Chaminade went into the second half of Wednesday’s New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association championship game up three over archrival St. Anthony’s. Yet it didn’t seem like anyone wearing the white and black jerseys was remotely fazed.
The Friars had found themselves in this position before. This exact situation in this exact game in this exact location, to be precise. Last year, they stared down a three-goal halftime deficit and quickly erased it en route to a four-goal win at Hofstra. So while it’s never ideal to be down, St. Anthony’s knew exactly what it had to do to get back on track.
And once things started shifting back to the Friars, it was déjà vu all over again. Senior goalie Dylan Rappaport (Long Island Express / Loyola) made a handful of timely saves. The Maryland-bound senior duo of Danny Rooney and Dylan Harrigan (Long Island Express) each scored twice in the second half and junior Boston University commit Ryan Lasko knocked down the Flyers’ last-gasp attempt to cement a 13-12 St. Anthony’s win. It marked the Friars’ seventh straight league championship and another classic installment in one of the country’s top rivalries.
Atkinson Earns MVP Honors
The Friars always have some of the country’s most-heralded recruits and biggest names, but for the second straight year, it was an under-the-radar senior that boosted St. Anthony’s on the way to earning game MVP honors. Billy Atkinson, who had five goals and seven assists coming into the game, erupted for a first-half hat trick. The Long Island Express product and Bryant signee also had a huge caused turnover to lead to a fourth-quarter goal, and he made a handful of other impressive “little” plays that don’t turn out to be so little. Atkinson saved the best for last with his first career hat trick, and it’s not one that he’ll forget any time soon.
“It’s amazing,” Atkinson said. “Last game with all of my boys, it’s sad, but we go out with a bang. I just saw my matchup. No slides were in front of me and I was just shooting all day. We’re going to remember this for a long time. In ten years, coming back, we’re going to be supporting and thinking back to when we were here and how great it was to feel this. It’s amazing. There’s no other feeling like it.”
St. Anthony’s Makes the Adjustments Once Again
For a while, it didn’t look like it was going to be an amazing feeling for the Friars. Five-star James Gillis (Long Island Express / Duke) went off for four goals and two assists in the first half to give Chaminade a 9-6 lead. Four-star junior Brendan Sim (Long Island Express / Cornell) wasn’t far behind with a first-half hat trick as part of a career-best five-goal day. But if there was a bit of a bad omen for the Flyers, it was that four-star Charlie Cacciabaudo (Long Island Express / North Carolina) ended a 4-0 Chaminade run 13 seconds after a Gillis stepdown. The goal with 32 seconds left in the half gave the Friars some life heading into the break. From there, St. Anthony’s started the third quarter with a 5-0 run that included two goals from Rooney and one each from five-star Jake Johnston (Long Island Express / Johns Hopkins), Anthony Mancaruso (Team 91 Long Island / North Carolina) and Cacciabaudo.
The game’s trajectory was also eerily similar to the teams’ regular-season meeting. Chaminade led by one at the half before the Friars immediately exploded in the second half for a big run. St. Anthony’s seemingly always does an excellent job of making adjustments, and once again, Keith Wieczorek and his staff pressed the right buttons at the half.
“When we came out at half and I scored to make it 9-7, I just felt like we got hot,” Rooney said. “We started winning faceoffs, too. That’s when it started right away. You can hear it (from the other sideline) because the sideline was saying stuff when they’re up. As soon as we started scoring a little bit, they get quiet. We did it in the regular season, too, so they definitely realized.”
For the seventh straight time, the Friars realized their goals against their biggest rival.
St. Anthony’s vs. Chaminade Standouts
James Gillis ’26, attack, Chaminade (N.Y.) / Long Island Express – Duke
Gillis was the driving force behind Chaminade’s 9-6 halftime lead. The five-star senior completely took over the half, burying four goals and setting up two Brendan Sim goals in the first two quarters. He had a completely ludicrous finish where he spun outside of a defender, ducked inside of a short-stick defensive midfielder and snapped a shot to the corner while taking a hit from a sliding defenseman. Gillis also had a nasty inside roll at GLE and an absolute screamer of a stepdown off of a John Balsamo throwback to fatten Chaminade’s first-half lead. Gillis missed a ton of time this season with an injury, but in his Flyer finale, showed a lot of what made him such a heralded recruit.
Dylan Rappaport ’26, goalie, St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) / Long Island Express – Loyola
Chaminade will be seeing Rappaport’s championship performance in its nightmares for the second straight year. Last year, he came in at halftime and gave the Friars a big spark. This year, he split time with fellow senior Nick Zenk (Air Force) throughout the year but got the nod for the full game Wednesday. The future Greyhound made 11 stops, an impressive number in its own right, but it was when he made those stops that really shined. He denied a trio of early John Balsamo offerings that would have potentially put the game out of reach for Chaminade.
