they’re (2-6). You’ve got to come ready to play every night.”

With the eyes of a whole state on them Friday, as well a full gym, Winnacunnet knocked its biggest rival from the Division I unbeaten ranks, the 60-53 win elevating the Warriors to a share of first place.

It was a blow to the Blue Hawks, but certainly not a fatal one, not in a season like this, where six teams are clustered near the top of the Division I standings with one or two losses, and the gap between first place and eighth place is as slim as it’s been in recent memory.

“I’ve been around for a long time,” said Holmes. “You’ve got to earn everything you get. We’re not beating people like Portsmouth did last year. This reminds me of two years ago, when there were a lot of teams that could make a run at it.”

So now it’s Winnacunnet that will receive the attention, at least for a while. The headline in Saturday’s Herald blared “The New No. 1” and you won’t find many camps arguing that, certainly not ones in Exeter or Portsmouth.

“It’s a long season,” cautioned Winnacunnet coach Jay McKenna earlier this year. “You definitely have to take it day by day, practice by practice, game by game. I think the short-term goal is to get better every day; the long-term goal is we want to end our season in Durham.”

Zach Waterhouse scored 13 of his 20 points during a monster third quarter as the Warriors took control, more proof that the guard who was a complementary starter on teams that reached the final four in each of the last two seasons has embraced his role as an on-court leader.

“Zach’s always been a very, very talented kid,” said McKenna. “He can shoot well, he’s got great skills and he’s very athletic. I think the difference teams are seeing this year is that he’s not deferring; in the past he’d defer. He had Liam Viviano, Freddy Schaake out there with him … This year, I think he understands that the responsibility is falling on his shoulders.”

Winnacunnet (7-1), Exeter (7-1) and Portsmouth (6-2) will all reach the midpoints of their regular seasons on Tuesday, playing home games against Concord (4-4), Salem (5-3) and Bishop Guertin (1-8), respectively. Two mark-your-calendar tilts are set for next month: Portsmouth at Exeter on Feb. 6, and Winnacunnet at Portsmouth on Feb. 23.

“The division’s very competitive this year,” said McKenna. “Just the Seacoast alone is extremely competitive.”

And we’re only halfway done.

Mike Zhe is a Herald staff writer. He can be reached at mzhe@seacoastonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeZhe603.