The South Central bracket is deep and has some of the biggest teams from the last couple of seasons. St. Andrews, of course, looks to be a contender this season along with Jupiter, Benjamin, and Vero Beach.
District 21
When we asked the District 21 coaches to pick the team to beat Cardinal Newman coach Jason Carlstrom picked Oxbridge and Oxbridge Head Coach Stan Ross picked Cardinal Newman. So we’ll take their words for it. This one should come down to the Championship game.
Cardinal Newman will look to returning attackman Ryan Milano (Assumption) to lead the offense with Fritz Cushmore and at the other end of the field veteran Goalie Nic kramer and defenseman Cam Walsh should get the job done. Keep an eye on up and coming freshmen Nathan Grant on defense and Harry Cushmore.
Cardinal Newman is looking to build off of last year’s 9-8 season. The crusaders will be young. there are many freshman and sophomores that will see significant time.
Zach Ranta of Oxbridge
Oxbridge Academy had an impressive 10-8 season in their inaugural Varsity outing in 2013. They return with star LSMColin Hayek (2016) and standout Zach Ranta, a sophomore middie. Freshman Brandon Hayek is going to be tough on defense and Riley Smith is a 2016 middie to watch. We saw the Hayek brothers play at the Tournament of Champions and they are both serious solid defensemen. Oxbridge could be tough to score on.
The King’s Academy improved tremendously last season in their second year. Since then the TKA guys have been working hard on the summer club circuit and should return even better and more experienced. Don’t look for them to stand on the sidelines and let Oxbridge and Cardinal Newman fight it out for this district.
Suncoast -Riviera Beach (4-11 in 2013) rounds out this distrct.
District 22
Wellington goalie Logan Masta – photo courtesy of Photos by Gene
Coming off of a 12-5 season we have to pick Wellington to win this district. They did lose some top talent, however and will have to make some adjustments. The Wolverines will be counting on Jason D’Aoust (Saint Leo) and Junior Patrick Oporto to lead the offense on attack. Standout goalie Logan Masta will have a stellar season between the pipes. Bryce Dalton (Brevard College) returns and should have a fantastic senior season.
Palm Beach Central had a wining season last year and they will certainly be looking to build on that 9-7 season. Vince Mastro takes over at Park Vista and Jeff Goldberg will look to turn around American Heritage – Delray (2-14 in 2013).
We hope that we are not the only ones who are hoping that one of the big stories coming out of District 22 this season is a first ever victory for John I. Leonard High School. They enter their fifth season still looking for a “W” and we hope like heck they get one this year.