Rappaport denied a high Finn Pizzo jumper with the Friars after Danny Rooney had just capped the a 5-0 St. Anthony’s run to go up 11-9. And in perhaps his best and timeliest save, Rappaport blocked a Hayden Sipress backhander with St. Anthony’s up 12-10. It felt like Rappaport made his biggest saves whenever Chaminade had an opportunity to put together a run to change the game’s complexion.
“It’s absolutely fantastic, especially being able to play with all of my friends in this stadium,” Rappaport said. “We’ll remember this for the rest of our lives and we’ll keep talking about this. When we tied it up and they called timeout, we played a great game after that. Once our offense stepped up big time, it was so much easier for our defense to play well. It’s definitely special.”
Danny Rooney ’26, attack, St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) – Maryland
The future Terp shined in front of a pair of his future college coaches on site and was the orchestrator of the second-half Friar outburst. He usually runs the show from X, but Rooney got on the board in the second half with an explosive high wing dodge down the alley that he finished with a high overhand finish. Later, defenseman Matt Pearl (Providence) picked off a Rooney skip pass, but Rooney got the last laugh. Atkinson immediately caused a turnover behind the cage, Gavin Snyder (Long Island Express / Army) snatched up the ground ball and found Rooney open on a cut for a low finish. Rooney then capped off his point production by tossing a nifty feed to Dylan Harrigan (Long Island Express / Maryland) from X off of a restart. Rooney’s very poised with the ball in his stick and his high lacrosse IQ allows him to be in command of an explosive offense.
Brendan Sim ’27, midfield, Chaminade (N.Y.) / Long Island Express – Cornell
What a performance from the junior lefty. He impressively had five games where he scored four times this year, but the four-star set a career-best with five goals against the Friars. He scored the Flyers’ first two goals of the game, the first on a sweep with a high-to-low finish and the second off of a give-and-go with Gillis. Sim caught the pass outside of his shoulders, brought it back across his body and snapped it home. Sim finished off of a pair of John Balsamo setups, including a stepdown from the wing to cut the deficit to 13-11. He emerged as a major scoring threat with 39 goals for the Flyers and figures to be a focal point of next year’s offense for a Chaminade team that will need a major offensive overhaul after getting hit hard by graduation.
St. Anthony’s vs. Chaminade Extra Notes
- James Gillis owned his five-star vs. five-star matchup with Long Island Express teammate Ethan Bramoff (Maryland) in the first half. However, Bramoff was excellent in the second half, holding Gillis off the scoresheet as St. Anthony’s built its run. Bramoff, who also scored once in transition in the first quarter, made the necessary adjustments to counter Gillis and had a smooth takeaway at GLE. Bramoff also had a phenomenal interception of a John Balsamo skip pass that looked ticketed for another assist for Balsamo, who finished with four helpers. In a battle of two elite seniors, it was great to see both have their moments.
- St. Anthony’s seniors Paul LoNigro (Wingate) and Robbie Johnson (North Carolina) split reps for the Friars at the faceoff stripe. The two dominated in the third quarter, winning six of seven faceoffs, to spark the St. Anthony’s run. Both battled injuries throughout the season but found a way to battle through in their Friar finale.
- It was a game naturally dominated by seniors and juniors committed to many of the best schools in the country. Five-star sophomore Ben Hristoforatos did find a way to leave his mark with an absolute rocket to the penthouse for Chaminade’s last goal of the season. Expect the Team 91 Long Island standout to have a big summer. He can often make plays that look effortless and he should be one of the best midfielders on Long Island next year as a junior.
St. Anthony’s 13, Chaminade 12
St. Anthony’s
Billy Atkinson ’26 3 goals
Dylan Harrigan ’26 3 goals
Danny Rooney ’26 2 goals, 1 assist
Charlie Cacciabaudo ’26 2 goals
Jake Johnston ’26 1 goal, 1 assist
Anthony Mancaruso ’26 1 goal
Ethan Bramoff ’26 1 goal
Gavin Snyder ’27 2 assists
Dylan Rappaport ’26 11 saves
Chaminade
Brendan Sim ’27 5 goals
James Gillis ’26 4 goals, 2 assists
Ben Hristoforatos ’28 1 goal
Sam Fox ’27 1 goal
Will Ferraro-Reich ’26 1 goal
John Balsamo ’26 4 assists
Kieran Walsh ’26 9 saves