BOYS LACROSSE: LAKERS VS. CRUSADERS -- MAC KENNEDY'S HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Mac Kennedy (above) calls the Boys' Latin-St. Paul's rivalry one of the best in the country.

ST. PAUL'S AT BOYS’ LATIN

In what is arguably one of the best rivalries in the country, these two Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference foes meet in a regular-season finale whose loser likely will miss next week's playoffs
The top six of the league's 11 teams qualify, and both the visiting Crusaders (3-6 league, 9-10 overall) and the Lakers (4-5, 13-6) -- two of the more successful programs in the confrence -- are on the bubble.

The two schools have had fathers go to one school, and sons go to the other school through the years.
  

The overall record stands in favor of the in favor of the Lakers, 44-42-1. St. Paul's has won 24 championships to Boys' Latin's nine; the Crusaders have 12 C. Markland Kelly Award winners -- one more than the Lakers.

The Lakers' first star was Cavendish Darrell in 1930, although his three sons made their marks at St. Paul's in Butch, Jack, and Skip, with the latter, earning the C. Markland Kelly Award in 1960.

The Lakers won the first-ever meeting of the two schools, 8-0, while the two programs battled to a draw in 1934. The Lakers were back on top, yet again, 4-2, in 1935.
 
Boys' Latin graduate, Howdy Myers, who never played lacrosse, took over the St. Paul's program in 1936 and, from 1936-through-1962, the Lakers never beat the Crusaders.

In 1945, the Clausen brothers played against each other -- Don for the Lakers, and Jack for the Crusaders.

Joe Sollers went to middle school at St. Paul's, then came to Boys' Latin, where he earned All-Maryland honors as a goalie for four years. Sollers' son, Wick, however, was an All-Metro attackman at St. Paul’s .

Two of Boys' Latin's stars of the mid-to-late 1950s were Tom and Dick Mitchell, who were related to George Mitchell. 

George Mitchell attended St. Paul's, and then, later, coached the Crusaders to nine titles.

Tom Peace, a 1965 graduate of Boys' Latin, played opposite his brother, Jim, who attended St. Paul's.

In 1969, St. Paul's Dave Dempsey scored nine goals and had two assists to defeat Boys' Latin. In 1974, Dave's brothre, Brent, returned the favor by helping the Lakers defeat St. Paul's.

Wayne Eisenhut left the Lakers in the middle of his junior year to go to St. Paul's, where he became a high school All-American in 1971.

In 1977, Boys' Latin's Craig Cook played against his brother, Jeff, of St. Paul's.

From 1975-1979, Ridge Warfield, a 1962 graduate of St. Paul's, coached Boys' Latin's varsity.
 
Ridge lost title games in '77, '78 and '79 to the Crusaders, the latter,  when Sean Brooks, son of the Lakers' Harvey Brooks, scored the game-tying, and then, the game-winning goals in a 9-8 victory.

The last time the two programs met for a crown was in 1992, when the Crusaders won in the rain, 9-8, at UMBC.