Sorry for going a little bit out of order but it will be another day for 15,16,17 and 18 to be completed! See Districts 1 & 2, See Districts 3 & 4, See Districts 5 & 6, see Districts 7 & 8, See Districts 9 & 10, See Districts 11 & 12, See Districts 13 & 14.  See District 19.   District 20   One of last year’s powerhouse Districts, this group featured state runner-up Benjamin, preseason #1 Jupiter and one of the more underrated teams all season in Palm Beach Gardens, which finished #18 in the final Media Poll.  Benjamin and Jupiter met in what was one of two District final match-ups of Top 10 teams and the game did not fail to live up to the billing.  Benjamin pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 8-6 win and rode that momentum through a playoff ‘murderers row’ of Jensen, MCC, Boca Raton and St. Thomas Aquinas before finally running out of steam in the state championship game, 9-2, to defending champion Lake Highland Prep.  Still, only three years removed from club status, Benjamin and Jupiter showed they belong, and will belong, for a long time to come.   Benjamin Coach Shane Rye’s team started off the season 1-3, losing to 2 traditional powers but also losing a neutral site game to 10-11 Hagerty to start the season.  Perhaps the turning point in the season was an overtime win over then unbeaten St. Thomas Aquinas.  Benjamin then traveled north to take on two national powers in Calvert Hall and Severn from the MIAA and after returning home ran the table until the state finals.  Included in that streak were wins over Jupiter and Boca Raton, both on the road.     Coach Rye returns a strong group of players who saw significant time, including Andrew Packer (Maryland), Ohio State commit Colin O’Hare, Cameron Thompson (Rutgers) and Chris Erdmann (Kenyon).  The cousin tandem of Bobby O’Leary and Wil Nicklaus also add significant firepower to the Bucs.  Where Benjamin will seek answers is on the defensive side of the ball as the entire starting defense, including Yale-bound Jerry O’Connor and Manhattan-bound goalie Anthony Cicio graduated.   Coach Dan Loftus’ Jupiter squad started the year as the #1 team in the state and certainly showed why early in the year as they started 7-0, with wins over LHP, Jensen Beach, PJP II, Wellington, Barron Collier, Saint Andrew’s and Lake Mary.  That’s SIX of the Top 14 teams in the final poll.  Add a win over Ponte Vedra and it isn’t difficult to see why their early ranking was deserved.  But injuries finally took their toll and four close losses to Vero, Benjamin twice and St. Thomas pushed their final ranking down to #8.  They also failed to make the brackets, leaving a bad taste that the team looks to change this season.  

  Jupiter returns a lot of top end talent and the key to the season is to see how the younger players step up to their roles.  Coach Loftus believes he has the best goalie in the state in Viper Scheele – junior, a Bryant commit, to backstop the defense, which lost Braylen Sampson to graduation.  Duke commit Connor Alexander leads the defense after achieving All-American status as a sophomore.  Peter Cox (senior – Army) leads a young midfield unit and Zach Crotty (Jacksonville) and Jesse Foertmeyer return to provide the offense.  Jupiter will look to put up some more offense as that was an issue later in the year.  Either way, another strong season is expected for the Warriors as they take on what is likely the toughest schedule in the state.   Palm Beach Gardens, led by new head coach Robert May was one of the pleasant surprises of Florida lacrosse last year, going 10-5 and finishing #18 in the Media poll.  Their only losses were to Benjamin, SA, St. Edwards and Jupiter twice, all Top 20 teams and defeated Jensen, Oxbridge, Martin County and South Fork.  They are led by one of the best kept secrets in Florida lacrosse, junior attackman Trevor Keena, who averaged 5.5 points per game (3 goals, 2.5 assists) while playing against some of the best long poles in the state.  Junior Hunter Arenda will give support on attack.  The midfield is led by senior Zach Dees, Palm Beach Atlantic recruit Jon Buechele, junior Dalton Anderson and senior Tony Forte, who also faces off for the Gators.  The defense lost Matt Morris but returns junior Hunter Arbit.     Of course the tough part is the District but Coach May looks to continue the progress made by Justin Gilken, who retired to focus on his academic duties.  Since Coach Gilken is now the Department Head of English at PBG (and a tad of media experience before that) perhaps we can snag him into contributing to the site?   Long time WT Dwyer head coach Chris Heide, even in a down year, manages to pull a surprise or two every year.  Although they struggled to a 4-10 mark in this difficult conference, two of those wins were against Martin County and #17 Columbus Catholic.  The win over CC rates consideration for the upset of the year in the state last season.  They also took PB Gardens down to the wire before losing by a goal.  Scoring became an issue late in the season against the top teams so that remains an item of focus for this season.  WT Dwyer faced the 4^th hardest schedule in the state and this year’s slate is not far below.  

  The Dwyer defense has upperclassmen Matt Misquith (Sr), Danny Pagano(Jr.) and Austin Paxson(Jr.).  They will rely on their strong defensive play as the younger midfield gains experience.   The midfield is led by senior captain Andrew Poirier and Alex Cabrera(Jr.).  Senior captain Henry Heidi and junior Nick Calabria will direct the attack.  Matt Misquith is committed to Tampa.  Pagano and Paxson are currently being courted by some excellent academic institutions.