“It ain’t about how hard you hit,” Rocky Balboa said to his son in the last of Sylvester Stallone’s six “Rocky”-titled movies. “It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
That could have been the motto of the St. Edward’s boys lacrosse team as the Pirates chased the program’s first Florida High School Athletic Association state championship last week.
Two Fridays ago – on the afternoon of the team’s scheduled Class 1A regional final at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando – St. Edward’s got hit hard by the tragic death of a classmate.
Bidensky “BT” Termidor, a popular 18-year-old senior and two-sport athlete who was headed to the University of North Florida on an academic scholarship, joined his 53 classmates in a traditional, celebratory leap into the Indian River Lagoon from an on-campus dock.
And drowned.
No one seems to know what happened after Termidor hit the water shortly before 3 p.m., but, according to police and witness reports, four to 10 minutes passed before anyone realized he was missing and began searching for him.
Termidor’s body was submerged in 6 to 10 feet of water for 20 minutes or so before it was discovered and lifted onto the deck, where efforts to revive him failed. A county Fire Rescue crew arrived quickly and transported him to Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, where doctors later pronounced him dead.
“I lost my best friend,” lacrosse defenseman Ryan Barnett said. “BT was everyone’s best friend.”
Termidor’s unexpected death rocked the St. Edward’s community, especially the Upper School’s 260 students. The following Monday’s classes were canceled and the lacrosse team’s playoff game that night was postponed.
If Lake Highland Prep hadn’t agreed to forgo a forfeit and reschedule the game, St. Edward’s season would’ve ended one victory shy of the state semifinals, instead of with a puncher’s chance in the championship bout.
“There was some doubt early,” Pirates coach Doug Bailey said, “but our players wanted to play.”
So did Lake Highland Prep.
“I can’t say enough about the LHP administration and the FHSAA, and the lengths they went to accommodate us at a very difficult time,” said St. Edward’s Athletic Director Jeff Lamscha.
“We met with the players and coaches the next day, and once they made the decision to play, we called LHP and the FHSAA and told them we’d play Monday if we had to, but that Tuesday would be better,” he added. “They said, ‘You pick the day.’
“They were very gracious and showed a lot of class.”
The game was played the following Tuesday, May 4, and St. Edward’s responded with a thrilling, 12-11 victory in overtime.
“We did it for BT,” Pirates junior goalie Liam Murphy said afterward.
The Pirates had decided before the game to dedicate the remainder of their playoff run to Termidor and donned “BT” decals on their helmets for each of their last three contests.
It didn’t matter that Termidor, who transferred from Vero Beach High School after his sophomore year, didn’t play lacrosse.
“BT was a great kid, a great classmate and anyone who saw him play basketball knew he was a great competitor with the heart of a champion,” Bailey said. “He loved St. Edward’s, and St. Edward’s loved him.
“Our players wanted to honor him by carrying his heart and soul into this tournament.”
The triumph over Lake Highland Prep sent the Pirates to the FHSAA’s Final Four at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex in Kissimmee, where they promptly knocked off Jacksonville’s Bolles School, 15-13, in Friday’s first semifinal.
Their reward was a state championship showdown against undefeated St. Andrew’s – the top-ranked team in Florida, regardless of classification – on Saturday afternoon.
In that game, St. Edward’s got hit again.
St. Andrew’s sprinted to leads of 4-0 in the first half and 7-2 in the second half. Both times, though, the Pirates shook off those blows and stubbornly kept moving forward, responding with flurries of their own to cut the Scots’ leads to 4-2 at halftime and 7-4 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
Sensing something special was about to happen, an already-emotional St. Edward’s crowd – which included parents, students and Head of School Stuart Hirstein – grew louder and more passionate, urging the Pirates to keep fighting.
“These players had a ‘Band of Brothers’ mentality all year long, all of them working toward the same goal,” Bailey said. “They play hard for each other. They weren’t going to back down.”
And they didn’t.
They got knocked down … and, ultimately, knocked out.
With the game up for grabs with less than 9 minutes remaining, St. Andrew’s showed its championship mettle, scoring six of the game’s final seven goals to claim its fifth state title.
As the final seconds ticked off the scoreboard clock, the Pirates were left to console each other with hugs, thanks and even congratulations for putting together the best lacrosse season in school history.
“You guys had a hell of a season,” Bailey told his players after a 13-5 defeat that, as their lives move forward, won’t be nearly as meaningful as the effort they put forth to reach the championship game. “You learned a heck of a lot about yourselves this year. I’m very proud of you guys.”
All of Vero Beach should be.
This gritty group of Pirates gave us a lesson in perseverance by their commitment to accepting challenges, overcoming adversity and finding ways to win under the most trying of circumstances.
“Our boys, through their determination and heart, provided a balm for a community that is deeply mourning,” Hirstein said. “Their brotherhood will carry them through not just athletic competitions, but life.”
As shaken as they were on that Friday afternoon, the St. Edward’s players were determined to finish the season strong, believing that’s what Termidor would’ve wanted them to do.
They were unable to produce a Hollywood ending and take home a championship, but that didn’t diminish what they accomplished.
“The past week has been a blur,” Barnett said after Saturday’s game. “Not everything has sunken in yet. But we had a great season and we’re happy to be here. And if BT is looking down on us, I think he’s pretty happy with us, too.”
Visitation and a funeral service for Termidor is scheduled for the weekend of May 22-23 at the Community Church of Vero Beach, where a sizable St. Edward’s turnout is expected.
“What happened to BT impacted us a lot,” Barnett said.
And as the philosopher Balboa warned: Nobody hits harder than life.
