A lot of history was made on the Catholic League lacrosse fields last Saturday.

The day came to a boisterous conclusion in Novi, where Detroit Catholic Central finally shook off the curse, the jinx, the whammy – whatever it was – that archrival Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice had wielded over the Shamrocks for two decades.

This moment had been percolating in the minds and hearts of the Shamrocks community ever since April 10, when CC finally beat Rice to put an end to 13 agonizing years of 28 losses in a row.

And now, they had disposed of another piece of Rice’s domination: 20 consecutive years as CHSL champions. The score was tied seven times, and the lead see-sawed another seven times before CC took undisputed control with three stunning goals midway through the nerve-wracking fourth quarter for an 11-8 victory.

A nearly speechless coach Dave Wilson summed it up succinctly: “Intensity! Resilience!”

Senior Ethan Pattinson led CC’s offense with five goals, all coming at critical junctures. The first put CC ahead early, 3-2; the next two tied the score at 5-5 and 6-6; and the biggest ones of all: the fourth to convert an 8-8 tie into a 9-8 lead, the fifth goal to ice the contest.

Earlier in the day, another celebration, though much more subdued, was held at Madison Heights Bishop Foley, site of the girls lacrosse finals.

Livonia Ladywood raced to a 12-2 first half lead against Warren Regina en route to a 17-9 win for the CHSL girls B Division championship.

It was Ladywood’s eighth title. It was historic, too, because it would be the last championship in any sport the Blazers will win. The Felician Sisters of North America had announced in December the school, opened in 1950, would shut down at the end of the current school year due to declining enrollment.

Senior co-captain Katie Sullivan said, “We are ending with a win, but it’s pretty sad. The coach (her brother, Michael Sullivan) made it our goal to win.”

She said the school’s projected closing helped the students “bond, become more unified.”

Junior goalie Adrianna Rugiero echoed Katie’s sentiments. “We all cried about it, but we came to terms with it. We gave it our all and wanted to go out with a bang.”

She said she will be transferring to Bloomfield Hills Sacred Heart Academy for her senior year.

In the girls A Division contest, Bloomfield Hills Marian and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood were tied 10-10 with 9 minutes to play when Cranbrook erupted with four unanswered goals for a 14-10 victory.

Senior Isabelle Scane (Northwestern-bound) led the Cranes with eight goals to expand her state-best career goals total to 430, and growing, with the state tournament action ahead. Cranbrook is the defending Division 2 state titlist.

Caroline Forester, a 2015 Marian grad who is attending the University of Tampa, is second best to Scane with 411 goals during her high school career, according to Dave Feldman, Marian’s athletic director.

Dearborn Divine Child made history by winning its first CHSL lacrosse title, holding off Royal Oak Shrine, 8-7, to claim the boys B Division. Seniors Bruce Baja and Noah DeGuzman each scored twice for Divine Child. Junior Luke Cerone tallied three goals for Shrine.

Getting back to the CC-Rice rivalry: The Warriors have one more accomplishment, and it is huge: they have won every Division 1 state crown, 13 in all, since 2005 when the MHSAA sanctioned lacrosse. CC was on the losing side in seven of those finals.

Will CC (13-2) and Rice (8-7) meet again in this year’s championship game June 9? Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (13-0) poses a major obstacle. They beat Rice 12-5 in April, and was scheduled to play CC this past Thursday (May 17).

If it should happen, Rice coach Ajay Chawla said his young team “is getting better, is growing up on the fly. CC is going to find out how hard it is to beat a team three times in a year.”

Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].