Brother Rice scores overtime win over Detroit Catholic Central to claim Division 1 lacrosse title

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ANN ARBOR — In a matchup of the past two Division 1 state champions in boys lacrosse, and a rematch of the 2023 final, it came down to overtime on Friday when Birmingham Brother Rice and Detroit Catholic Central met again for the state title.

It took 12 seconds of the overtime for Brother Rice sophomore Ben Waechter to come up with the championship-winning goal, beating the Shamrocks 9-8.

“I was cold all game,” Waechter said. “I think I had four shots and the goalie had me on each one. I saw my opportunity, I saw my attacking midfielder who was kind of open, but he was shaking his head no. That’s when I knew I had the green light and I let it rip.”

Brother Rice, long the dominant program in Division 1 lacrosse, saw Detroit Catholic Central come away with the title last year, then beat them twice this season, once in the regular season and again in the Catholic League finals.

But Friday the Warriors came up with a response, and claim a 17th state championship in their 19th title-game appearance.

“Went down early, fought back, and they never stopped fighting,” Brother Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. “That’s been the heart of this team all year. They came back with a goal from last year, started working out early when last season ended. Nobody gave this team a chance. At the beginning of the year I think we were ranked 13th in the Midwest, behind four Michigan teams, and I think CC was the only one we didn’t come back and do something to.”

Detroit Catholic Central coach Dave Wilson felt Chawla was trying to call a timeout in the leadup to the winning goal.

“He was trying to call a timeout because our guys stopped playing because he called timeout,” Wilson said.

Chawla said he was trying to call a timeout, but it was not the first time he’d tried to call a timeout and it wasn’t granted.

“I saw it as a scrum,” Chawla said. “I saw Danny [Holt] get the ball, and I thought we wanted to set up an offensive play, and at the end of the day we did, but Ben went down and scored.”

Wilson also called attention to the penalties, with seven going against his team and one called on the Warriors.

“I know I’m going to sound like a sore loser, we’ve gotten the associations sportsmanship award for two years. We average two penalties a game for 40 games, and today we’re in the penalty box,” Wilson said. “I don’t buy it.”

Detroit Catholic Central raced out to an early lead only to have that lead slip away in the second quarter.

What followed was a stretch of lacrosse which saw six ties, with neither team able to take control as they traded goal for goal through the second, third and fourth quarters.

“We knew what we had to do,” Waechter said. “Came out a little slow, but we knew what we had to do. We knew we could do this and it was our game from the start.”

The Warriors, who had been outshot 8-5 in the first period, outshot Catholic Central 16-8 in the second. The Shamrocks held a 36-35 edge in shots for the game.

“They got the ball a little bit more,” Wilson said. “They’re going to score, they’re trying to do the same thing to us and just limit touches.”

The Shamrocks struck first as Lachlan Moffatt wrapped around the Brother Rice goal with 10:08 left in the first and scored. A few minutes later Ryan Dye took the ball behind the net and fed Luke Zajdel in front for a goal to make it 2-0. Dye then went behind the net and fed Luke Kramer for a goal with 30.9 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 3-0.

Brother Rice broke through the Shamrocks defense early in the second quarter when, having a man advantage following a slashing penalty, Joe Lee fed Frank Baiardi for a goal to cut the deficit to two.

Baiardi struck again with 7:55 left in the second to get the Warriors within one.

Brother Rice tied it with 7:20 left in the second after a nice spin move in front of the net by Hansen Polonkey.

But the tie did not last long. With 5:37 left the Shamrocks took the lead back when Moffatt scored to make it 4-3.

Lee then tied it at 4-4 with 3:04 left when he was able to make a move across the crease and score.

Catholic Central responded with 2:21 left when playing with a man down, getting a three-on-two break with Dye denied on his initial shot but Ben Papke there to grab the rebound and score.

But that lead didn’t last long either. Waechter had a breakaway chance which was stopped, but in the process the Shamrocks took a pair of penalties, and the Warriors made them pay on the advantage, Jayden Fortino scoring to make it 5-5.

Brother Rice took its first lead of the game with two seconds left in the second when Polonkey scored off an inbounds to make it 6-5.

After both teams had quality chances early in the third quarter, and neither could cash in, Zajdel finally struck again with 3:51 left to tie it at 6-6.

But less than a minute after that Baiardi struck again, and once again the Warriors were in front. With 1:45 left the Shamrocks responded, stringing together several passes before finding Papke, who fired it home.

The back and forth continued in the fourth quarter, with Theo Ley briefly putting the Warriors ahead before Zajdel tied it again at 8-8 with 8:41 left, scoring after an initial shot by Moffatt was turned away.

Catholic Central came into the game 23-0 and having allowed just 14 goals in its previous five postseason games.

Only three teams this year managed double-digit goals against the Shamrocks; Olentangy Liberty from Ohio, Lake Forrest from Illinois, and, in an overtime match May 10, Brother Rice.

“We have a lot of offensive players that can do what they do,” Waechter said. “They work very well together. We have a strong team that can move the ball and get the ball in the back of the net.”

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