Brotherhoods extend from generation to generation.
Even though the lacrosse season lasts for just a few short months, for Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s storied boys’ lacrosse program, its brotherhood has clearly stretched beyond each spring season since the squad’s inception nearly half a century ago.
For the Panthers’ graduating Class of 2026 seniors, who were all honored on Wednesday evening, it has even spread to other sports on their campus in both the fall and winter.
That chemistry has not only led to Bridgewater-Raritan being ranked ninth in all of New Jersey this spring.
At the current rate, the road to both a county and a state title could ultimately run through Bridgewater-Raritan yet again.
On Senior Night against neighboring rival Immaculata High School (4-6), the full championship potential of Bridgewater-Raritan (8-1) was showcased, as the Panthers won 80 percent of the game’s faceoffs and erupted for the game’s first 15 goals. While the Spartans struck twice in the fourth quarter to avoid a shutout, eight different players scored for Bridgewater-Raritan, which rolled to a 15-2 victory Wednesday, April 22, at Turf 2 Field in Bridgewater.
After the game, the team’s following 17 graduating seniors from the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2026 were honored: players Mikey Bratus, JR Ravi, Louis Giacomazza, Reid Feinstein, Ryan Rahimi, Ryder Bracken, Connor O’Hare, Richie Gardner, Jack Budelmann, Max Lavender, Brandon Ur, Jack Cifuentes, Declan Kurdyla, and Will Higgins along with team statisticians Lexi Perle, Kayla Grady, and Claire Hegedus.
Offensively, Bridgewater-Raritan's production of eight different goal scorers was a fitting tribute to the late Michael Bruce and his No. 8 jersey, which is worn by Feinstein (five saves) in his memory. Kurdyla (four goals, two assists), Cifuentes (three goals, one assist), and Will Higgins (three goals) each collected hat tricks for the Panthers, who got one goal each from Gardner, junior Tyler Hamby, sophomore David Hurlbut, junior Nick Crovelli (10-for-12 faceoffs), and sophomore Will Majowka (five-for-five faceoffs).
Juniors Shane Higgins (two assists) and Rhys Kozubal (one-for-three faceoffs) rounded out the scoring for Bridgewater-Raritan, who will continue their quest towards immortality next at Ridge High School (6-3, 0-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 25, in Basking Ridge.
For boys’ lacrosse players in Bridgewater, that journey typically starts as children, with one primary objective in high school: being the last team standing in New Jersey.
“Bridgewater has amazing youth programs, so growing up in this sort of program, it’s always been super helpful and super great,” explained afterwards by the United States Air Force Academy men’s lacrosse bound midfielder Jack Cifuentes, whose older brother: Luke (Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2023), was an All-American defenseman for Bridgewater-Raritan in his senior year and started his junior year at Stevens Institute of Technology as a preseason All-American at the college level. “[Declan’s dad and Bridgewater Youth Lacrosse] Coach Aaron Kurdyla has always been great for us. Playing with my brother in the yard has also had a profound impact on my performance, because we always tossed the ball, shot, and played one-on-one with each other.”
“He was a great player, and it is great to follow in his footsteps and have an impact on the game at this level.”
In their final season before they head off into the sunset, Cifuentes and his fellow senior classmates are off to a fast start in 2026.
The Panthers’ only blemish on their schedule to date is a 4-3 double overtime loss to 14th-ranked Pingry School (9-1, 2-1) on March 28, when the Big Blue rallied with the game’s final three goals: two in the fourth quarter to force overtime, and the walk-off winner in the second extra period. Factoring in Senior Night, Bridgewater-Raritan has since offset this with seven straight victories, including its biggest one of 8-6 on the road at 13th-ranked Gill St. Bernard’s School (5-5, 2-1), which defeated the Panthers twice last season by a combined score of 21-8.
As Gill St. Bernard’s won on April 8 at Pingry, 7-4, that rock-paper-scissors outcome between arguably Somerset County’s top three teams might have been the biggest victory for Bridgewater-Raritan. Against Gill St. Bernard’s and Pingry, the Panthers have a combined +1-goal differential against these two teams, and the Knights of Gill St. Bernard’s also have a similar combined +1-goal differential in its two games against Pingry and Bridgewater-Raritan.
