Thank you Ernie for the photo!

Weather continues to wreak schedules.

Benjamin-Lake Highland pushed back to Sunday afternoon (hopefully!), as an EF1 tornado touched down about 1 1/2 miles from Benjamin. Thank God the teams were not preparing to play on the field. This would not be the first time a tornado affected the school, as about 6 years ago their home field was rendered unusable for the season after one went through it.

LINK to the video in the picture below, as WPTV doesn’t allow embeds.

Up in Orlando, the Winter Park-Vero Beach game was called at halftime, with Winter Park leading 9-1.

How many high school kids want to finish their careers waiting out a delay and hoping to get a game in?

Jesuit and Community School play today (again, hopefully!). I remember back to the first year of IMG hosting the Final Four and finishing Sunday, plus last year’s Boys 2A final finishing near 1:00am, but we all need to pray for this upcoming Thursday-Saturday in Naples . . . at least Sunday would be available, but does anyone want to pay for an extra hotel room? When you look at who will be traveling to Naples, we already have Bolles and Bartram Trail with lengthy drives.

The schedule flips this year. Last year it was the Boys on Friday and Saturday, and the Girls on Thursday and Saturday. That flips this year, as the Boys go Thursday and Saturday. In addition, the 2A goes first this year, as opposed to 1A last year. Don’t assume the schedule, check for it online.

If weather hits, like last year, they will clear the stadium premises, so assume you will be waiting it out in your car.

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Plant 30 – Mitchell 6

When I saw this score, the first thing that came to mind was, ‘what the heck?’.

12-3 or 4 after the first, and 23-4 at the half is something you don’t see in a blowout regular season game, much less a regional final.

A lot of coaches got in touch with me after and were really ticked off. Can’t say I blame them, since it looks really bad for the sport.

One thing I’ve learned over the years writing here is to let things settle for a few days to allow information to be gathered. I’ve had a few informal submissions of information and they include a game that got out of hand physically, a top player suffering a season-ending injury, etc.

I’m hoping the referees will at least volunteer information ‘off the record’ if not on. Maybe there will be a report sent to Gainesville that can be requested (those are always redacted).

Regardless of how the ‘truth’ is revealed, it certainly looks terrible when put in the context of respecting and honoring the game.

That’s as far as I’m willing to go right now until I’m confident I have the details. The game was broadcast on NFHS, but as we all know, that doesn’t mean we’ll see enough of the action to know the full story.

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The Keiser Men win their first AAC Conference championship, and Christian Tomei continued his hot play in goal.

After going 17 for 19 in the semifinal, he came back with 20 for 24 in the final, earning the MVP of the championship.

An 86% save percentage over two games?

That’s nearing hockey territory . . . like the original Star Trek, ‘where no man has gone before’.

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Lake Mary 6-5 Over Ponte Vedra

For just about every other day, this would be the lead.

Ponte Vedra jumped out early to a 4-0 lead . . .

And Lake Mary’s defense held the Sharks to ONE GOAL over the last 40 minutes

They chipped away, took the lead at 5-4, only to see PV tie it back up.

Lake Mary scored the 6th goal midway through the fourth quarter and held on to make their first trip to the Final Four since Jupiter held it. Back then, they were not able to hold on for the semifinal win over Lake Highland.

I suspect they will take it at least one step further this year.

We’re hoping to put the game up after the season ends . . . what a remarkable game from all who commented. One of those in attendance was Varsity Sports Network’s boss Bobby Latmore, who was gushing after the game about the experience, since he’s still relatively new to the sport.

Let’s hope we translate that into even more coverage next season . . . they will be with me in Naples; the corner is turning for lacrosse and media coverage in general. It’s well deserved.

I’d love to get an attendance count!

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#TAFTAG

#LayOffTheRefs

#LacrosseFanAndDamnedProudOfIt

#FreeOurSport

Grow the Game!

Respect the Game!

Honor the Game!