Sorry for going a little bit out of order but it will be another day for 15,16,17, 18, 21 and 22 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.  See District 20.     District 23   Last year District 23 could be summed up in one word: Magical.  Three of the Top 12 teams in the state in the final poll.  And a fourth that also won big games out of conference.  A stunning pair of games between Boca Raton and Saint Andrew’s, both candidates for game of the year.  PJP II topping the district champions.  A ton of outside quality wins.  And when the dust cleared we had a first time District champion and a first time District non-champion. Arguably the greatest season one district has ever had. What will the encore be like?   Boca Raton comes into the season as the defending champions, advancing to the Elite 8 of the FHSAA brackets before bowing to Benjamin 9-7.  Coach Chris Holly’s team went 17-4, losing to Benjamin twice, PJP II and Vero Beach.  The season started very strong, as they rose to the #2 ranking in the state after running out to a 7-0 start.  Included in that start was a double OT thriller over Ponte Vedra in the Moe’s Classic to start the season, after sending the game to extra time by scoring in the last second of regulation.  Boca rode that start and in game 5 finally got the monkey off their back with a scintillating 6-5 win over SA, only the second time in Palm Beach County history that the Scots went down to defeat.  St. Thomas came to town 2 games later and that game also went to OT before Boca managed to finally put the game in the record books.  After stumbling a little in the middle of the season they won 10 of 11 before finally going down to defeat one game shy of a Final Four appearance.  

  Going into this season there will be one big question mark; how to replace a highly talented defense corps that had played together for three years?  Plenty of firepower remains.  Junior All-American Nick McCabe (Rutgers) brings his high motor two-way game back to midfield.  Seniors Parker Giarratana and Ryan Clinton are threats every time they wind up.  Junior LSM Brandon Ruditz will need to step up to take the pressure off of returning senior goalie Collin Pepper.  Put on top of this a brutal schedule that includes 10 Top 20 teams from last year in the 14-game schedule and the Bobcats will certainly earn their stripes this year.   Saint Andrew’s found itself in a situation last year that had never happened before; on the outside looking in through the window of the FHSAA playoffs.  For almost all other Florida programs a Top 10 final poll would be considered a real accomplishment.  For SA it was a major disappointment and the school took quite a step, hiring a true legend in the sport, Tony Seaman, to come in and run the program.  If anyone in a state that doesn’t start with an “FL” still wonders about how serious this state is now taking the sport then explain this hire.  Tremendous record on Long Island, head coach of Penn, Johns Hopkins and Towson, MLL GM of Denver . . . now SA head coach. Ho-ly smoke.     Last year SA was very strong defensively as they only ceded double digits to one Florida foe, Jupiter.  And as the offense went so went the team.  The season started out 5-1 as they slipped by Benjamin 8-7 and easily handling PJP II 13-2 and PB Gardens 18-6.  Those followed a solid road win over Vero in the opener.  Going into the Boca game it was business as usual, but SA then went 3-5 over their next 8 games and did not score more than 8 goals in any of the losses.  SA then got back on track with four straight until Boca finally knocked them off in the district final. The biggest wild card in Florida lacrosse this year . . . SA will be led by Addison Lutes up front with Peter Dykas distributing, with support from Sam Baker, Nick Diamond and Nick Iznaga.  Brandt Guldin, Keith Mahler and Spanish River transfer Davis Diamond lead the midfield.  Brian Fox, Owen Bezick and Tito Thompson will also help out.  Alex Newhouse is as good as it gets in the faceoff circle and the physical presence of Jake Bargas will be felt on defense.  Conlan O’Hara starts at LSM and Alex Heatzig returns at close defense.  Harris Feldman and Andrew Busel become the next in a long line of great goaltenders manning the Scots’ cage.  Senior middie Anthony Sciametta (VMI)  transfers over from St. Thomas Aquinas.   Pope John Paul II picked the wrong year to have such a strong team.  In pretty much any other district this team is battling for the title and a playoff berth.  Finishing #12 in the final poll.  Two All-Americans and a lot of other talent.  Victories over Boca, Jensen on the road, Oxbridge and Columbus Catholic.  Maybe the best team not talked about very much.  But it was not to be last season.  And if anything, it gets tougher this year as Coach Andy Bolger has increased the toughness of what was already a pretty good slate of opponents, as his team starts right out of the chute with Jupiter and Benjamin on successive days.  

  Three year starter Niko Morfogen returns in goal for the Eagles.  Returning A/M Drew Minchew (Roanoke) will be asked to take on the leadership role up front now that All-American Mikey Urso has graduated to D1 Mount St. Mary’s.  Utica commit Johnny Hanlon returns at M/F.  Other returning starters include Chase Caldararo, Chris Castello, Patrick Brower and Ryan McMahon.   Spanish River came into last season with high hopes of a playoff run but just didn’t quite find a way to get over the hump against the toughest competition.  Competitive early losses to both SA and Boca Raton highlighted a constant theme throughout the season.  The Sharks starting attack and midfield was pretty much the equal of any team in the state but a lack of depth caught up with them in a number of games and closing the deal was difficult.  There were certainly some solid wins, with road wins over underrated Cypress Bay, Stoneman Douglas and Wellington were matched with a comfortable win over rising University School.     Coach Brian Johnson has stepped down to move over to West Boca Raton and Zander Maslow has taken over the program.  Losing Davis Diamond is a huge blow to last year’s 10-8 team but the cupboard isn’t fully empty.  Returning will be Davis and Nick’s cousin  senior Jake Diamond, one of the best goalies in the state.  The attack returns two top scorers in senior Colton Stanger and junior Josh Stiefel.  Returning middies are senior Turner Walker and senior Austin Belrose and they will be joined by a brother tandem transferring in from SA in Josh and Jake Bernstein. The defense looks to step up this year as juniors Sam Rosenberg and Phillip Carson return.  Former backup goalie Conor Logan has made the transition to long pole and Coach Maslow is high on him.  Soph Nick Rakoczy adds to the mix.  Where Coach Maslow is really happy about is that 5 freshmen have made the team and Alex Ehrenstein is slated to start on attack.   West Boca Raton finds itself in the difficult position of needing to improve significantly just to be able to make the district playoffs.  The Bulls finished 1-13 last season in the state’s toughest district and struggled on both sides of the ball.  Coach Dustin Marquart has been joined by Brian Johnson and the school will need to take the long view with the program.  

  Leading returnees include Zach Rubenstein on attack, Ryan Mobley at LSM, Grant Telford at midfield and Michael Dornshuber on defense with Tyler Devita in goal.  The March 25^th game against Spanish River carries some extra emotion for West Boca this year.