FHSAA Season Preview – District 18
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
District 18
District 18 provided an exciting three-way race at the top as Bishop Verot, Cypress Lakes and Estero all had excellent seasons, with Bishop Verot finding a way to get through the District before bowing out in the first round to Cardinal Mooney. Along the way we were witness to one very unusual occurrence . . . a Fort Myers team that finished 5-12 managed to give 12-2 Cypress Lakes fits in all three games played, each one goal games, and Ft. Myers managed to take down Cypress Lakes in OT in the District semifinals! Almost kryptonite-like. Will we see a similar result this year?
Bishop Verot split the regular season with Estero with each winning at home before BV got past Estero 9-7 in the district semifinal at home. BV played a high scoring game out of district with Gulf Coast before falling but was manhandled at Barron Collier last year, leaving Bishop Verot looking for that signature win in the area.
Coach Gary Neese has helped the program to continue their streak of winning seasons since 2008 and taking that next step is the goal for the year. Finding a way past Cardinal Mooney will be that step.
Cypress Lakes, 12-2 in the regular season, split with BV in the regular season and was probably looking ahead to the rubber match in District and probably learned a good lesson from it. It’s hard to judge the record given the strength of schedule but Coach Bruce DeKoff did manage to turn a 2-13 record in 2014 to 12-2 in one year so it’s hard to critique anything. This year will be important in continuing the momentum.
Estero finished with an excellent record of 13-4 but just couldn’t get over the hump against their two district foes Bishop Verot and Cypress Lake, which went 4-0 against them, with their 9-7 loss to Bishop Verot in the district playoff particularly painful. Although the out of district schedule was weak the squad did show a very solid defensive effort as they held every opponent under 10 goals except for one of the Cypress losses and showed a consistency to their offensive output too. A program that needs to see how they fare against a better schedule.
Head Coach Greg Blurton takes over for Richard Williamson, who moves on to Riverdale.
Riverdale (Ft. Myers) has been a non-competitive program on both the Boys and Girls side of the equation for many years but an interesting twist has occurred as the husband and wife tandem of Richard and Michelle have moved over (Richard coached Estero to a 14-3 record last season) to see how they can jump start the programs!
Coach Williamson wrote in to us about this: “We’ve worked hard to raise awareness of the sport and ran a multi-sport boot camp and conditioning program open to all students. Up to 40 showed up for voluntary and very intense workouts. We made the lacrosse team cool to join. Our kids are in great shape and are eager to learn. Last year, there were seven girls who came out to pre-season conditioning and the boys team had only a little over a dozen players for the season. This year, BIG change! We had 24 girls try out and 36 boys. We had cuts for the first time. Our 2016 motto is “Believe it!” because we believe in the team and the team believes it can win.
It’s the most exciting program I’ve been involved in in ages. The attitude of the kids is inspiring and the school is wonderfully supportive. Underdogs. New hopes and dreams. Great kids.”
Coach Williamson will look to Kyle Palmer, midfielder, Class of 2017 (the only player with extensive experience). Last year he had 14 goals, 3 assists, face off percentage of 60%, 30 ground balls. Cameron McKenzie, LSM/Defense/Midfielder, Class of 2017 – is a tenacious defender and has a lot of potential as LSM and short-stick middle, as well.
Coach Williamson also noted: “Bishop Verot is the perennial favorite here in Lee County. Fort Myers HS may be second strongest. Estero is probably third. We are in the basement until next year.
Our goal is to win a few, score a bunch, and start looking like a winning team. We will run formations and plays, walk off the field proud of ourselves for being in the game. THAT is a huge accomplishment for our boys. Riverdale scored 17 goals last year. Not in one game…in the whole season! Goals against were something like 155. No wins in two years. We have new coaching, a new philosophy, and a solid group of dedicated athletes who want to succeed. The trick will be taking what are essentially rookie players and getting them to play at a much higher level than they believe they can play. If we are able to jam 4 years of lacrosse knowledge into a couple of weeks of practice before the first game, Riverdale is looking to turn things around. We won’t be vying for the championship (THIS year, anyway), but we WILL improve. In 2016, Riverdale will start to earn respect from other teams as a lacrosse program NOT as a bunch of kids who try really hard with no hope of winning. Look for steady improvement over the course of the year—and the first victories in years. “
Fort Myers come off a 5-12 season with one huge upset in District. Goals against needs to be focused on as the team gave up 13 or more goals 8 times last season. Cut that down and turn the OT games around and Coach Chip Dopman could be looking at a .500 season.
