Nothing seems more revealing to me about generational differences than first thoughts. After watching the latest chapter of the epic novel of Benjamin-Jupiter lacrosse I had a sense of ‘I’ve seen this before’. Or as the most people would say – ‘Deja Vu’ For some reason, the first thought for that term was the awesome Dionne Warwick version of the song.  So when I pulled that up I found how out of touch I was about the song.  There are five others that also wrote a song called Deja Vu, including some recent ones. What I’m not out of touch on is how great this rivalry is.     So I went back to previous matchups for some inspiration on how to start this article and found a lot of material.  Much of which is still so relevant. 3/27/2014 “First, I could watch these two teams play every week.  A couple of miles apart along Military Trail.  Players who grew up together, playing on travel teams and clubs.” How about it Shane and Danny?  Can we play again on Monday for fun? April 2014 “Benjamin Knocks Off Jupiter 8-6 to Capture District 20” Scary . . . same score No story but Wells did do an ESPNWestPalm Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-InrpDt36A 4/10/2015 “Quite the atmosphere in Jupiter last night as the Warriors get revenge for last year’s District championship loss via a 15-9 defeat of The Benjamin School.  Over 700 people were in attendance – topped that last night pretty easily! (and one Palm Beach Post Sports Writer . . . hallelujah!) – Just a random thought . . . what if the PB Post asked for press credentials for the Final Four and the FHSAA asked them to justify it based on their lacrosse coverage this season . . . ahh, one can dream can’t they?  Would love to be a fly on the wall for that discussion . . .  and the spirited crowd saw once again the usual intensity these two teams save for each other.” And “One statistic to back this up . . . each team had 23 shots on net, not including posts.  But Jupiter did this on 32 attempts while Benjamin did this on 50. Efficiency.  Thy name is Jupiter last night.” Well, that one turned around last night . . . arguably the difference last night was Benjamin hitting the net with 18 of 30 shots attempted and Jupiter only hitting 15 of 34.  Two goal margin?  Right there. And then this “Until the fresh scent of a new season next calendar year, when the renewal comes forward like the annual blooming of an orchid . . . to be cherished for the rare atmosphere this wonderful rivalry is.” As they said in the 60’s – you bet your bippy it does Deja Vu.     As always, high school sports giveth and taketh. We were given another wonderful game last night . . . fast-paced, intense, physical but not dirty. A last 90 seconds that were not drawn up on either chalk board . . . sorry, dry erase board . . . A very mature performance by Andrew Packer and Colin O’Hare, combining for six goals, as part of a Benjamin offense that finally looks to be at full strength. But there was some taketh too. We will no longer get to see Viper Scheele locally throwing 50-yard bullet outlet passes to middies in stride – I didn’t get to say it on the field afterwards but THANK YOU for four years of getting to cover you . . . but remember, there’s one game each year at Bryant (possibly two if the NEC tourney is included) I’m rooting against you.  Don’t take it personally. Michael Dean will no longer be cutting off ball on man up And some parents didn’t get the message about yelling at the refs.  Root FOR the kids, not AGAINST the refs.  It really does work better that way.     There’s really not a lot I can say about the game itself. In my opinion it came down to shooting and the stats pretty much reveal that. In the Jupiter games I covered this year . . . 29 for 42 hit the net against NSU-University . . . 13 for 18 against SA . . . 22 of 33 against Oxbridge . . . 18 for 29 against Lake Brantley . . . 18 for 29 against STA 15 for 34 last night.  Partly that was on Benjamin’s defense playing so much better than last year, but a lot of that was on good looks that just flat out missed the cage. On top of that Benjamin goalie Austin Michels (or ‘CMM’ as the scuttlebutt goes – we’ll keep that as an inside joke for now) pretty much played evenly with Viper and that was a big factor too. Otherwise, like so often in this rivalry, a few key plays made the difference.  None that you can say were definitive at the time, just some here and there that added up. But sometimes the little things do make the difference.     Jupiter’s Alex Derrico put them up at 9:56 of the first as he curled from right behind and his left hand found the high short side.  O’Hare evened it at 7:57 as he duplicated the Derrico move but his shot went to the far side instead.  A little over two minutes later Benjamin took the lead at 2-1 as Cameron Thompson found Packer on the right wing from right behind and Packer found the top left corner with the shot.  The lead was stretched to 3-1 at 3:25 as Thompson face dodged from right behind, finishing with the left hand to the far side to end the first. Jupiter closed the gap just 47 seconds into the second as Dean and Kevin Justice teamed up, with Justice finding Dean in the middle from the right wing for the right hand finish.  The lead went back to two as a fast break off a turnover led to O’Hare taking Griffin Bowie’s up top feed all alone on the left crease for the finish at 9:52.  Jupiter rallied with two goals in 46 seconds to tie the game at 4.  Derrico worked the right wing towards the goal and his 5-yard shot finished low and then Justice connected on a right alley dodge that hit the far low corner.  With 1:29 left in the half Packer regained the lead for Benjamin when he worked the right wing against a double team and after spinning twice his right hand hit the top left corner for 5-4.  Packer then added one on with 5 seconds as he again used a spin move, hitting the short side with his left hand to make it 6-4 at the half. After some possession changes Benjamin opened up a 4-goal lead with two goals in a minute in the third.  At 8:14 O’Hare took Bowie’s right wing feed in the middle and went right hand low and that was followed at 7:17 as Christian Cropp found Mike Buttelman all alone on the left crease from right GLE for the open net shot.  3 minutes later Jupiter got one back as Dean took a pass all alone in the middle from Tommy Pinkham and his left hand found net low to make it 8-5 after three. Two minutes into the fourth the lead was cut to two as Denver Aranda took the Pinkham behind the net feed in front and he one-timed the shot home for 8-6.  The rest of the game was a contest between Jupiter looking to find another while Benjamin was looking to play possession until the stall warning came on.  Jupiter’s shooting was the best in the fourth but Michels made four saves to keep them at bay.  Scheele also made three saves that were key in keeping it a game. The final 90 seconds had to be seen . . . I can’t really fully describe them.  58 minutes of very smart play followed by some decisions that had both coaches reaching for the Maalox.  Nothing better symbolized the frustration for Jupiter’s comeback bid than a clear 4 on 3 fast break in that 90 seconds where they didn’t get the shot off at goal. Game over. And for many, career over. Also Deja Vu. Benjamin goes on to the first round with a road game at Jensen Beach on Friday.   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  Jupiter  10-7 Shots:  Jupiter  34-30 Shots on Goal:  Benjamin  18-15 Turnovers:  Jupiter  16-13 Penalties:  1 each   Individual Statistics   Benjamin Andrew Packer and Colin O’Hare with 3G each Cameron Thompson  1G/1A Michael Buttelman  1G Griffin Bowie  2A Christian Cropp  1A Austin Michels with 9 saves   Jupiter Alex Derrico and Michael Dean with 2G each Kevin Justice  1G/1A Denver Aranda  1G Tommy Pinkham  2A Viper Scheele with 10 saves   Thanks to Coach Rye and Coach Loftus for talking to me before and after the game