Above – PV Sophomore Clay Welch is a strong presence at the F/O X for the Sharks This is our fifth installment of the FHSAA season preview.  We kept track of teams and players around the state, spoke to coaches, and watched some fall ball and think we have a pretty good handle on who is who in each district.  So here we go! See Districts 1 & 2 See Districts 3 & 4 See Districts 7 & 8 See Districts 9 & 10 See Districts 11 & 12 See Districts 13 & 14 District 5

Bolles gears up for 2015 with new head coach Brian Silcott at the helm.  Bolles has had the run of this three team district but Fleming Island continues to close the gap.  Last season Bolles won the district championship game over F.I. by two goals and won the regular season contest by only one goal.  Silcott inherits a very talented team with plenty of returners who had impact in 2014.  Most notable is Anthony Teixeira (Cornell.)   Ryan Kirchhoff will anchor the midfield.   Defensively they graduate quite a bit of talent in  JT Alexander, Nick Reinschmidt and Chris Ware (goalie) but they return senior Ben Lindsey who is a very talented defender.

Fleming Island returns 20 of 25 players who were featured on the 2014 District Roster.  Coach La Vangie commented, “This is by far out most experienced team ever.​  We finally have some depth at the midfield, along with an experienced close defense.”  Those returners include ​Hayden La Vangie (Jacksonville), Senior Middie, who is a standout performer on both ends of the field.  The Eagles have more scoring threats this year, so look for La Vangie’s assist numbers to jump up. On the attack look for Jack Hawley to have a breakout season.  The Sophomore attack​man is big 6’1″ with a cannon of a shot.  Ryan Kelly, Junior Goalie, had  tremendous 2014 season with a 65% save rate.  The coaching staff feels that Ryan’s skills have only increased over the off season and that college coaches will surely take notice of this relatively unknown talent.  Jaren Szafranski, senior defender, missed over half of his junior year due to an injury sustained in game one.  Jaren is a solid defender and excellent ground ball technician.  Watch for him to line up on the wing this year in addition to his close defender role. Another senior on the defensive end of the field who we think will have a big year is Chase Wilson.  Coach La Vangie said,“Chase is my get it done defender.  He can clear the ball, play great close defense, and always makes intelligent decisions while on the field.  It’s hard to quantify what he does in a game, that’s until you watch the film.”  Others to watch:  Aiden deAbreu-Reese (senior Defender), Josh Calloway (Senior Defender), Devan Marquis (Junior Middie), Sam Barrington (Junior Middie.)

Fleming Island is stepping up their strength of schedule this season adding IMG and Oxbridge Academy. The Oxbridge game is being played at Jacksonville University prior to the Richmond versus JU games on Saturday, March 21st Mandarin is an improving program with a motivated group of players and head coach, Jeff Hawkins.  The players have been working hard this offseason and are looking to close the distance between themselves and two other very strong programs in this district.  They’ll need to overcome the departure of middie Johnny Dister (Saint Leo) who leaves a void in the midfield.  Look for Greg Depue, Jared Kane, and Aaron Adams to step up this season to fill that void.  Casey Connell, Robert Carney, and Willie Hauman should be the starters on attack while defenseman German Chica, Tyler Charpentier and Tyler Torrente will play in front of the strong presence of Brent Gordon in the goal. Madarin is another Duval County school that is finally getting a chance to expand their schedule.  Big games against out of county teams include Creekside (at the Moe’s Southwest Grill Classic,) Matanzas, Flagler, and St. Augustine.   District 6

Ponte Vedra is looking to return to the final four again this year and would certainly appear to have the talent to do it.  In fact, the 2015 PV team has more D1 commits than ever before.  Strong and experienced at the attack position they are led by seniors Miles Silva (Army) and Rob Peeters (Florida.) Sophomore Reid Smith has looked great over the summer and fall and we are looking for him to have a big season. A very athletic midield unit features a ton of college bound talent.   Seniors Logan Taucher (Air Force), Eric Applegate (Jacksonville),Ryan Wiele (Florida), Conor Vaughan (Lynn), and sophomore F/O Middie Clay Welch (High point.)   Defensively they have three standout seniors LSM Dylan Oshea (Clemsen), John Harding (LIU Post), and  Colin Peaks (Gettysburg). While the Sharks graduated some great players such as Cody Legeza, Jason Randolph, RJ Garcia, we think this team is still deep.  They have made the final four each of the last five years.  No public school has reached the final since Lake Brantley lost to Saint Andrews in 2008 and 2009.   Could this be their year? There is a lot of lacrosse between here and there and anything could happen.

Creekside is a young team with second year coach Jason Alford at the helm. They were 8-9 last season and squeaked by Bartram Trail in the District Semi-Final to reach the district championship game.   They are led by a junior midfield Julian Bonilla.  Bonilla is a tremendous athlete who is an excellent Face Off man and can also score a ton of goals.  He is joined at the midfield by talented senior Adam Spano.  Look for junior defenseman Tiernan Hart to have a solid year. Bartram Trail was also 8-9 last season.  They beat Creekside 13-10 in the regular season and would, no doubt, like the make it to the district championship this year.  They are young on attack led by a pair of juniors  Alex Testa and Gavin Parr.  Look for senior Max Kuzma, junior Tommy Ruede and freshman Aiden Parr to start on the midfield.  Senior goalie Aaron Leirvik anchors a defense that features senior Austin Robertson, junior Patrick Brittain, and sophomore Ethan Hale. Nease Pat Harnett looks to bring some stability to the Nease program as he become the fourth head coach in four years for the Panthers.  Coming off of an 8-8 season Nease is very competitive in this district.  They played some great games last season which included a win over a good Fleming Island team, OT losses against Oak Hall and Creekside.  They also played Bolles to a 2 goal game. Pat Harnett takes over a team that once played Lake Brantley in the State Semi-Final game (2009).  Nease graduated a pair of solid scorers in Justin Frisch and Stephen Hemingway.  Brent Whiting scored 23 goals as a sophomore last season and should be a big part of the offense this year along with junior Joey Oliveira.  Senior LSM Justin Glinka should have a big year. Sign up to get our nightly email updates! Don’t miss a thing this season.  Click here!