It’s Long Island’s one-of-a-kind holy war.
Every year, students, parents and devout alumni mark their calendars and pack stands for the fateful spring days that the Friars of St. Anthony’s do battle with the Chaminade Flyers on the lacrosse field.
“This is our Army-Navy game,” Chaminade head coach Jack Moran, who has won more than 600 games with the team since starting in 1979, told The Post.
The prestigious Catholic schools, regarded as among the nation’s best that regularly produce top collegiate talent, have a storied history of crusading back and forth for Catholic league title wins since the 1980s.
As Moran put it, “It’s an up-and-down thing where we’ll win four in a row, they’ll win two in a row.”
Nevertheless, for the past five seasons, it’s been all Friars.
Since 2019, St. Anthony’s has claimed each winner-take-all championship match, where accompanying pride feels more rewarding than a trophy.
“I remember my first championship, and I was shaking. I was so nervous,” said St. Anthony’s midfielder Ethan Bramoff, a junior who committed to play at the University of Virginia.
“When it’s Chaminade, you always want to play your best.”
On the other side of the field, Johns Hopkins-bound Chaminade senior attacker Connor Kuttin said, “All we think about is beating them.”
Like years in the past, the Friars aren’t taking the initial regular season April 24 match against their red-and-yellow archrival for granted in search of a six-peat.
“They were young last year … I think they’re starting to fill their roles. I think it’ll be a really good game this year,” said St. Anthony’s senior midfielder Gary Merrill, who will play football and lacrosse for the University of North Carolina.
Lasts a lifetime
The epic rivalry put lacrosse great Pat Kavanagh, now playing pro with the Denver Outlaws of the Premier Lacrosse League, on the trajectory to success well before he attended Chaminade.
Kavanagh, who won back-to-back national championships with Notre Dame in 2023 and 2024, will never forget seeing his brother Matt, who also joined the Fighting Irish, play with the Flyers against St. Anthony’s as a little boy.
“I just remember watching warmups and dreaming about playing in that game,” the attacker said.
When the chance came, Kavanagh won it all with Chaminade as a senior in 2018 and put the showdown in the “top five most meaningful games” he ever played in.
“If you look back to the past decade or two … the professional lacrosse talent that’s come out of the two schools is unbelievable,” Kavanagh said. “I think it’s the best rivalry in high school lacrosse all across the country.”
Former St. Anthony’s goalie Jack Concannon, who had a remarkable collegiate career at Hofstra University and then the PLL’s New York Atlas, echoed that sentiment.
“It was constantly talked about years and years later,” said Concannon, whose team fell to Chaminade in the 2014 championship during his senior year.
“Looking back on my career, that’s one piece of hardware I’d like to have.”
Love thy enemy
While each meeting delivers intensity and often a thrilling finish, there’s an admirable absence of malice between the two schools, both of which embrace a mission to teach morality to their students.
“I can count on one hand in 20 years where there’s ever been any hard feelings temporarily after the game,” said St. Anthony’s head coach Keith Wieczorek, who has been at the helm since 2000.
“I hold Jack Moran in the highest regard. He’s become a dear friend over the years,” added Wieczorek, who coached Moran’s oldest son years ago as an assistant on JV, when he chose St. Anthony’s over Chaminade.
According to the high schoolers, just about every player has at least one friend on the other team.
“If you lose, you’re definitely going to hear it for a little,” said Chamiande senior Lou D’Agostino, a defenseman for Syracuse next year. “But at the end of the day, we’re all buddies.”
After the game, that is.
“We respect them. But when you see the red jersey on the other side, you want to beat them as much as you can,” added St. Anthony’s junior midfielder Brody Richert, bound for Towson.
As things enter a new chapter, Chaminade’s seniors are pulling out all the stops — they voluntarily do 6 a.m. weight lifting before starting their rigorous academic day — to finish the job in their last dance.
“I can tell you when we look at our matchups on the field, we know we’ve worked and know it’s our time,” said senior midfielder Quinn Ball, who will play at Penn.
Notre Dame-bound midfielder Gavin Lynch added that the 2025 varsity bunch is “one of the most talented teams I have ever played on.”
But it won’t come easily, according to St. Anthony’s defenseman Parker McDonald, who will play with Merrill at UNC next year.
“I think the five years are looking at the past,” he said. “You’re playing for the people that will be in next year, in the following year, and you want to keep adding to the legacy.”
