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 15.  See District 19.  See District 20. See District 23.  See District 24.   District 21   District 21 was dominated by Oxbridge Academy last season and since they didn’t graduate a single starter that is likely the result this year too. They defeated King’s Academy 17-7 to capture the District crown and then they advanced to the second round the brackets with a narrow victory over Wellington, before falling to #6 Boca Raton in the second round.  King’s Academy got past Cardinal Newman in the first round of district in the other side of the bracket and looks to challenge Oxbridge this season.   Head Coach Stan Ross’ (who also is the head coach for the MLL’s Florida Launch) Oxbridge team ran the table in District and their only regular season losses were road games at Barron Collier, PJP II and PB Gardens.  One area for improvement will be on the schedule.  While competitive in all of the losses there were few high end wins and Coach Ross has stepped up this year’s schedule substantially by adding SA, Jupiter, Jensen Beach and IMG Academy, as well as up and coming Fleming Island.  

  Oxbridge returns it’s entire starting lineup from last season and will only start one senior this season, Brandon Barrett, a long pole.  Some of the key returnees are the high-scoring triumvirate at attack: Riley Smith (32G/15A), Tyler Jerd (31G/4A) and Liam Lisec (37G/21A).  Joining them on a well-balanced offense are middies Zach Ranta (21G/29A) and Robert Bayless (25G/14A), while Bobby Kilian chipped in 14G too.  Colin Hayek returns at LSM where he will bring his pit bull approach to the team and his younger brother Brandon, a North Carolina commit, takes the lead at long pole.  Clearly a program headed for greater things.   King’s Academy finished 10-8 on the season and looks for more this year as they were not quite able to get a signature win last season.  Coach Brett VanAlstyne has been on a steady upswing after going 2-11 in 2012 and he looks towards senior goalie Steven Grove (Palm Beach Atlantic), junior attackman Jonathan Neal and junior middie Kyle Saccal to keep the trend going.     Cardinal Newman took a nice step forward last season, going 10-6 and splitting the two games with King’s Academy; unfortunately for them they lost the wrong game and King’s made the finals.  The Crusaders also gained a nice win over American Heritage/Boca late in the season.  Repeating that record would be a nice step forward for Coach Jason Carlstrom’s team as the schedule also takes a step up, with PJP II, Pine Crest, Calvary Christian and Belen Jesuit added on with only Wellington taken off last year’s slate.  

  CN will be relying on Nic Kramer between the pipes and he has started there since his freshman year.  Jake Moschella returns at long pole to bolster the defense.  Returning starters Tommy Coppini and Andre Fernandez are garnering interest from D2 college programs.  Goals against was a problem against the better offenses so there is where Cardinal Newman will focus this season.   Suncoast-Riviera Beach rounds out the District and is coming off a tough 3-12 season as both sides of the ball experienced growing pains.  New coach Bobby Hantske looks to senior LSM Issac Smith, sophomore middie/facoff Logan Perkins and sophomore attackman Ben Spivey to lead the squad.  The team will be young as Coach Hantske will play a number of freshmen who he feels are ready to break into the lineup.  The common theme for the team is to outwork the opposition as their calling card.   District 22   District 22 was won by Wellington last season as they defeated American Heritage/Boca in the final before losing to Oxbridge in the first round.  This district is on the upswing given that legendary Florida coach Jeff Goldberg is now firmly putting his touch on the American Heritage program.  This will give impetus to Wellington also continuing to upgrade its’ program.  Palm Beach Central also resides here and Park Vista rounds out the likely playoff entries.  John I. Leonard is in a difficult situation here and will need to make up a lot of ground in the future.   Wellington Head Coach Joe Calby looks to keep his program on the upswing after taking a little back-step in the regular season last year, following 2013’s 12-5 breakout with a 12-9 record against similar competition.  The Wolverines started out strongly, knocking off a solid Stoneman Douglas team and American Heritage back to back but then hit a scoring drought against their better competition.  They gave then #1 Jupiter a nice tussle and then nearly knocked off #12 Pope John Paul II on the road before finishing strongly.  But looking back it was a season of missed opportunities and Wellington needs to find a way to win those close games this season.     Wellington’s top returning players are senior Patrick Oporto, a high scoring attackman and he will be joined by senior running mate Ryan Blum as they give Coach Calby a balanced righty-lefty tandem up front.  Senior Chad Moye returns to anchor the defense.  Wellington did graduate a number of high end talents, including goalie Logan Masta, Chris Englert and Jason D’Aoust and replacing all of them plus a number of senior middies will be no small task.   American Heritage/Boca finished third in the district last year with a 3-4 record and went 8-8 overall in Jeff Goldberg’s first season at the helm.  Their 13-12 OT win in the district semifinal was Coach Goldberg’s 399^th win at the high school level so a major milestone is on the line in the opening game of the season at home against Cardinal Newman.  AH/B takes a major step forward in their strength of schedule as Lake Highland, Columbus Catholic, Jensen Beach, Benjamin, IMG, Pine Crest, Vero Beach and St. Thomas Aquinas are new entrants.  Another 8-8 season would be quite an achievement.  

