Florida Lacrosse Showcase joins the fold.  To be fair to them, I’m still the only one choosing the schools so aim your vindictiveness to me, not the Showcase!   The Florida Lax Showcase Web Link   As always, let’s start with last week’s Poll . . .   #1 – St. Thomas Aquinas #2 – Ponte Vedra #3 – Jupiter #4 – Oxbridge #5 – Lake Mary #6 – Bishop Moore #7 – Benjamin #8 – Saint Andrew’s #9 – Lake Highland Prep #10 – Oak Hall #11 – Tampa Jesuit #12 – Nease #13 – Cardinal Mooney #14 – West Orange #15 – Hagerty #16 – HB Plant #17 – Pine Crest #18 – Newsome #19 – Gulliver Prep #20 – Belen Jesuit #21 – American Heritage-Plantation #22 – ODA Sarasota #23 – Merritt Island #24 –  Barron Collier #25 – Buchholz   Just outside the Top 25 Saint John Paul II, Riverview-Sarasota, Berkeley Prep, Maclay, Saint Edward’s, Lake Brantley, Creekside, Winter Park, Sickles, Steinbrenner, Canterbury, Boca Raton   Yep, there will be some changes but this week pretty much held up okay.  Some teams did not hold up, some teams swap positions and some teams will move up. A normal week.       By the way, we lost a very famous athlete today . . . Sir Roger Bannister died today at age 88. The first man to break the 4-minute barrier in the One-Mile run. It might not seem like a big deal today but I can assure you it made him famous worldwide, to the point that in my time in England I purchased his autograph at an auction.   Some of the Key Results From Last Week   Monday None Tuesday Jupiter routs Boca Raton 17-4 on the road Bishop Moore runs away from First Academy 17-2 on the road Steinbrenner nips ODA 8-7 in OT Fletcher in OT over Providence Oxbridge over Saint Andrew’s 8-5 Wednesday STA with the easy 14-7 road win over American Heritage-Plantation Ponte Vedra travels to LHP and comes away with the 11-10 OT win Oak Hall routs Maclay 18-1 on the road Cardinal Mooney with the comfortable 14-9 road win over Riverview-Sarasota Thursday Saint John Paul II with the riveting 11-10 win over Boca Raton Friday Oxbridge takes down #1 STA 6-4 American Heritage-Boca handles American Heritage-Plantation 15-6 HB Plant cruises by Newsome 19-4 Tampa Jesuit comfortably over Berkeley Prep 18-8 Ponte Vedra rallies in the 2nd half for the 17-11 road win at Nease Saturday Belen Jesuit with a grind it out win over Barron Collier 12-9 . . . best barbecue after the game for both teams yet! Oak Hall shuts out Bolles 15-0 St. Edward’s with a key road win over Gulliver Prep 10-4 Benjamin holds on to win OT at SJP II 11-10   What also happened this week is that some semblance of moving forward came to Stoneman Douglas.  The Girl’s team got back in action on Thursday and most of you have already seen the article from that game.  The Boy’s team starts to play this week.  Tomorrow and Tuesday they will play road games against Coral Springs Charter and Taravella.  The first home game for them will be Friday against Cardinal Gibbons and FLN will be there. Friday night will be a very emotional game.   Some of the Big Games Coming Up This Week are:   Monday Cardinal Mooney hosts Steinbrenner . . . a big test for a surging Steinbrenner program Jupiter hosts American Heritage-Boca Tuesday Hagerty host Buchholz . . . Buchholz has shut out three straight teams, how real is that as they step up in competition? Riverview-Sarasota hosts Barron Collier in a game with two teams really needing a big win Wednesday Jupiter host Oxbridge in what is a fascinating match of styles Lake Brantley hosts Lake Mary in a game of ‘prove it’ Thursday Barron Collier hosts Gulf Coast in one of the true Hatfield-McCoy rivalries in Florida lacrosse HB Plant hosts Sickles in a game that Sickles wants to show their program has come a long way Steinbrenner hosts Newsome in a game that Newsome suddenly needs after Friday night’s rough going Friday Oak Hall hosts Buchholz, seeking revenge for last year’s District upset Ponte Vedra ventures to their national slate, hosting last year’s South Carolina champs, Wando Saint Andrew’s hosts SJP II for likely first seed in the District and of course, Stoneman Douglas hosts Cardinal Gibbons Saturday The MIAA comes to town as national power Boys’ Latin plays Oxbridge and Ponte Vedra hosts Calvert Hall!   For those of you who are fairly new to this sport and not knowledgeable yet about Florida’s place nationally, here is the Inside Lacrosse Preseason NATIONAL Top 25 Poll:   Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse Top 25 High School Power Rankings  1. Culver Academy (Ind.) 2. Calvert Hall (Md.) 3. Brunswick (Conn.) 4. Bullis (Md.) 5. McDonogh (Md.) 6. Hill Academy (Ont.) 7. Avon Old Farms (Conn.) 8. Salisbury School (Conn.) 9. Chaminade (N.Y.) 10. Boys’ Latin (Md.)  11. Landon (Md.) 12. Victor (N.Y.) 13. St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) 14. IMG Academy (Fla.) 15. Ward Melville (N.Y.) 16. Malvern Prep (Pa.) 17. Delbarton (N.J.) 18. La Salle College (Pa.) 19. Gonzaga (D.C.) 20. Darien (Conn.) 21. St. Sebastian (Mass.) 22. Massapequa (N.Y.)  23. Haverford School (Pa.) 24. Lincoln-Sudbury (Mass.) 25. Torrey Pines (Calif.)  