Pingry’s combined goal differential, however, is -2 in its two games against the Knights and Panthers. With all three of these teams having a 1-1 record against each other, that means the No. 1 seed in the Somerset County Tournament could still be up for debate when the bracket is created, especially if all three of these teams continue to win out.
For what it’s worth, amongst these three teams by combined goal differential against each other, the Panthers have the head-to-head advantage at Gill St. Bernard’s.
While other factors could ultimately determine the final seeding for the Somerset County Tournament, this could make a strong case for Bridgewater-Raritan to control its own destiny toward the event’s No. 1 seed heading into Saturday morning’s critical division game at Ridge.
Overall goal differential amongst common opponents could still be in play for all three teams.
Pingry (+42) and Bridgewater-Raritan (+53) lead this category, though the Panthers have two more games against Somerset County foes (Ridge and Hillsborough) than the Big Blue (Immaculata). Given its front-loaded out-of-state schedule to start the season, Gill St. Bernard’s (+41) still has at least one more game against Somerset County competition (Somerville) prior to the seeding of the county tournament.
The squad that is ultimately awarded the Somerset County Tournament’s No. 1 seed would avoid the teams seeded No. 2 and No. 3 in the tournament bracket until the county finals, even if all higher-seeded teams survive and advance.
Bridgewater-Raritan was the No. 3 seed in each of the last two county tournaments and fell on the road in the semifinal round both times, including by a 12-6 result at reigning Somerset County Tournament champion Gill St. Bernard’s last year.
In this stretch, both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds have met in the last two county finals matchups.
Regardless of what ultimately happens with the seeding of this event in 2026, barring any massive upsets, the path to a Somerset County Tournament title will likely involve at least one of Pingry and Gill St. Bernard’s for Bridgewater-Raritan.
Either way, the Panthers have yet again emerged as a contender to win its first Somerset County Tournament crown since winning four straight titles from 2015-18.
Their Class of 2026 seniors not only will try to accomplish this feat again for the first time in eight years, but will also bid to win both the program’s first North, Group 4 sectional titles and overall Group 4 state titles since 2022, when the Panthers reached the semifinals of what ended up being the NJSIAA’s final Tournament of Champions.
Cifuentes, playing varsity football at Bridgewater-Raritan for the first time this fall in his senior year, has given him and many of his senior boys’ lacrosse teammates another opportunity to build chemistry in the ‘offseason’ leading up to the spring.
It is also given them an early taste of what it takes to hoist trophies such as these.
In addition to finishing fourth on the football team as a tight end and linebacker with 67 total tackles, he emerged as one of the favorite targets of quarterback Declan Kurdyla (four goals, two assists). To cap his family’s long and successful history with Bridgewater-Raritan High School, which spans across four different decades, Kurdyla is bound for Rutgers University men’s lacrosse after graduation, and he currently leads the Panthers’ boys’ lacrosse team as a midfielder with 44 points (21 goals, 23 assists) as of Senior Night.
Cifuentes is just behind Kurdyla with 33 points (20 goals, 13 assists), and despite his only being on the football field for one season in a Bridgewater-Raritan uniform, he finished second on the football team with 32 catches for 459 yards and tied for a team-high six receiving touchdowns.
That touchdown amount was matched by New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) lacrosse-bound Mikey Bratus, who led the football team with 37 receptions and 584 receiving yards before beginning his senior spring season as a returning All-State defenseman.
“We want to do something that’s never really been done before,” Cifuentes shared of the goals for Bridgewater-Raritan, which won its first-ever football state sectional championship in the fall when it defeated Bayonne High School, 21-14, in the North 2, Group 5 title game on the adjacent John Basilone Memorial Field back on November 14. “For football, it was our first time in history, and we know that getting one in lacrosse would definitely be hard to do.”
“Our football guys who play lacrosse are very motivated to do it again, and getting a second ring would definitely feel great.”
While Bridgewater-Raritan’s offense is a big reason the Panthers are capable of achieving this feat, its defense has also remained a huge factor in its status as a championship contender.
The Panthers’ average goals allowed per game (4.67) is second best in the Skyland Conference, only behind Pingry (four goals allowed per game), but this number is the best by a large margin amongst their stacked North, Group 4 tournament field. Notably, this consists of fourth-ranked Ridgewood High School (6.78) and two-time reigning state champion Westfield High School (7.78), which is currently ranked No. 8 in New Jersey.
