Brother Rice Lacrosse Wins Semifinals Match 17-4 Over Athens

NOVI – The Brother Rice lacrosse team’s domination continued in the Division 1 semifinals with a 17-4 win over Troy Athens Wednesday night.

The team advanced to the state finals Saturday at where it will face Forest Hills Eastern-Northern at 2 p.m. The Warriors seek their ninth straight state title.

The last time a Brother Rice lacrosse team lost in Michigan was all the way back in 2002 when the Warriors fell to Birmingham United in the state title game.

Throughout the tournament this year Brother Rice has shown why it’s again the heavy favorite. The team has averaged a 16-goal margin of victory and hasn’t allowed more than five goals in any game.

The Warriors (20-4) held Athens to four goals in the semifinals.  The Red Hawks only scored once in the second half.

“We play a lot of different styles of defense depending on the team we play,” Brother Rice coach Rob Ambrose said. “We knew that they have a couple really good players and we thought we could take them out of the game.”

Brother Rice limited Joe Kemp, one of Athens' main offensive threats, to two goals. He was a non-factor after the first quarter.

“He’s a good player,” Ambrose said. “We knew coming in he was a primary guy for them and we had to take him out of the game defensively.”

The Warriors used a flurry of offense late in the second half to push their lead to double digits. They scored six times in the final 4:30 of the second quarter, including four from Henry Nelson.

Nelson ended up with seven in the half and was Brother Rice’s leading scorer in the game. His aggressive play before halftime seemed to take Athens out of the game.

“The game is certainly a game of momentum,” Ambrose said.

One Sportscenter-like highlight came on Nelson’s last goal of the half. The junior was up at the net, with his back to goal and a defender blocking his path. Instead of retreating, he flipped the ball over his right shoulder without looking for a goal. The score put Brother Rice ahead 15-3.

“Henry is one of the hardest working kids on our team, he’s 100 percent all the time,” Ambrose said. “It’s a team effort, guys are going and breaking the seal. Henry is moving to the open spot. He’s doing a great job of finishing, but we’re doing a good job on the outside creating.”

Most of the second half was played with a running clock. A 12 goal lead means the clock keeps ticking even during stoppages of play. Athens' lone goal in the second half cut the lead to 11, but the Warriors scored four minutes later to get it going again.

Now Brother Rice turns its attention to Forest Hills, which beat Novi 13-6 Wednesday night at Holt.

“Forest Hills Eastern has earned their way into the championship, they got a great tradition, they got a lot of great players,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose knows his players will be ready come Saturday.

“Our guys are used to playing big games,” he said, smiling.