FHSAA Season Preview – District 19
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
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Palm Beach, Florida.
District 19
Palmetto Ridge swaps places with Naples this season to join old District 27 Gulf Coast, Golden Gate and Immokalee. Gulf Coast was gutted by injuries and has turned over the reins to Florida Launch goalie Brett Queener. Golden Gate had hired Casey McDonald but he had to resign due to family issues while Ron Miller takes over at Palmetto . . . which leaves Immokalee’s Scott Rickard not only the oldest tenured coach in the district but also the defender of one of last year’s feel-good stories as Immokalee’s 8 wins matched their previous 5 years combined total.
Coach Queener’s team at Gulf Coast will still be the early favorite to win the district. Although the 2014 Top 10 statewide team struggled to a 10-10 record their 2015 schedule was filled with top programs, something no other district rival comes close to and their district record was unchallenged in any games.
Graduation did hit hard as All-American Bo Garrison has moved on.
Golden Gate tailed off badly in 2015 and finished with a 2-13 record as goal scoring was a major chore. Only twice all season did they surpass 6 goals and defensively it wasn’t much better. The highlight of the season was the road win over Immokalee.
Coach Will McDonald will take over the reins.
Immokalee, as mentioned above, flirted with the .500 level for the first time in the school’s program history and now the issue will be can they build on that success? It’s an interesting situation to monitor, given where the school is located and their athletic history, to see if lacrosse can truly gain a foothold in their community.
Coach Scott Rickard knows that the program can’t rely on past success and will look to junior middie Marc Galindo and junior attacker Bryan Reyes to lead the team offensively and senior long poles Daniel Ortiz and Urbano Hernandez to be the defensive leaders, alongside junior goalie Ray Perez.
Coach Rickard noted “Gulf Coast is always the team to beat in our district. We should have a pretty competitive district with the addition of Palmetto Ridge and the loss of Naples High. Another big event for our team is that we will be traveling to Brevard County during our Spring Break to play 2 teams and visit the Kennedy Space Center. It’s also great for us that Marc Galindo and Bryan Reyes are receiving interest from a number of colleges.
We are looking to have a winning season for the 1st time in our schools history. We made some strides last season going 8-10; the 8 wins were more than the program had in its history. I anticipate Marc Galindo breaking our schools All-Time Career scoring record that was set last season by Gerardo Lugo.”
Palmetto Ridge is getting a shot in the arm from the hiring of Ron Miller (Team Florida/Lax4Autism) to lead them. He comes from high-end programs in the area and will look to turn around a 4-10 season that saw the team lose 7 of their last 8 games. They only hit double digits in goals in one game as well as yielding a lot, so Coach Miller will have to take the long view to rebuild the program.
Coach Miller wrote in with his outlook:
“With a 180 degree culture change in the works, the future looks bright at “The Ridge”. The balanced offense is led by Chase Hewins (2016), Joey Slakey (2016), Orion O’Bryan (2017) and Billy Eden (2018). Snipers Daniel Masi (2016) Cameron Taylor (2016) and Gio Domingeuz (2017) lead a deep roster of offensive players.
Author’s Note: Caleb has reached his fundraising goal!!
Defensively, the Bears are led by Anthony Vasquez (2019), Vince Petraglia (2016 and Devin McWilliams (2016) and lightning quick D-Middies Matt “GG” Quiles (2017) and Football Linebacker standout Ladarious Davis (2016). Vasquez is considered by many to be one of the top (2019) poles in the state and is already attracting D1 looks. 3 year starter Dakota Trapp (2016) is between the pipes.
Until someone beats them, Gulf Coast remains the top team in the District. Having coached at GC and having the majority of their players with us at Lax4Autism, I have spent a lot of time with them. They have some very talented kids. With Brett taking over, it’s a great thing for SWFL and GC. Scott has done a super job up at Immokalee and has those kids believing. Our big rival is Golden Gate as we annually play for “The Gate”. It would have been great having Casey in the coaches group, but the GG kids will always play hard regardless of who is coaching.
I have 6 players who are very active in the recruiting process right now. They are making visits and we will have spring signings. Two players have committed to play Football, with two more in the wings.
I want these kids to leave this year with a new found love for this game. It has been a coaching carousel here and they are transitioning to my upbeat style and focus. If I work hard to create quality men, all other things fall into place.”
