It was the first time Matt Marasco and his younger brother, JoJo, were ever on the same field as opponents and not teammates.

Yes, Matt Marasco’s Army team was getting set to play JoJo Marasco and two-time defending Division I men’s lacrosse national champion Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Sunday, Feb. 28.

But the start of the game was more than an hour away, and even though the former Somers stars are now college rivals, they are still very much brothers.

“We decided that we would put tape on our helmets on the outside chin strap,” said JoJo, a freshman attackman/midfielder. “On one side, we put each others numbers and on the other side, we put our initials.”

But when the teams left their respective locker rooms, Matt Marasco realized something was missing. JoJo had forgotten to attach the tape to his helmet.

“The first time I noticed JoJo was when they were stretching and I saw him looking around, but trying not to seem like he was and when I spotted that he hadn’t put the tape on his chinstrap, I pointed right at my chinstrap when he saw me,” said Matt, a junior defenseman. “He just nodded and when he came back out after their pre-game meeting, he had them on.”

The Orange went on to pull away for a 12-7 win in a game that was tied at 5-5 before Syracuse started the third quarter with a 4-0 run. SU senior attackman and John Jay graduate Chris Daniello scored four goals to earn Big East offensive player of the week honors.

It was a big win; it improved his team’s record to 2-0 and helped it hold on to its No. 1 national ranking but for JoJo Marasco, it had a lot more meaning than that.

“Matt and I spoke a lot the week before the game [through] texts, phone calls,” JoJo said. “At first, we were catching up, talking about how everything is going with lacrosse and school, and then we started to speak about the game.”

“We texted probably once a day just to see how each other was doing,” Matt said. “The last text I sent him before the game was a good luck text that I send him before every game, this game being no different. That was probably two-and-a-half hours before the game.”

Then came pre-game warm-ups that were unlike any either Matt or JoJo had ever experienced.

“It was a very special moment for myself and my family,” JoJo said. “It was very weird playing on different teams, but it was great to be on the same field as him like the old days in high school.”

Then, it was game time.

“Everything that I saw him do in high school I saw him try on us,” Matt said. “The under moves, the swim dodges, the split dodges. It was like; I’ve seen this before, almost as if a highlight reel started to play.

“But during the game, it was really nothing different for me. It was a different colored jersey, except that I knew his moves already.”

JoJo, who was scoreless, had three shots on goal. Matt had one ground ball and caused one turnover.

The two did not go one-on-one against each other at any point during the game, but did come close once.

“We had one opportunity where there was a slide, and we were matched up, but as we were together, another player on Syracuse (junior midfielder Josh Amidon) dodged and scored,” JoJo said.

Matt said that’s a lucky thing for JoJo.

“I recovered to him, but Amidon took an amazing shot and when I thought it was going to bounce out to JoJo, it actually pinned low net,” Matt said. “Other than that, JoJo probably knew not to slide to me, knowing the fact that I snapped two shafts in the game, which was the first time I’ve ever done that.”

Spoken like a true big brother.

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