There are no byes this year in the road to the FHSAA State Championships.  With a total of 32 districts the brackets breakdown pretty straight forward.  So let’s take a look at the upcoming 2014 FHSAA Season here as we break down the four brackets. The North Bracket consists of Districts 1-8, below is a look at District 5 and District 6.  The winner of these two districts will play each other in the first round and then go onto play the winner of the District 7 vs. 8 match up in the Regionals. District 5

Bolles went 3-0 in district competition last season and looks ready to do it again.   “We have focused on culture as team in year one. Now we would like to be more competitive each week for year two!” was the word from Coach Duncan. The attack will be led by junior Anthony Teixeira,  who has committed to begin the admissions process at Cornell, and Chris Rogowski, also a junior.  Top middies for the Bulldogs are juniors Alexander Mostovych and Ryan Kirchhoff, and senior Harrison Davie. Look for big seasons defensively from seniors JT Alexander and Nick Reinschmidt.  Senior Chris Ware will return to the goal after knee surgery in 2013. F/O Middie Josh Parker looks solid at the “X”.  Bolles has a young roster featuring five sophomores and two freshmen. Head Coach Brian Duncan commented, “The Bolles lacrosse team would like to build on the momentum of last year. We will focus on playing fundamental and tough. Our players will compete with intensity and class. The team is looking forward to 2014 starting Feb 17 vs Oak hall in Everbank field.”

Fleming Island finished second in the district last year and has a good young team.  Leading the scoring will be junior Hayden La Vangie a versatile attack/middie. His is coming into his junior season after leading the team in scoring in his freshman and sophomore seasons.  Has 108 career points in 28 varsity games.  He is joined by sophomores Devan Marquis on attack and middie Sam Barrington, who led the team with a 65% win percentage on face-offs as a freshman last season. Defensively, senior Jake Williams is moving from LSM to close defense and is sure to make an impact.  Junior Jaren Szafranski led the team in forced take aways last year and should have a big year. Although Flemming Island’s focus will clearly be on Bolles this season, they have a tough schedule ahead of them.   They play Ponte Vedra, Creekside, Episcopal, Oak Hall and Bartram Trail, all of which finished in the regional top 10 in 2013.

No matter what happens on the field, this group is going to make a difference.  The team will be volunteering its time to Quigley House Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.  This is a very worthy cause that FIHS is glad to support. Mandarin had a great 2013 outing ending with a winning season.  But they are looking to step it up a notch in this small but tough district. Senior attack Johnny Dister will be a threat again on offense. The coaches say that he has matured a lot in the off season, put on some weight, and improved his skills over the summer.  Head coach Janine Brand is happy with what she is seeing from her attack so far. “Overall I think our attack unit is very strong. Junior Casey Connell has improved tremendously and all five players at the position have strong skills.”

Junior Greg DePue will be leading the Mandarin midfield this year.  He is an athletic two-way middie who can really push the transition.  Senior Pedro Lima is very strong as a defensive middie and Mandarin has a freshman to keep an eye on in Aaron Adams who is expected to be a strong middie at both ends of the field. Senior defenseman Justin Curtis will be leading the Mandarin defense this year. He is a tough match up for most attackmen and leads the team in caused turnovers.  Sophomore Tyler Charpentier is another one to watch. He has what Coach Brand calls “excellent radar” and snags a lot of interceptions. (See what happens what happens when you keep your stick up and to the inside on defense? You get your name on FloridaLacrosseNews.com in the season preview!!) Junior goalie Brent Gordon spent a lot of time in the off-season improving his already strong skill set. He is really driven to excellence which has paid off in all three of his sports. He’s also a strong leader and has restarted the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mandarin Mustangs will play Providence Stallions at Everbank on February 17^th at 8:00PM in an exciting equine match up to kick off the season. District 6

Ponte Vedra is clearly the team to beat in District 6 and may be the team to beat in the state.  PV is looking at one of those seasons where you just know… this is the time.  They made the semi-finals last year and return over half of the starters from that team.  Including Jacksonville commit RJ Garcia at midfield, Dickinson commit Evan Weiner at LSM, and Skidmore Commit Cody Legeza – a versatile attack/middie. Add to that group a pair of Saint Leo commits in Jason Randolph and Garret Boyle, Miles Silva at midfield who is heading to Army, and junior middie Eric Applegate who is heading to Jacksonville. We’re looking forward to seeing this team in action as they kick off their season on Monday at the Moe’s Southwest Grill Classic against Boca High School. Bartram Trail is one of three teams in the district who are transitioning new coaching staffs this year.  John Jackowiak will take the regins for his first season with the Bears as he looks for Seniors Zach and Kevin Sutton to lead his attack. Standout senior middies Dalton Cook (Catawba), Michael Wires (Catawba) will be leading the midfield unit. Defenseman Austin Betros (Mount Olive) is looking for a big senior season.  He will team up with Senior Austin Kulas and Junior Hayden Goode to form a stingy defensive unit. Coach Jackoviak and his Bears will be volunteering with the special olympics track at Menendez HS on March 8th.

Creekside is certainly going to be a team in transition this season.  They have a new coach and only three players returning from last season.  However, they have had heavy participation during off season training and have worked hard in fall/winter ball season to prepare. New head coach Jason Alford will be looking to senior middie Gabe Torres to lead a young midfield unit.  He will be working with sophomore Julian Bonilla and juniors Thomas Foster and Adam Spano. A pair of seniors will bring some experience to the attack unit and Matt Tidball and Zack Gaver will start along with sophomore Logan Tonkovich. The defense will be led by LSM Joel Fiske and standout senior goalie Kyle Tumbarello (Lynn). Nease new head coach Joe Byrnes is looking to get the program on the right track after a 6-12 outing in 2013.  He is looking to senior middie Justin Lee and sophomore middie Mike Cotter to get things done at both ends of the field.  Senior Justin Frisch and sophomore Joey Oliviera will be leading the offense and Kent Norris looks to have a good year in the goal.  He will be working behind a senior heavy defense of Sean Goudy, Alex Mazzuco, and Jasin Hardin.