  AH/B returns a number of big contributors from last year’s team and in particular from the midfield and long poles.  Chase Skorupa (Bard College) is the main returning threat on attack, having produced 30+ points last year and will be expected to serve as the main playmaker this season.  Midfield returns juniors Roberto Villasana and Patrick Boylston.  Villasana is the offensive threat of the two and Boylston will take face-offs and is considered more of a two-way player.  The team’s tri-captains are all on the defensive side of the ball.  Senior Michael Hall also took face-offs (60%), chipped in 12 points at LSM and is considered the leader of the defense.  Juniors Parker Sargeant and Nick Updike round out the unit that is counted on to lead the team. It will be another in a long line of intriguing stories in this area.   Palm Beach Central Coach Bill Allen will look to improve on last year’s up and down 9-8 season.  PBC started the year with 3 straight victories, including an opening season win over a very good Spanish River squad and then comfortably beat AH/B in their third game.  Three losses to Top 20 Oxbridge, Columbus Catholic and PB Gardens then followed but the ship was righted with a solid win over Wellington.  The team then split the rest of the regular season games, failing to gain momentum.  The season ended with a disappointment in losing the first round game.  

  PBC looks to seniors Steve Acquaviva on defense and Sean Lemay at midfield to lead the team this year.  Coach Allen noted his junior class was strong, with Tyler Thomason and David Mendoza at midfield, Kevin Hagerty on attack and Jason Rosenbaum on defense and looks to sophomores Austin Cavallo on attack, Zach Sunderlin on defense and Jason’s brother Tyler in goal.   Park Vista struggled to a 5-10 record after losing their first 6 games to strong competition but then bounced back with wins against both Calvary Christian and AH/B and then continued with 3 out of 4, losing only to King’s Academy in OT.  The season ended on a low note as they lost their last three, again to top competition, including a first round loss to Wellington in the district playoffs.  The schedule isn’t quite as challenging this season and Coach Vinnie Mastro will look to Grayson Northrup, Timmy D’Antuono, Joey Augello, Tyler Hyland, Rayvon Romero, John Kennedy and Conor Smith to take the team foward this year. And let’s not forget PV Lacrosse OFF the field too! http://fln.mattplu.com/two-park-vista-lacrosse-players-save-children-from-boynton-inlet-rip-current-credit-lacrosse-conditioning-for-endurance/      John I. Leonard is struggling to make an impact on the lacrosse scene and the path up is steep.  Either the school needs to put resources behind the program or they need to consider whether to offer the sport at all.  Last year the team scored only 9 goals in ten games and did not hold any opponent below 13.  It’s time for the school to decide; let’s hope they take the steps they need to give their student-athletes the support they deserve.