See District 1&2 See District 3&4 See District 5&6 See District 7&8 See District 9&10 See Districts 11&12

The Central-North Bracket features Districts 9 – 16.  This bracket is going to be very interesting for two reasons.  One, as always, it features two of the state’s top programs in Lake Highland Prep and Lake Brantley.  But the addition of the Tampa area teams brings a solid element of the unknown.  Longtime readers of the site will remember the transition of the South Florida clubs into the FHSAA.  Both Jupiter and Benjamin did quite well right out of the box.  Now we are looking for teams like Wharton and Plant to give last year’s Tampa area powerhouse, Tampa Jesuit, a solid run.  But nobody really knows until they take the field. District 13 The First Academy has a great shot at a District Championship this season.  A group of players that has been playing together for several years should end up with some hardware.  The winner of this district will move onto play the winner District 14.  We predict a TFA vs. West Orange match up. The First Academy should be a tough team this year fielding mostly juniors and seniors. This will be the most mature TFA team yet.  They only graduated four seniors last season.  Unfortunately, one of those was top defender Micah Larson who is now playing at Auburn.  However, they return a fantastic goalie in Austin Cotton.   The junior is a three year starter and should have a great season.  Austin will have Jordan Rapport playing defense in front of him.  He is another junior with tons of experience.  Rapport is a member of the FCA National team and we would not be surprised to see an NCAA commitment out of him this season.

Senior Luke West is a very versatile middie/attack who led the Royals in goals scored in 2013.    He is joined on the midfield line by junior Deacon Schrimsher.  Schrimsher returns after having scored the most overall points last season and is a serious offensive threat. The First Academy is hosting a Wounded Warrior Project tournament on April 11th and 12th.  Participants include The First Academy, West Orange, Timber Creek, Olympia and Bishop Moore. Dr. Phillips has a young and athletic squad this season.  LSM Edwin Wiley has serious speed.  He is the first man to most ground balls and will get it up the field in a hurry.  A good, balanced attack unit anchored by junior Ian Decker can put up some goals.  Senior middie Jake Gillen leads a good midfield unit.  Connor Jackson is good at the face off X and can score goals, as well. Brett Smith takes over as the new head coach at Lake Nona.  They will try to build on a solid 9-6 2013 season.   They have a good pair of experienced seniors in Logan Schafer and Nash Glidewell providing leadership.  Junior Joey Patchett is another Lion to keep an eye on. Former Syracuse star, JoJo Marasco, will take over the reigns at Windermere Prep.   The young Lakers team was 5-7 last season.  They had the benefit of the Bernhardts coaching through fall and winter ball.  Now, with Marasco taking over they should certainly be a well coached team.  The should be a very interesting team to watch over the next couple of seasons. Freedom finished 7-8 last year and looks to be in the mix again this season. District 14

West Orange is certainly in control of this district.  They are loaded this year with senior Nick Poidomani on attack.  The All-Metro returner holds school records for career assists, assists in a season and points in a season.  He certainly will break the school record for career points with only four more need and is in striking distance of the career goals mark. They have two solid defensmen.  Senior Trenton McGee is a fantastic one-on-one defender.  He is in any conversation about top defensmen in Orange County.  He is joined by Ben Irwin.  The junior was All-Metro last year and still only a junior.  Senior Grant Malquist is a first line middie who holds the school records for career face off wins and face off wins in a season.  He will be tough to be.  Baily Sarp is one of the most talked about players in the Metro-West district. He scored 64 goals last season as a sophomore middie.  He is back for his junior season.  They want to transition him to attack but some off-season injuries have slowed that down.  But he will score goals this year no matter where he ends up. Head coach Bill Baker and his Warriors and looking forward to the Wounded Warrior weekend to end the regular season.  “We are proud to participate for the second-straight year in TFA’s Wounded Warrior lacrosse weekend at the end of the season.  Not only are games against TFA and Bishop Moore great competition for us, but more importantly we are honored to partake in an event that raises both money and awareness for such a worthy cause.” Olympia moves into a new district with a new head coach as Bill Larkin looks to begin his first season. Ocoee will be in the mix to make the District championship game and they bested Olympia by one in a close game last season.  Second year coach Derek Greene will continue to build the program at East Ridge and Lake Minneola will play their third season.  They won four games last year after going winless in their inaugural season the year before.