TROY — Birmingham Brother Rice has not faced much adversity this season. That Changed Saturday.

The Warriors (20-3) claimed their fifth consecutive Michigan High School Athletic Association lacrosse state championship with a 12-11 win over University of Detroit Jesuit in the Division 1 championship match at Troy Athens.

It was far from easy.

Brother Rice trailed on four separate occasions during the game. Its largest deficit was 8-5 at the 3:17 mark of the second quarter. The Warriors also trailed 11-10 with 5:33 left in the game.

Jesuit played well. But the Warriors were better. As they have been all season.

“It’s all about composure,” Brother Rice head coach Rob Ambrose said. “I kept telling them to keep their cool. We knew if we got control of ourselves that we would take care of business. We felt confident about it (winning).”

Lukas Jackson tied the game at 11-11 for Brother Rice with 4:40 left to play. Then, All-American Dan Henneghan found the top shelf for the game-winning goal with just over three minutes left.

The Cubs (14-9) had two good shot attempts in the final 1:30, but both were deflected away by goalie T.J. Yost. Jesuit got one last possession with 40 seconds left, but a crucial turnover allowed the Warriors to run out the clock.

The win was the third time Brother Rice has defeated Jesuit this season.

“It’s tough to beat them three times like this,” Henneghan said. “They changed their strategy a lot because they’ve seen what we’re good at. The third time around was a lot different than the first time we played them. Fortunately, we were able to pull it out.”

Henneghan will be playing at Penn State next season. Joining him will be fellow teammate and All-American Nick Dolik. Dolik scored five goals and had one assist in the game Saturday.

“The big players have to play big in the big games and they (Henneghan and Dolik) did,” Ambrose said. “I’m really proud of both those guys. They’re on their way to being two-time All-Americans and they’ll do great when they head off to Penn State together.”

Dolik, who was named Midwest Player of the Year by the Midwest Lacrosse Coaches Association, said this was his most fulfilling season with Brother Rice.

“This one definitely means a lot more than any other because it’s my senior year,” Dolik said. “This is a big milestone for us and we’ve established a great tradition here. I’m really proud to have been a part of that.”

Despite the impressive prestige of the Brother Rice program, Jesuit wasn’t intimidated.

The Cubs scored the game’s first goal to take a 1-0 lead at the 10 minute mark of the first quarter. Brother Rice responded with three unanswered goals and the two teams ended the first quarter tied at 4-4.

A fight broke out between the first and second quarters, and Brother Rice started the second quarter a man-down after one of its players was ejected from the game.

Jesuit took advantage and scored two quick goals to take a 6-4 lead. The Cubs extended to an 8-5 lead with just over three minutes to play in the half. Dolik scored a goal and assisted on another to narrow the gap to 8-7 with 1:03 left in the second quarter.

At halftime, Jesuit led 9-7. Dolik scored three of his five goals in the first half.

“Jesuit played with a lot of heart and passion,” Ambrose said. “They were holding the ball for long periods of time and controlling possession, so we had to make a couple of adjustments for the second half.”

Brother Rice limited the Cubs to two goals in the second half and did a much better job of controlling possession of the ball.

The Warriors still trailed 10-9 at the start of the fourth quarter before making their final push.

Dolik scored his fifth goal to tie the game at 10-10 with 8:15 left in the game. Jesuit took one more lead, 11-10, before Jackson and Henneghan scored their respective goals to get the win.

Albeit a great disappointment, it was equally as great an effort from the Cubs.

“We were an average lacrosse team that turned into a very good lacrosse team this season,” Jesuit head coach Sean Leary said. “There’s 30 things I could say that we could have done different, but the state championship game is about who makes the plays at the end. We went on our runs, they went on their runs, and it just happened that they came out on top at the end.”

Brother Rice remains the only team to ever win an MHSAA Division 1 state championship in lacrosse. Also, no team from Michigan has been able to defeat Brother Rice in a varsity lacrosse game.