ANN ARBOR — How long did it take to write the latest chapter of the ongoing rivalry between the lacrosse teams of Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice and Novi Detroit Catholic Central? Precisely 48 minutes — and 12 seconds.
After the two squads played to an 8-8 tie after regulation time in the MHSAA Division 1 lacrosse state championship June 6, the fraction of the minute was how long Ben Waechter took to decide the outcome. The sophomore quickly scored the sudden-death game winner in overtime, setting off pandemonium among Brother Rice players and fans.
“I saw an opportunity; I had a little bit of space and I got the ball,” the sophomore defenseman said. “Danny Holt, the best faceoff guy in the country, he rolled back and saw me open and I saw some space. I was looking at my attack man, Theo Ley; he was shaking his head no, and I knew I had the green light and I let it rip.”
“I saw it as a scrum; I saw Danny get the ball, and I thought we wanted to set up an offensive play, and the end of the day we did set up an offensive play — Ben got the ball, and came down and scored,” head coach Ajay Chawla said. “There’s a lot of guys on our team that I would want with the ball, and he’s right up there with all of them.”
Although Waechter said it was obviously the biggest goal he’s ever scored, it wasn’t the only time he had the game-winner this season for the Warriors (19-5).
“Against Dublin (OH) Jerome we got into that same situation. It was very similar — I got the pass from Danny Holt and I let it rip,” he said. “The same thing kind of happened today. We were prepared for it; we were ready for it.”
This was the third time in three meetings this spring that the Brother Rice-Catholic Central game was decided by one goal. The Shamrocks (23-1) took the regular-season match-up, 10-9, and won the Catholic League Bishop Division championship, 12-11, in another overtime battle. But this time it was the Warriors’ turn.
“We knew they were a good team; we knew they had a lot of good offensive players on their team. They had a lot of guys that could score, but we were ready for it,” Waechter said. “Third time’s a charm; we all knew that it’s hard to beat a team three times. We had that mindset and got it done.”
Shamrocks head coach David Wilson wasn’t surprised to see another closely contested game.
“You’ve got two great programs and people are just going toe to toe,” he said. “We wouldn’t want it any other way, I think. We want to play them and they want to play us, and that’s how it goes.”
Catholic Central jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, getting goals from Lachlan Moffatt, Luke Zajdel and Luke Kramer. But the Warriors stormed back and took their first lead, 6-5, on Hansen Polonkey’s whip 2 seconds before halftime. The teams traded goals throughout the second half, as Brother Rice never led by more than a single tally.
Zajdel’s third goal of the game, with 8:41 to play, knotted the score at 8, but neither team could get the difference-maker down the final stretch, as goalies Payton Fortino (Brother Rice) and Matthew Cranston (CC) turned away shots.
“It’s two intense rivals and it’s going to come down to the wire,” Wilson said. “Guys like Waechter and faceoff guy Danny Holt were excellent, they helped turn the tide and their kids played really hard and they deserve it. I just kind of feel bad for our kids.”
The 9-8 win produced Brother Rice’s 16th state title in 18 tries, far and away the most in state history. But Catholic Central won last year — beating Hartland, 14-8 — as the Warriors were absent from the state final for the first time since the MHSAA started sponsoring the sport in 2005. They seemed to take that personally.
“Throughout the winter all we heard that Brother Rice is on a downfall, Brother Rice this, Brother Rice that, and we took that to heart,” Waechter said.
“They came back with a goal from last year. They started working early. When last season ended, we had some unfinished business. Nobody gave this team a chance,” Chawla said. “It’s funny; somebody asked me this morning what I could give a TED Talk on. How about the heart of a team? And we had it today.”
Chawla was most proud of the way his team fought back all season.
“Let me just clarify something: the expectation is still there at Brother Rice. These guys felt it, whether it was said out loud or not,” he said. “They played toward that expectation, as heavy as any other team has ever shouldered it. They had to shoulder it a bit more because we didn’t even get here last year.
“We’re back where we want to be, which is on top.”
