Brother Rice wins lacrosse state title in overtime

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Brother Rice is back on top of Division I boys lacrosse after earning the program’s 17th state title in a 9-8 overtime victory over Detroit Country Day at U of M Lacrosse Stadium in Ann Arbor.

There have now been 20 Michigan High School Athletic Association Division I boys lacrosse state championship games, and Brother Rice has won all but three (2018, 2022, 2024) and participated in all but one (2024).

This season, after missing the state title game for the first time in program history last year, the team bounced back and was named champion yet again.

“I think this is a huge year for us,” Brother Rice boys head coach Ajay Chawla said. “We’ve obviously lost state championships in the past, but we’ve never not come back the following year and won.”

The return to the top wasn’t an easy one, however. Brother Rice won its semifinal match against Rockford by a score of 9-8 and proceeded to win the state championship by the same score, but in overtime.

“Rockford has been getting better every year and gave us a tough fight in the semifinals,” Chawla explained. Detroit Catholic Central “in the finals was a familiar foe. We played them twice in the regular season. Lost both times by a goal … so coming into that game we felt that we could compete with them.”

Detroit Catholic Central was a perfect 23-0 going into the state title game and was the favorite to win states for most of the season.

“Obviously, anytime you play Catholic Central it’s a big day. … We were coming in as the underdog,” Chawla said. “It was great, for once, to think that the other team had the pressure.”

Even more impressive, Brother Rice won despite allowing three unanswered goals to start the game.

“We let up the first three goals, and I think it was that calmness (that helped the team recover),” Chawla said. “We came back and eventually tied it up. … It kind of went back and forth all game. I thought that game was one of the more exciting games that I’ve ever coached.”

In sudden death overtime, sophomore Ben Waechter scored the game winner to send Brother Rice home with another title.

“In the end, you had two really good teams, and it came down to one faceoff,” Brother Rice assistant coach Mark Hamilton said. “We broke a guy free, and Ben Waechter came down and scored the goal.”

The biggest point that both coaches praised the team for after the final game was the poise and confidence in the moment. This was one of the closest games of the season, and it was on the biggest stage, yet Brother Rice treated it as any other game until the game-winner was scored.

Brother Rice was able to keep composure thanks to a battle-tested philosophy from the program. No team has a harder schedule year in and year out than Brother Rice lacrosse, and that’s intentional.

“I go, ‘Look, I see who won the state championship in every state that we can play,’” Hamilton explained. “And we try to make it work. This past season, I think we did as good a job scheduling out-of-state games as we possibly could. We played every single state champion in the surrounding areas that we could.”

The program faced off against state champions in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and for the first time ever, Kentucky. Rice also played Michigan’s Division II state champion, East Grand Rapids, and finished the year 19-5.

“All of those one-goal games that we had throughout the season really prepared us for the final minutes of the state championship,” Hamilton said. “There was no fear, and there was no panic. We knew the job we had to do. … They were ready for it.”

The 2025 state title is a reminder. There was a lot of talk about Brother Rice not being the same team that the program once was, or that the rest of the field has caught up to them. The team got back to the top and reminded everyone who the favorites are.

“Last year when we lost in the semifinals everyone kind of, around the state, started talking about … Brother Rice and the fall from grace,” Chawla said. “Proving, not only to other teams but to everywhere around the state that that wasn’t the case … this was a great proof point to show that.”

This is Chawla’s eighth state title since taking over as head coach in 2014. Next season, the team will look to win titles in back-to-back years for the first time since 2016-2017.