By Lee Roggenburg Pope John Paul High School in Boca Raton was the location Saturday night for the latest battle for respect of Florida lacrosse as Inside Lacrosse’s preseason #1 high school team Boys’ Latin of Maryland opened their season by topping Lake Highland Prep 13-9 in a spirited game featuring many Division 1 recruits. Boy’s Latin’s depth proved too much for LHP to overcome, despite a scintillating four goal performance by Georgetown-bound Devon Lewis of LHP. BL’s Colin Heacock (U. of Maryland commit) led BL with 5 goals, with Shack Stanwick (Johns Hopkins) contributing 1G and 4A, while Michael Lynch (Towson) also potting a hat trick. Billy Roll of LHP chipped in 3 goals in support of Lewis. The game started pretty much as if LHP scripted it. A slow tempo and a statistically even first period allowed Lewis the opportunity to dodge frequently, resulting in his scoring twice in the opening frame, as LHP took a 3-1 lead after the first quarter. BL was playing their first game of the season and it showed as they turned the ball over six times in the frame. The momentum turned in the second as BL scored three goals in a 90-second span in the second, on way to a 6-1 advantage in the period. Roll scored his first to stem the run and tie at 4 but BL then ripped off another three goal run in three minutes to take a 7-4 advantage at halftime. After the break BL then scored the first two goals of period three, stretching the lead to five. The teams then pretty much traded goals throughout the rest of the second half, with LHP only being able to cut the lead to three once, with two minutes left. BL then capped the scoring with a late goal, giving the two teams the final 13-9 result. Going into the game the most intriguing matchup was BL’s junior attackman Shack Stanwick (IL Mag #1 Rising Junior in the 2012 rankings) and the latest in a long lineage of the Stanwick lacrosse clan versus LHP’s shut down defender Casey Irish (BU commit). At even strength the matchup was pretty even, with Stanwick going 1 & 2. On EMO, Stanwick was able to contribute 2 assists. Watching Stanwick it is easy to see how he holds that rating given the stick skill and vision he brings to the game. BL’s EMO was particularly lethal as they were able to move LHP’s man down defense around and ended up getting a number of entry passes through the middle of the defense for Heacock to either bury or get off point blank shots on LHP’s goalie Adam Sawicki (Lehigh commit). Statistically BL got better over the course of the game. BL won the faceoff battle 16-10, including 5-0 in the third. BL took 35 shots, with 22 on goal for their 13 goals. LHP took 20 shots, with 12 on goal for their 9 goals. BL played two goalies evenly. Most of the goals scored by BL were within six yards of goal, making the save percentages look worse than they seemed. LHP turned the ball over 23 times while BL turned it over 17. Boy’s Latin returns to action Tuesday when they travel about a half mile up the road to St. Andrew’s, where they renew that annual rivalry. Last year’s game ended with a 7-6 BL win on a last second goal. LHP is also back in action this Tuesday with a home game against First Academy. For Boys’ Latin a solid start to their quest for a national championship over an excellent team on the road, while for LHP another measuring stick game for how their program has improved to. All in all a great night for lacrosse for the local fans.