There have been a number of brothers that have played in Major League Lacrosse — the Powells, the Gaits, the Thompsons, the Bocklets, the Pannells and the Nobles among them.

When the Charlotte Hounds hosted the Ohio Machine last Saturday, two more brothers — Kenny (the younger brother, playing for Ohio) and Kevin Massa (playing for Charlotte) — looked each other in the eye as they stepped to the middle of the field and faced off against each other.

“I don’t think it will end like it used to,” Kenny said prior to the game, anticipating the matchup, “wrestling in the middle of the cul-de-sac when our mom would come out yelling at us.”

Kevin and Kenny, separated by just two years, grew up very close to each other. According to the Massas, their father, Jeff, and older brother, Michael, were baseball guys. Kevin picked up a lacrosse stick thanks to his friends, however, and he influenced Kenny to join him.

“Kevin has been a huge role model to me,” Kenny said. “He’s one of my best buds.”

The brothers constantly practiced lacrosse together at home. They had a net in the backyard, they’d get Michael (who played collegiate baseball at Lafayette) to join them, and when Kevin and Kenny both started taking faceoffs, they got scraps of carpet to put in the basement to practice on during the winter.

While both Kevin and Kenny said there weren’t many broken windows (even though Kevin said they weren’t the best shooters), there were other issues they created in the backyard.

“We had a couple times where the backup net wasn’t up, and we knocked down a whole fence,” Kenny said. “One time, we were having a family party. [Before the party] we drew some lines in the backyard and faced off. We drew 10 lines because we kept tearing up the grass, and my dad came home and flipped out on us.”

Kevin and Kenny played together at Elwood John Glenn High School in Huntington, N.Y. Both were three-year varsity letter-winners in lacrosse. They also wrestled and played football.

Kenny knew he had big shoes to follow, coming up behind not only Kevin — named the school’s most outstanding athlete in his senior year — but also his parents, cousins and oldest brother Michael. All of them attended Glenn.

It can be difficult for some younger siblings to live up to expectations set by their older siblings, but Kenny saw it as a benefit.

“He’s always taking care of me, always watching out for me,” he said. “It was a benefit because Kevin left a great impression on people. Mike was the same way. All Kevin’s buddies looked out for me too, on the playground taking care of me.”

Both brothers went on to play at Bryant. In four seasons, Kevin set seven NCAA records, including career faceoffs won (1,118, surpassed only this season by Trevor Baptiste), career ground balls (755), and single-season ground balls (231). He was named a USILA All-American three times.

Kenny enjoyed success as well. After redshirting as a freshman, he played in every game for Bryant over the next four seasons (67), and he amassed a 60.9 faceoff winning percentage.

 “Coming in as a freshman, he was a well-established junior. It was a steep learning curve, but he made sure I never got discouraged,” Kenny said. “Kevin always took an interest in my well-being. He’d make sure I was doing what I needed to in the classroom. He’d take me out on the weekends and take care of me.”

While Kevin helped coach up Kenny, Kenny pushed Kevin.

“There’s no one you’re going to compete harder against than your brother,” Kevin said. “We’d compete in practice. It’s somebody to bounce ideas off of. When he was on the team, it helped elevate me, and it helped him become the dominant faceoff guy he is.”

“You want to make it harder in practice than in games, and that was the case for me against Kenny,” he added. “His redshirt year, he’d practice with us. Even when he was a d-middie, he’d face off with us. It’s why I became a successful faceoff guy, having someone like that to compete against.”

The Massas’ professional careers took different turns, however.

Kevin was selected by the Charlotte Hounds in the fourth round with the 26th pick in the 2015 MLL collegiate draft. He was the second faceoff specialist selected, taken two spots after Chesapeake took Maryland’s Charlie Raffa.

The problem, however, was Charlotte had also taken former Duke faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler in the second round the year prior. With Fowler entrenched as the team’s top faceoff guy, Kevin saw limited playing time. He did not play in 2015, played in five games in 2016 (taking 83 faceoffs), and appeared in nine games in 2017 (taking 94 faceoffs).

Kenny — Kevin’s self-proclaimed No. 1 fan — said it was hard to watch him go through that experience, but it was also admirable at the same time.

“He thought he deserved the position,” Kenny said. “He wanted to compete for it. When somebody is well established, watching him stay the course and not give up, watching him and seeing the success now is something tremendous and inspiring.”

Like his older brother, Kenny was picked with the fourth pick in the fourth round. Kevin said he would have enjoyed playing with his younger brother in Charlotte, just like at Bryant, but Kenny was drafted by the defending champion Ohio Machine.

Unlike his older brother, as soon as Kenny’s collegiate season was complete, not only did he dress for Ohio, he was the team’s top faceoff specialist. Debuting against the Dallas Rattlers and 2017 MLL all-star Drew Simoneau, Kenny won 13 of 28 faceoffs and picked up a game-high nine ground balls.

The only person as excited as Kenny was his brother, Kevin.

“He has earned that,” Kevin said. “I’m glad he’s getting the opportunity. It’s pretty cool. I’m excited for him.”

Their roads began in the backyard of Huntington, and they converged in Charlotte. Teammates in high school and college, the Massa brothers faced off against each other in a competitive game for the first time.

For two opponents who had never gone against each other in a game, however, there’s no one that each of them knew better than the other.

“It’s kind of a little less nerving knowing what I know, what I’m going up against, unlike the first game where I only watched a little film on him,” Kenny said. “For me, it’s something that excites me. I get to play against one of my role models.”

“Both of us, our priority is to do the best we can for our respective teams,” Kevin added. “There’s no one I have a better scout against than my brother. That helps, but you want to keep the routine the same week to week. You don’t want him to get in my head.”

Leading up to their first matchup, Kevin said that Kenny won the trash talking battle. On the flip side, Kenny said that Kevin still acted like the protective older brother, even offering to bring food to the hotel when they met up prior to the game.

Even with an important regular season game on the line, the brothers didn’t let the moment get the better of them.

“During [the game], we looked at each other and laughed like, ‘Is this real?’” Kenny said. “It was funny to see him across me. There was a little banter, but, relatively, everything was friendly.”

Not only did Kevin win the faceoff battle — he was 9-for-16 while Kenny was 12-for-29 — but also his team won the overall battle, with the Hounds defeating the Machine 14-12.

Despite not coming out on top, Kenny still said going up against his brother was a dream come true.

“It was great going up against him. I was super excited to get out there against him,” he said. “It was one of the best battles I’ve ever had. He did a great job at the end of the game, which helped push his team ahead, but, overall, it was a great experience.”