FHSAA Season Preview – District 20
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
Florida District 20
For the past few years this has been Barron Collier . . . well, pretty much Barron Collier. They have not been challenged within district for quite a while and Coach Trent Carter has built one of the top programs in the state. Last year’s team was not able to beat the top heavyweights on the schedule but did defeat Top 20 Gulliver and Oxbridge before throwing a major scare into state finalist St. Thomas Aquinas in the FHSAA quarterfinals. Much of the same this year in this district.
Barron Collier did graduate some pretty high end talent in All Americans Michael Nathan, Jake Telitz and Zach Woods so a step back might be expected.
Coach Carter wrote in to note:
“Our key players this season will be Pat Mahoney (Attack), Sean Mahoney (FOGO), Sam Hoover (Defense), Connor Molloy (Midfield), Connor McGraw (Attack), and Carter Ayres (Midfeld).”
He then went to note:
“Having graduated 12 seniors last year they will have their work cut out for them with a couple of large holes to fill. However with a solid core of younger players, look for the Cougars to be more balanced and
focused as they plan to make a deeper run into the playoffs this 2016 season. We will play a really significant game St Thomas and it’s always a good test for us?
Community School-Naples comes off a nice 9-4 season but like so many others failed to get that signature win over a top opponent. In those four losses they yielded 65 goals so the way to the next level is clear. The schedule is basically the same so it will be easy to see if progress is made on that.
Coach Rich Lewton is in his second year at the helm and highlighted the following players: “With the loss of six seniors, including all three starting defensemen, we will be looking to senior Joel Riechers (Richmond) and Zannos Grekos (junior) for leadership. Anchoring the offense this year will be senior midfielder Daniel Meeks (Montana State) and sophomore attackman Landon Micelle. We are encouraged by the addition of transfer (junior) attackman Liam Guthrie at attack.”
Coach Lewton also pointed out “We expect, as in the past, that the “team to beat” will be Barron Collier.
They have a wealth of both quality and quantity of athletes. Despite their proximity to us I do not consider Barron Collier to be our special rival; that distinction goes to our Lee County counterpart – Canterbury. As a private K-12 school the CSN/Canterbury game has, from the start, always brought out the best in both teams.
My goals this year are the same as in the year’s past. I want the players to become students and ambassadors of the game. As the oldest lacrosse program in Collier County, it is imperative that they honor and promote the game. On the field I want them to play as smart as they do “hard.” With limited numbers it is crucial that the offense be patient and control the ball. I also hope to continue to build our middle school program so that we receive experienced players every year.”
Naples finished 7-9 overall and went 4-2 in their previous district, but also faced that middle of the pack issue of not being competitive with the top teams on their schedule, with goals against being the glaring issue against them. Cutting down on that will be the path towards the next tier.
Coach Jamie Stoddard takes over this season.
Lely is a program that has struggled to gain footing in the region as last year’s 1-13 record testifies to. Coach Gary Chernow will need a lot of his players to step up to make a difference this season.
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Barron Collier did graduate some pretty high end talent in All Americans Michael Nathan, Jake Telitz and Zach Woods so a step back might be expected.
Coach Carter wrote in to note:
“Our key players this season will be Pat Mahoney (Attack), Sean Mahoney (FOGO), Sam Hoover (Defense), Connor Molloy (Midfield), Connor McGraw (Attack), and Carter Ayres (Midfeld).”
He then went to note:
“Having graduated 12 seniors last year they will have their work cut out for them with a couple of large holes to fill. However with a solid core of younger players, look for the Cougars to be more balanced and
focused as they plan to make a deeper run into the playoffs this 2016 season. We will play a really significant game St Thomas and it’s always a good test for us?
Community School-Naples comes off a nice 9-4 season but like so many others failed to get that signature win over a top opponent. In those four losses they yielded 65 goals so the way to the next level is clear. The schedule is basically the same so it will be easy to see if progress is made on that.
Coach Rich Lewton is in his second year at the helm and highlighted the following players: “With the loss of six seniors, including all three starting defensemen, we will be looking to senior Joel Riechers (Richmond) and Zannos Grekos (junior) for leadership. Anchoring the offense this year will be senior midfielder Daniel Meeks (Montana State) and sophomore attackman Landon Micelle. We are encouraged by the addition of transfer (junior) attackman Liam Guthrie at attack.”
Coach Lewton also pointed out “We expect, as in the past, that the “team to beat” will be Barron Collier.
They have a wealth of both quality and quantity of athletes. Despite their proximity to us I do not consider Barron Collier to be our special rival; that distinction goes to our Lee County counterpart – Canterbury. As a private K-12 school the CSN/Canterbury game has, from the start, always brought out the best in both teams.
My goals this year are the same as in the year’s past. I want the players to become students and ambassadors of the game. As the oldest lacrosse program in Collier County, it is imperative that they honor and promote the game. On the field I want them to play as smart as they do “hard.” With limited numbers it is crucial that the offense be patient and control the ball. I also hope to continue to build our middle school program so that we receive experienced players every year.”
Naples finished 7-9 overall and went 4-2 in their previous district, but also faced that middle of the pack issue of not being competitive with the top teams on their schedule, with goals against being the glaring issue against them. Cutting down on that will be the path towards the next tier.
Coach Jamie Stoddard takes over this season.
Lely is a program that has struggled to gain footing in the region as last year’s 1-13 record testifies to. Coach Gary Chernow will need a lot of his players to step up to make a difference this season.
Back to the main preview page