Canterbury-Ft.Myers finished 6-9 last season but was handled easily by the tougher teams on the schedule. Like their namesake above, cutting down on the goals against is the primary focus for improvement. Ten times they yielded 11 or more goals. Coach Dave Manzi is one of the deans of the coaching ranks, having led Canterbury through their club and varsity status.
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Bishop Verot split the regular season with Estero with each winning at home before BV got past Estero 9-7 in the district semifinal at home. BV played a high scoring game out of district with Gulf Coast before falling but was manhandled at Barron Collier last year, leaving Bishop Verot looking for that signature win in the area.
Coach Gary Neese has helped the program to continue their streak of winning seasons since 2008 and taking that next step is the goal for the year. Finding a way past Cardinal Mooney will be that step.
Cypress Lakes, 12-2 in the regular season, split with BV in the regular season and was probably looking ahead to the rubber match in District and probably learned a good lesson from it. It’s hard to judge the record given the strength of schedule but Coach Bruce DeKoff did manage to turn a 2-13 record in 2014 to 12-2 in one year so it’s hard to critique anything. This year will be important in continuing the momentum.
Estero finished with an excellent record of 13-4 but just couldn’t get over the hump against their two district foes Bishop Verot and Cypress Lake, which went 4-0 against them, with their 9-7 loss to Bishop Verot in the district playoff particularly painful. Although the out of district schedule was weak the squad did show a very solid defensive effort as they held every opponent under 10 goals except for one of the Cypress losses and showed a consistency to their offensive output too. A program that needs to see how they fare against a better schedule.
Head Coach Greg Blurton takes over for Richard Williamson, who moves on to Riverdale.
Riverdale (Ft. Myers) has been a non-competitive program on both the Boys and Girls side of the equation for many years but an interesting twist has occurred as the husband and wife tandem of Richard and Michelle have moved over (Richard coached Estero to a 14-3 record last season) to see how they can jump start the programs!
Coach Williamson wrote in to us about this: “We’ve worked hard to raise awareness of the sport and ran a multi-sport boot camp and conditioning program open to all students. Up to 40 showed up for voluntary and very intense workouts. We made the lacrosse team cool to join. Our kids are in great shape and are eager to learn. Last year, there were seven girls who came out to pre-season conditioning and the boys team had only a little over a dozen players for the season. This year, BIG change! We had 24 girls try out and 36 boys. We had cuts for the first time. Our 2016 motto is “Believe it!” because we believe in the team and the team believes it can win.
It’s the most exciting program I’ve been involved in in ages. The attitude of the kids is inspiring and the school is wonderfully supportive. Underdogs. New hopes and dreams. Great kids.”
Coach Williamson will look to Kyle Palmer, midfielder, Class of 2017 (the only player with extensive experience). Last year he had 14 goals, 3 assists, face off percentage of 60%, 30 ground balls. Cameron McKenzie, LSM/Defense/Midfielder, Class of 2017 – is a tenacious defender and has a lot of potential as LSM and short-stick middle, as well.
Coach Williamson also noted: “Bishop Verot is the perennial favorite here in Lee County. Fort Myers HS may be second strongest. Estero is probably third. We are in the basement until next year.
Our goal is to win a few, score a bunch, and start looking like a winning team. We will run formations and plays, walk off the field proud of ourselves for being in the game. THAT is a huge accomplishment for our boys. Riverdale scored 17 goals last year. Not in one game…in the whole season! Goals against were something like 155. No wins in two years. We have new coaching, a new philosophy, and a solid group of dedicated athletes who want to succeed. The trick will be taking what are essentially rookie players and getting them to play at a much higher level than they believe they can play. If we are able to jam 4 years of lacrosse knowledge into a couple of weeks of practice before the first game, Riverdale is looking to turn things around. We won’t be vying for the championship (THIS year, anyway), but we WILL improve. In 2016, Riverdale will start to earn respect from other teams as a lacrosse program NOT as a bunch of kids who try really hard with no hope of winning. Look for steady improvement over the course of the year—and the first victories in years. “
Fort Myers come off a 5-12 season with one huge upset in District. Goals against needs to be focused on as the team gave up 13 or more goals 8 times last season. Cut that down and turn the OT games around and Coach Chip Dopman could be looking at a .500 season.
Canterbury-Ft.Myers finished 6-9 last season but was handled easily by the tougher teams on the schedule. Like their namesake above, cutting down on the goals against is the primary focus for improvement. Ten times they yielded 11 or more goals. Coach Dave Manzi is one of the deans of the coaching ranks, having led Canterbury through their club and varsity status.
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