Okay, let’s get this out of the way up front. This is the weakest class when it comes to depth this year. Six teams. Rebuilding ALL OVER THE PLACE.

The gap between the Top 6 and the rest is massive.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled article . . .

Thankfully, the six are spread out so the Final Four again looks great on paper:

Lake Mary vs Ponte Vedra in Region 1, Jupiter vs St. Thomas in Region 4, Winter Park and Plant

Creekside, Newsome, Gulf Coast, Windermere . . . all rebuilding after massive graduation losses

The best of the rest? Nease, Columbus and Mitchell, with a few others lurking.

Some schools like Wellington fell off late in the season. Riverview lost their top scorers.

Oh well, at least we know where the work needs to be done.

Last year’s Final Top 15:

Final 2022 FLN Boys 2A Top 15 Poll

1) St. Thomas Aquinas – title winner

2) Ponte Vedra – only lost the best game I’ve seen in person

3) Winter Park – a worthy return to the Final Four

4) Plant – one bad half at the wrong time

5) Lake Mary – if only they had gotten past the region, could be wearing the crown

6) Creekside – injuries were untimely

7) Jupiter – great schedule, but a lot to ask

8) Newsome – solid program that just can’t quite get to the Final Four

9) Nease – so similar to SJP, tough schedule, a few big wins but not quite enough in a tough region

10) Windermere – a very nice jump but the next step is tough

11) Western-Davie – took on everyone, just not enough depth

12) Columbus – nice second half, can they continue to grow?

13) Gulf Coast – my belief in them late in the season was rewarded

14t) Steinbrenner – need to play better teams

14t) Mitchell – also needs to play better teams

Also Considered:

Wellington, Vero Beach and Martin County

*****

We all know the rules. Title holder and runner up start 1-2. I don’t think St. Thomas will hold #1 for long; the offense lost a TON of points, but the defense will be sturdy. The top 7 scorers combined for 190 goals and they ALL graduated.

It’s like Jupiter’s 2021 championship team and STA will also have to contend with this. If I wasn’t automatically giving them the respect of the previous year, I’d probably start them at 5 or 6 (which Coach Crowley lobbies for anyhow :)).

I’ve been thinking all summer about the potential for Lake Mary and Ponte Vedra to play a regional final as a title game. The other two semifinalists, Plant and Winter Park, are in similar situations where they lost key pieces but also return a lot.

It’s quite possible we’ll end up early May with possibly 2 or 3 new schools winning the 4 titles, and I’m all in for that!

Okay, so I can finally relax in time for kickoff (it’s been about 20 hours this weekend with the college stuff too!), here’s the 2A Poll:

FLN’s Boys Class 2A Preseason Poll

1) St. Thomas Aquinas

2) Ponte Vedra

3) Lake Mary

4) Winter Park

5) Plant

6) Jupiter

7) Columbus

8) Nease

9) Mitchell

10) Steinbrenner

11) Vero Beach

12) Western

13) Martin County

14) Creekside

15) Newsome

Also Considered: Gulf Coast, Wellington, Windermere, Alonso, Viera