The pressure was clearly on the Boys' Latin lacrosse team in the spring.
In 2013, the Lakers were primed for a perfect season, needing just one more win against a Loyola Blakefield team they had already beaten twice in the regular season.
But the Dons, who barely made the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs as the sixth seed, pulled off the league's biggest upset with a 10-9 win in the title game.
This year, the Lakers returned an experienced cast led by senior attackman Shack Stanwick, and were tagged the preseason No. 1 team in the country.
It would have been easy to slip while playing a formidable schedule inside and outside of the league, but the Lakers came ready for every opponent's best. Their best was always better.
On May 16 at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium, moments after the No. 1 Lakers impressively handled No. 2 St. Paul's, 17-11, the emotions on the field were a mixed bag.
The Lakers were jubilant and relieved, but also appeared emotionally spent. In their wire-to-wire run as the nation's top team, they went 18-0 and won the program's 10th championship.
Stanwick, who was the All-Metro Boy's Lacrosse Player of the Year and The Baltimore Sun's Male Athlete of the Year, set a single-season program record with 46 goals and 72 assists (118 points) and became the Lakers' all-time leading scorer with 334 points.