“We built that winning culture on the football field, and we have a lot guys with a lot of great leadership looking to take that onto the lacrosse field,” said defenseman Connor O’Hare, who was second on the football team as a linebacker with five sacks and 94 total tackles, including a team-high 55 solo tackles. “We emphasize communication every day in practice, and our coaches remind us every day that we have not won anything yet.”
“We still have goals and aspirations to work towards every day.”
This spring, fall is also not the only other sports season represented on the Panthers’ boys’ lacrosse team.
Like Cifuentes did with varsity football for the first time in the fall, senior Richie Gardner has suited up as a varsity boys’ lacrosse player as a defenseman for the first time to conclude his senior year. As the Panthers’ leading boys’ basketball scorer in the winter (438 points), he was a regular starter on the boys’ basketball team with junior Tyler Hamby and senior Brandon Ur, and they all helped guide the Panthers to a record of 18-9: Bridgewater-Raritan’s best record since winning 20 games in 2016-17.
Given he and his basketball teammates have regularly thrived in multiple different defenses on a nightly basis on the hardwood, he has fit right in as a regular defenseman outdoors.
He even collected the equivalent of a steal and a fastbreak layup against Immaculata in the third quarter, when he forced a ground ball on his side of the field, picked it up, ran it back the other way, and found the back of the lacrosse cage for an unassisted goal in transition to extend the Panthers’ lead to 14-0 with 7:45 left in the third quarter.
After Gardner netted his first career lacrosse goal on Senior Night in dramatic fashion, his other basketball teammate in Hurlbut also hit a buzzer beater to end the third quarter, which gave Bridgewater-Raritan a 15-0 lead after scoring six, five, and four goals in the first, second, and third periods, respectively.
“I don’t think there is any other program I can just walk into that is so well-coached and well-taught where I can be an impactful player, so I am extremely grateful for that,” reflected Gardner, who is guided by Hall-Of-Fame, 47th-year head coach Chuck Apel and his son, Matt Apel, to close out his Bridgewater-Raritan career. “Given the friends and the guys I grew up with, it just only makes sense. It’s also Brandon’s first year playing, and we all kind of play the same position. During practice, we are always on the same team and we call ourselves the basketball squad, and that just really gets us going. We just really like playing with each other and working with each other, and there is so much comradery.”
“Our basketball season was great, but we didn’t win [a championship], so I definitely want to win something here with the people I grew up with.”
While it did not win a trophy, Bridgewater-Raritan’s boys’ basketball team’s best campaign in a decade just happened to be part of a historically elite North 2, Group 4, tournament field.
Despite the Panthers’ 18-9 record, Bridgewater-Raritan was only the No. 13 seed in the state sectional playoffs. Perhaps even more crushing, based on how the final bracket was drawn up, Bridgewater-Raritan found itself with an opening-round matchup at Plainfield High School, which was only the No. 4 seed despite being the reigning Group 4 state champion and New Jersey’s top-ranked team from a public school. While the Panthers led by seven points late in the first quarter and made Plainfield work on its home court, the Cardinals eliminated Bridgewater-Raritan, 60-38, en route to successfully defending its Group 4 state championship.
What North 2, Group 4 was in boys’ basketball, however, is very comparable to the annual North, Group 4 tournament field in boys’ lacrosse.
Since the cancellation of the NJSIAA’s 2020 spring season due to COVID-19 pandemic, either Bridgewater-Raritan or the team to eliminate Bridgewater-Raritan in the North, Group 4 playoffs has gone on to win both the state sectional title and the overall Group 4 state championship. Westfield has eliminated Bridgewater-Raritan at the Blue Devils’ Gary Kehler Stadium in each of the last two state tournaments: an 8-7 result in last year’s North, Group 4 title game en route to defending its state championship and winning the Kirst Cup, and an 11-10 overtime loss in the state sectional semifinals two seasons ago.
While the road to New Jersey’s summit will likely involve Bridgewater-Raritan yet again, this time, the Panthers and their graduating Class of 2026 seniors hope to be that boys’ lacrosse squad that ultimately reaches it.
“We’ve played a lot of great teams, but the best offense we’ve gone against this year is our own offense every day at practice,” praised O’Hare of his team’s offense. “They make us better on defense, and competing against those guys every day is the difference maker.”
“By the end of this season, when it’s time for the playoffs, we’re going to be ready and are looking to make a run.”