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Jim Bernhardt was watching the lacrosse game on TV with his youngest son, Jared, in their Florida home when his oldest son, Jake, set a pick on a Chesapeake Bayhawks defender. Jim didn’t notice who that defender was until Jared pointed it out.

Jake had set a pick on his younger brother, Jesse, to set up a goal for the Ohio Machine. It was just the third time the former Terrapins men’s lacrosse players — and brothers separated by 355 days — competed against each other in an official Major League Lacrosse game.

After spending nearly their entire lives on the same team, the two brothers have spent the past two MLL seasons on different rosters. Despite having to compete against each other, Jake and Jesse have maintained a close relationship.

“When we see each other, it’s like we just saw each other yesterday,” Jake said.

“After the game we are back to how it was,” Jesse added. “No hard feelings and really no trash talk going on.”

Still, being on separate teams has placed their parents in a tough position. Jim realized his dilemma when he watched his sons compete against each other in Annapolis on May 31 earlier this season.

“That game it kind of hit me,” Jim said, “as a parent there is no one winning.”

Jake and the Machine went on to defeat the Bayhawks, 15-11, which left Jim joking with his sons when they played again on July 4. He texted them to say he was cheering for a tie.

But Jim didn’t have his way. Jake netted a pair of goals to defeat his younger brother for the second time in two tries this season.

“He actually had a pretty good game against us, and they won,” Jesse said. “So that wasn’t too fun.”

Despite Jake playing midfield and Jesse playing long pole, the brothers don’t spend much time during the game competing at the same end. Since graduating from this university, Jake — who scored 17 goals his senior season with the Terps in 2013 — has taken more of a defensive role and isn’t often on the attack unit.

Jake did recall a situation in which he encountered Jesse on offense, however. Jake was trying to skip the ball across the field to a teammate, but he realized his brother was faking a slide in an attempt to bait him to throw the pass, so he held the ball to avoid a turnover.

For the brothers — who spent years competing one-on-one in their backyard — it was a snippet of their past as they stood on the field wearing different jerseys for their respective professional teams.

“It brought back some memories,” Jesse said.

While they have spent time away from each other as players the past two seasons, the siblings were reunited by this university this past spring season. Jake worked as the men’s lacrosse director of operation, and Jesse joined as a volunteer coach for the Terps.

After rooming together for all four of Jesse’s years in college, they lived together again in College Park, sharing an apartment. But next year, Jake and Jesse will be exploring different jobs.

Jake will head back home to Florida to work as the assistant head coach at St. Andrews School in Boca Raton, while Jesse is still trying to figure out what he will be doing.

“It’s kind of the first time we have gone our separate ways,” Jake said.

Despite competing for different teams and heading in different directions, they still maintain their strong relationship as brothers and best friends. It didn’t change after the draft, and it won’t change after new jobs.

“They will be separate,” Jim said, “but they will always be together.”