Thought you’d like a taste of what the MIAA is about . . .

  Calvert Hall, Boys’ Latin, McDonogh and Loyola-Blakefield all play in the MIAA, the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association.  Loyola is not ranked here but they will be in town in March too so I included them. You will note that NO Florida team appears here now and in the past it’s been few and far between. The MIAA is traditionally considered the BEST conference/district/whatever you want to call it, high school lacrosse in America. Imagine HB Plant, Berkeley Prep and Tampa Jesuit ranked among the 10 best teams in America . . . playing each other in the District finals That’s pretty much EVERY YEAR in the MIAA I’m making this point for two reasons First, it is a PRIVILEGE to have these high profile programs visiting our state and playing our top teams.  A good showing is a heck of an accomplishment and indicative of how far we’ve come.  We have had some success in the past, particularly when Saint Andrew’s was at their peak.  I was in the stands for their 2008 win over Boys’ Latin. As an example of what you will see if you are SMART and attend one of these games is the list of McDonogh seniors and their college commitments . . . SENIORS ONLY . . . 9 out of 10 to Division One colleges.  

104	1	Dion, Rich	Annapolis	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Defense	R	Navy
185	1	Cummings, Jackson	Owings Mills	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Attack/​Midfield	E	Massachusetts
221	1	Ferrare, B.J.	Baltimore	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Defense/​LSM	R	Penn
416	1	Hurdle, Andrew	Baltimore	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Attack/​Midfield	E	Bucknell
455	1	Catlett, Griffin	Owings Mills	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Midfield	R	Duke
464	1	Ward, George	Baltimore	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Attack	E	Delaware
480	1	Simmons, Jack	Baltimore	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Midfield	E	Virginia
826	1	Sweeney, Jack	Glenelg	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Attack/​Midfield	E	Navy
989	3	Thorne, Finn	Owings Mills	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Defense	R	Washington & Lee
1530	1	Smith, Chris	Baltimore	MD	McDonogh School	MD	Defense	E	Navy

  Midfielders who DO NOT START are D1 recruits . . . Oh, by the way, all of you remember the dominant Saint Andrew’s 8th grade FOGO, Gable Braun?  He’s at McDonogh too. If you can see one of these MIAA teams playing our best, GO TO IT.  Not only will you see what the top teams are all about, but you might see a Florida team take them down . . . and that will be a memory you will keep for a long time.   Which brings me to my second point. I have my critics on the Polls Too much favoritism to certain programs It’s pretty simple people Strength of Schedule When the MIAA comes to town they are seeking out teams they feel will prepare them for the season ahead, since all of these teams use their Florida trips as their spring training. You have to EARN the right to play them. Ponte Vedra is playing Calvert Hall and Gonzaga, also on that list.  Ponte Vedra beat the IMG Ascenders, not the National team but there is a lot of overlap this year with the IMG program STA is playing some of them, as is Saint Andrew’s and LHP and Oxbridge.  Benjamin has a game too. STA traveled to Long Island last year and gave Massapequa all they could handle, losing 13-10. You don’t earn the game against those programs with dominant District performances, you earn it with winning the big intersectional contests and showing well in the games.  If Boys’ Latin is beating Saint Andrew’s 16-2 every year they will go play in Texas or California instead.  They already play many of the other teams on that Top 25 list. To the critics . . . if you are not playing big intersectional games you can only go so far in my Poll, regardless of your record.  Not all records are created equal. And if you want to move up you better show well when you get your shot at the top programs. Strength of Schedule is how you get respected in this sport. At the NCAA level, at the Inside Lacrosse level and even in the Florida Poll. You don’t even have to take my word for it. There’s a very successful Coach down here, having already built a successful program at Barron Collier and now building one at Canterbury.  Coach Carter is a Boys’ Latin graduate.  Ask him.  If you need a second opinion, you can ask his high school teammate, Coach Ross at Oxbridge.  Coach Carter will send his Canterbury kids out to play Loyola-Blakefield and I guarantee you his kids will view it as a privilege and an opportunity.  They’re not going to win but they will learn.  Coach Ross is in a different place and time with Oxbridge.  He might get one of these.  I hope we run the table, but I’m too realistic for that.   I hope that’s clear enough to my critics.  It’s just a handful thankfully.  But they might as well hear the truth now. And I hope you get one of those games on your docket!   The Underdog Upset of the Week!   This one would have been unthinkable just two seasons ago Gulf Breeze takes down Maclay 11-6 on Friday. Two points . . . What a great win for Gulf Breeze, another program on the rise! And what the heck happened to Maclay?  Consistent Final Eight, Top 10 program has hit rock bottom in 2 years . . .   Was watching a little of City Slickers today and this scene always gets me chuckling.  As much as I preach to the kids to live life this is a pretty good summary of what a pessimist thinks like!     Well, time to get in the mood for this week’s

