Brother Rice Comes Back, Adds to Streak
June 8, 2013
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
EAST GRAND RAPIDS – Few players get the opportunity to end a season with an MHSAA championship.
After Saturday’s 14-10 win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern, Birmingham Brother Rice senior Sergio Perkovic has done it six times.
Yes, six times.
Brother Rice claimed its ninth MHSAA Finals title in a row with the victory at East Grand Rapids’ Memorial Field, and Perkovic has been a part of the last four.
He also won a pair of titles in football as a junior and this past fall. He played defensive end and tight end.
“There’s no better way of ending a season than winning a state championship,” said Perkovic, who scored three goals against FHN/E. “And since I’ve been at Brother Rice, I’ve been fortunate in more than one sport. To just end my career with a win, there’s no better feeling.”
While the Warriors have dominated the landscape since boys lacrosse became an MHSAA sport, coach Robert Ambrose said each team makes its own mark on the program.
“Every year is different, I think, and it’s not about anything behind us or in the past,” he said. “It’s all about the future, and we don’t take anything for granted. We are very humble in our approach to the game, and on any given day, especially in lacrosse, anything can happen.
“We were fortunate to come out on top, and they played passionate and they played great. We played a very hard-fought game.”
Perkovic said the team doesn’t feel the pressure of continuing the program’s successful tradition each year.
Brother Rice is solely fixated on the present.
“We don’t think about that, and we try to work as hard as we can in the offseason and play a good season,” he said. “If we put our work in, then we’ll have a good chance of doing it again. We just get prepared for each season.”
The Warriors started slowly in Saturday’s Final and fell behind 3-0 in the first period.
They recovered with a superb second period, and tallied four answered goals in the final six minutes of the first half to turn a one-goal deficit into a 9-6 lead at the half.
“It’s always a tough match, especially in the state finals, and it doesn’t matter who we are playing,” Perkovic said. “Forest Hills came out flying, but we brought it back and came together offensively as a senior group.”
FHN/E was hoping to become the first team from Michigan to defeat Brother Rice.
“We had two goals for the whole season,” FHN/E coach Mark Lardieri said. “One was to be the first team in Michigan to beat Brother Rice in 11 years, and one was to win a state championship. We had it lined up perfectly today to do it, but we couldn’t close the door.”
FHN/E kept the game close throughout the second half, but never regained the advantage.
“I’m extremely proud of how far we came to get here,” said FHN/E senior Connor Sullivan, who scored two goals. “We had a lot of injuries and a lot of things going on this season, but we just pulled together in the playoffs and got it done to get here.”
Junior Jason Alessi led Brother Rice with six goals and six assists.
“This was a home game for them, so we knew they were going to come out firing and they got up 3-0,” Alessi said. “But then we began to move around and get shots. I was trying to get open, and my teammates were looking for me.”
Sophomore keeper Grant Lardieri stopped 12 shots for FHN/E, which ended the season with a 15-8 record.
Sean Scadron had nine saves for Brother Rice, which finished 18-5 with all five of its losses coming against out-of-state teams.
PHOTOS: (Top) Brother Rice's James Crowe (14) works to get around Forest Hills Northern/Eastern's Bennett Dipzinski on Saturday. (Middle) Joe Dudley (9) attempts to block FHN/E goalie Grant Lardieri as he looks to pass.
Lockwood's OT Winner Locks Up Hartland's 1st Finals Title in Epic Fashion
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2022
HOWELL – With 12 minutes to play Saturday, Hartland (19-4) could see the finish line with a two-goal lead against Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, the dynasty in Division 1 lacrosse.
Rice rallied to tie the game at 10-10. The game eventually went into overtime, when Hartland became the first non-Detroit Catholic League team to earn the Division 1 title on Bo Lockwood’s goal to pull out a dramatic 11-10 victory at Parker Middle School Stadium.
“I don’t know if I’ll go to sleep tonight,’’ said Lockwood. “I have been dreaming of this my whole life. Glory to God. I’m just so grateful.
“On my goal it was a great pick by Mac Tognetti. They had been playing well on me the whole game. I got an opportunity, and I buried it.’’
Hartland was attempting to avenge last year’s 14-9 Division 1 loss in the championship game. Rice had won 15 of the 16 title games played in Division 1, succumbing only to Catholic League rival Detroit Catholic Central 11-10 in 2018.
Rice (15-7) had won this spring’s regular-season game against Hartland 15-11.
“They worked their butts off,’’ Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. “Hartland got the last goal today. I thought it was a pretty even game, back-and-forth. We had many opportunities at the end to win. We couldn’t convert at the end. We took a bad shot. We’re a young squad. We made a number of mistakes. It’s sad for our seniors. We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with next year.’’
For now, it was Nick Levanti’s team’s time to celebrate.
“The opponent isn’t as much to us game in, game out,’’ the Hartland coach said. “Obviously they are a great team. An historic program in Michigan. We looked at the game as focusing on what we could control. We were making some mental mistakes, but our confidence was high.
“Bo has done stuff like that since I met him as a freshman back in 2019. That’s just every day for Bo Lockwood.’’
Hartland dominated the offensive end for the first seven minutes and finally hit pay dirt when Lockwood scored to give the Eagles the first score. The lead didn’t last long as Rice’s Cashton Papadelis scored seconds later to tie the game, 1-1.
Ryan Krause responded for Hartland to put the Eagles up 2-1. He finished with three goals.
Rice junior Will VanLear tied the score near the end of the first quarter, but Krause countered with his second goal to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead. Teammate John Weber added another, and Joey Mattord opened up a three-goal advantage for Hartland, 5-2 with 10:45 to go in the first half.
Christian McNulty ended the Rice scoring drought with a goal to trim the deficit to 5-3, and Papadelis scored his second to get Rice within a goal with 3:08 left in the half. But Tognetti ended it on a high note for the Eagles, scoring just before the buzzer to give Hartland a 6-4 halftime advantage.
Rice (15-6) got an immediate third-quarter spark from Luke Washe, who scored his first goal of the championship to trim the deficit to 6-5. Rice erased the deficit completely when Sam Klein tied the score at 6-6. With momentum clearly on the reigning champs’ side, Papadelis scored his third goal to give Rice its first lead at 7-6 with 8:32 to play in the period.
Krause delivered his third goal for Hartland to tie the score, 7-7. Dylan Ayotte regained the lead for the Eagles with a goal to make it 8-7 with 5:12 still to play in the third.
Klein scored his second goal to tie the game 8-8. Drew Lockwood regained the advantage for Hartland with a goal with 2:38 left in the third. Brother Bo Lockwood followed suit 30 seconds later to give Hartland a two-goal lead.
McNulty scored with a little more than eight minutes left to cut the Rice deficit to 10-9. With 3:55 left in regulation, Sam Klein scored his third goal to tie the game 10-10.
The next goal was Lockwood’s overtime winner. Lockwood also finished with four assists, and Hartland finished the season 18-4.
“I dreamt of this my who whole life,’’ said Krause. “It’s nice to finally see it pay off.’’
PHOTOS (Top) Hartland’s Drew Lockwood (7) defends as Brother Rice’s Ben Eck (1) considers his options Saturday. (Middle) A Hartland player makes his move. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)