Bernhardt brothers both scored vs. Hoyas
For Jake Bernhardt, quarterbacking his high school team to the championship game in the largest classification (6A) of a football-crazy state (Florida) might have convinced him that he had a future in college football.
But then came the game.
In Lake Brantley’s 34-14 loss to powerhouse Northwestern Miami, Bernhardt faced a genuine Division I quarterback, Jacory Harris, who threw for 308 yards.
“It wasn’t just him,” said Bernhardt of Harris, now a Heisman Trophy candidate at Miami. “They had a bunch a Division I players. Seven of them alone committed to Miami. It was an experience.”
Bernhardt already had begun to realize that his future was in lacrosse. Three years later, he is a sophomore midfielder at Maryland and his freshman brother, Jesse, is a long-stick midfielder.
Saturday when the Terps raced past Georgetown for a 15-13 victory, Jake scored the Terps’ first and final goals, while Jesse, on the first shot of his college career, tallied the game winner.
Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic, the Bernhardt brothers and Maryland (2-0) will take to a big stage against Duke (2-1).
Lacrosse hotbed Baltimore is a long way from Central Florida, where the sport ranks a distant third behind football and spring football. But the Bernhardts, the lone players on Maryland’s roster from Florida, overcame the lack of strong competition with the help of their father, Jim, a former player at Towson and C.W. Post.
“My dad would always say [to us], ‘You are the best offensive player in the state, and you are the best defensive player in the state. You guys gotta practice against each other. That’s the only way you are going to be better than everyone else,'” said Jake Bernhardt. “We used that to our advantage.”
Ironically, Jim Bernhardt is a career football coach, a former assistant at Hofstra and Central Florida, and currently head coach at Father Lopez High in Daytona Beach.
“College football is a business. It’s not as much fun as it is in high school. My dad made that point,” said Jake Bernhardt. “He knew if I wanted to play football, I’d have to make a big commitment. It’s not really a game any more.”
The Bernhardts spent their early years in a genuine lacrosse hotbed, Long Island, but were too young to play on organized teams. When Maryland coach Dave Cottle, a college lacrosse acquaintance of Jim Bernhardt, conducted a summer clinic in Florida, their interest in the sport was re-kindled.
“We were in fourth and fifth grade then and we fell in love with it,” said Jesse Bernhardt.
With Cottle, the feeling was mutual.
“I started watching these kids. They were getting better and better each week,” said Cottle. “So they were guys we kept on the radar screen. Great athletes, hard working kids. They’re really improving.”
