Author’s Note:  This is a perfect example of what we are looking for from our readers when it comes to the Report Media Coverage feature on our second black bar on the home page, and other pages.  Click on the link and let us know where to find the article!  Also, if you know of a TV station running a segment on lacrosse, let us know about that too if it appears on the station’s YouTube channel!  This one is from late February and is from the Pensacola News Journal.  The photo was taken by Jody Link for the PNJ web site.

If you want to know what’s going to be the thing that provides the spark for lacrosse in the Pensacola area from up-and-coming outsiders to the top of the state, you can start with the Pensacola Catholic-Gulf Breeze boys rivalry.

It’s already touched on a lot of the cornerstones of any good rivalry.

It’s players know each other well from playing together in the offseason, as do the various coaches, families and fans wrapped up in the mix.

It’s already proven to be a winner on the field, too, with last season’s three games as the best evidence – two regular-season, District 1 contests won by Gulf Breeze … and a District title game that went to Catholic.

“You end up coaching kids from the time they’re young who end up on your team, and then against kids you’ve coached since they were young, too, which makes (the rivalry) unique,” said first-year Pensacola Catholic head coach Kerry McDowell, who was an assistant last season. “Everybody wants to win, and wants to win really bad. And how it’s different from other sports where you might just know another kid on a different team from camp, these kids actually play on teams together.