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Palm Beach, Florida.
District 19
Palmetto Ridge swaps places with Naples this season to join old District 27 Gulf Coast, Golden Gate and Immokalee. Gulf Coast was gutted by injuries and has turned over the reins to Florida Launch goalie Brett Queener. Golden Gate had hired Casey McDonald but he had to resign due to family issues while Ron Miller takes over at Palmetto . . . which leaves Immokalee’s Scott Rickard not only the oldest tenured coach in the district but also the defender of one of last year’s feel-good stories as Immokalee’s 8 wins matched their previous 5 years combined total.
Coach Queener’s team at Gulf Coast will still be the early favorite to win the district. Although the 2014 Top 10 statewide team struggled to a 10-10 record their 2015 schedule was filled with top programs, something no other district rival comes close to and their district record was unchallenged in any games.
Graduation did hit hard as All-American Bo Garrison has moved on.
Golden Gate tailed off badly in 2015 and finished with a 2-13 record as goal scoring was a major chore. Only twice all season did they surpass 6 goals and defensively it wasn’t much better. The highlight of the season was the road win over Immokalee.
Coach Will McDonald will take over the reins.
Immokalee, as mentioned above, flirted with the .500 level for the first time in the school’s program history and now the issue will be can they build on that success? It’s an interesting situation to monitor, given where the school is located and their athletic history, to see if lacrosse can truly gain a foothold in their community.
Coach Scott Rickard knows that the program can’t rely on past success and will look to junior middie Marc Galindo and junior attacker Bryan Reyes to lead the team offensively and senior long poles Daniel Ortiz and Urbano Hernandez to be the defensive leaders, alongside junior goalie Ray Perez.
Coach Rickard noted “Gulf Coast is always the team to beat in our district. We should have a pretty competitive district with the addition of Palmetto Ridge and the loss of Naples High. Another big event for our team is that we will be traveling to Brevard County during our Spring Break to play 2 teams and visit the Kennedy Space Center. It’s also great for us that Marc Galindo and Bryan Reyes are receiving interest from a number of colleges.
We are looking to have a winning season for the 1st time in our schools history. We made some strides last season going 8-10; the 8 wins were more than the program had in its history. I anticipate Marc Galindo breaking our schools All-Time Career scoring record that was set last season by Gerardo Lugo.”
Palmetto Ridge is getting a shot in the arm from the hiring of Ron Miller (Team Florida/Lax4Autism) to lead them. He comes from high-end programs in the area and will look to turn around a 4-10 season that saw the team lose 7 of their last 8 games. They only hit double digits in goals in one game as well as yielding a lot, so Coach Miller will have to take the long view to rebuild the program.
Coach Miller wrote in with his outlook:
“With a 180 degree culture change in the works, the future looks bright at “The Ridge”. The balanced offense is led by Chase Hewins (2016), Joey Slakey (2016), Orion O’Bryan (2017) and Billy Eden (2018). Snipers Daniel Masi (2016) Cameron Taylor (2016) and Gio Domingeuz (2017) lead a deep roster of offensive players.
Author’s Note: Caleb has reached his fundraising goal!!
Defensively, the Bears are led by Anthony Vasquez (2019), Vince Petraglia (2016 and Devin McWilliams (2016) and lightning quick D-Middies Matt “GG” Quiles (2017) and Football Linebacker standout Ladarious Davis (2016). Vasquez is considered by many to be one of the top (2019) poles in the state and is already attracting D1 looks. 3 year starter Dakota Trapp (2016) is between the pipes.
Until someone beats them, Gulf Coast remains the top team in the District. Having coached at GC and having the majority of their players with us at Lax4Autism, I have spent a lot of time with them. They have some very talented kids. With Brett taking over, it’s a great thing for SWFL and GC. Scott has done a super job up at Immokalee and has those kids believing. Our big rival is Golden Gate as we annually play for “The Gate”. It would have been great having Casey in the coaches group, but the GG kids will always play hard regardless of who is coaching.
I have 6 players who are very active in the recruiting process right now. They are making visits and we will have spring signings. Two players have committed to play Football, with two more in the wings.
I want these kids to leave this year with a new found love for this game. It has been a coaching carousel here and they are transitioning to my upbeat style and focus. If I work hard to create quality men, all other things fall into place.”
Back to the main preview page