National Lacrosse Showcase Florida High School Media Poll . . .

See, I can increase the size of the type! Before I do so, a shameless plug . . . Lax Sports Network has asked me to be part of their high school dialogue and I will actually have to break down and learn some new technology called Skype . . . Seeing that my tweet from the Oxbridge victory over STA was the VERY FIRST tweet I ever sent from my cell phone I might as well go all the way and come upon the 2010 level of technology, and if I am really good, by the end of the year I hope to be in 2011! So if you have the Lax Sports Network subscription you might well see my scraggly look (I promise to continue the tradition of Tommy Bahama shirts) and if you don’t like my poll result for your team, take a big sheet of paper, cut out a hole for my head, put it on the TV and throw eggs at it! If you don’t have LSN, sign up today!   Okay, some bumper music please . . .   Who Wants to Walk With FLN?   https://youtu.be/hHNdLLCIbOo   This Week’s Florida Lacrosse Showcase Top 25 Media Poll!   #1 – Ponte Vedra – ascends to #1 with a solid resume #2 – Jupiter – they might well be the best team right now but have to play the meat of their schedule #3 – Oxbridge – 3 top 10 games – Bishop Moore, SA and STA . . . 13 TOTAL GOALS ALLOWED . . . yikes! #4 – St. Thomas Aquinas – wondered about the offense and now they need to improve it #5 – Lake Mary – big one this week #6 – Bishop Moore – dominant against anyone not named Oxbridge, second half will tell #7 – Benjamin – struggled with SJP, next tough match is Jupiter on the 17th.  Will miss that one for the first time in years. #8 – Saint Andrew’s – tough loss to Oxbridge, schedule is a little light this year #9 – Oak Hall – dominating teams but schedule is really off for now, no way to move higher until the tougher teams kick in later in the season #10 – Tampa Jesuit – nicely taking care of business but just like Oak Hall kind of hits its’ ceiling until the better games in the second half #11 – Cardinal Mooney – win over Riverview-Sarasota and takes advantage of teams above losing.  Could run the table until the last four games, which will truly tell their story.  Pretty much their ceiling for now too given the teams they are playing now #12 – West Orange – this is it for them too, really a shame Mikey Berkman doesn’t get to play more top opponents #13 – Lake Highland Prep – three games, three losses to three great teams, will be higher at year end in all likelihood #14 – HB Plant – big win over Newsome, but a mixed bag on scheduling.  Will really watch the Valor Christian game for insight. #15 – Hagerty – impressive takedown of Merritt Island #16 – Nease – may be better than this, only non-IMG loss (remember I do not count IMG games in this analysis) to #1 #17 – Belen Jesuit – very impressive to me.  Both they and Barron Collier were missing a lot but Belen found a way to get it done Saturday #18 – Pine Crest – another one where scheduling puts a ceiling for now. #19 – Buchholz – hard to tell with them until after this week.  Great scores but the schedule is awful so far.  But not this upcoming week. #20 – Lake Brantley – funny how they always seem to find their way here at least once each year, also needs a ‘prove it’ win #21 – Newsome – with this schedule they better not have another loss like last week #22 – Saint John Paul – which is the real team?  The OT loser to Benjamin or the team that didn’t show in Jupiter? #23 – Steinbrenner – don’t look now but there’s a new kid on the block looking to make noise #24 – Barron Collier – needed to bring up their intensity Saturday and didn’t sustain the whole game, another team that needs a big win over a top team #25 – American Heritage/Boca – wins over St. Edward’s and American Heritage/Plantation look much better now, have to run the gauntlet this week   Just outside the Top 25 Riverview-Sarasota, Gulf Breeze, Creekside, Winter Park, Sickles, Canterbury, Merritt Island, ODA Sarasota