FHSAA Season Preview – District 24
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
District 24
District 24 welcomes Suncoast-Riviera this season . . . not good for Suncoast, which now has to deal with Jupiter, Benjamin and the rest as district foes. Last season saw Jupiter advance out of district with a convincing win over Benjamin, in what is fast becoming the toughest district final of any season. Palm Beach Gardens fell off some from 2014 and Dwyer found a way to put a scare into Top 10 Stoneman Douglas. Jupiter played the state’s toughest schedule and was one quarter away from their second state Final Four, only to fall short. Undoubtedly we all will look forward to the potential district final again.
Jupiter went 19-4 last season with only losses to Saint Andrew’s twice, state champ Lake Highland Prep and state runner up St. Thomas, and put up wins over a number of ranked teams, highlighted with their stunning victory over IMG Academy. Jupiter was basically built for last season’s run and will likely have to take a step back this year after losing a boatload of talent, including THREE All Americans in Connor Alexander, Zach Crotty and Jesse Foertmeyer. The schedule is a little weaker on paper but that’s like the difference between a 10 ounce or 11 ounce steak. One thing that is in Jupiter’s favor, should they catch fire late, would be that the FHSAA has granted them the Final Four for the next two years (thank you, thank you, thank you FHSAA . . . I can go home at night!).
Coach Dan Loftus has built a premier program and he does not have a completely bare cupboard as he returns Viper Scheele, an All American goalie already committed to D1 Bryant and Michael Dean, a Jacksonville commit, on attack. He also will rely on underclassmen Tanner Gabriel at midfield and Joey Bretz on defense. Senior middies Chris Cabo and Cole Lipscher will fill starting roles.
Coach Loftus also noted “It may take us a few weeks or a month to figure ourselves out, but we need to get better as the season progresses. With a lot of players that have little to no game experience, playing as much as possible is key.”
Benjamin uncharacteristically struggled to a 9-7 season as they experienced growing pains from a young defense and a new goalie, replacing four year starter Anthony Cicio and All American long pole Jerry O’Connor. The defense was never able to fully overcome those losses and goals against was the main issue in their record. The schedule remained one of the best in the state but a late season surge did not overcome the district final versus Jupiter. This year the schedule lightens up a little but embedded late in the year is an interesting 2-game swing up north in the state of NY. All American attacker Andrew Packer (Maryland) returns for his final season and he will be counted on to again lead the scoring.
Coach Shane Rye also will look to D1 commits Wil Nicklaus (UNC) and Colin O’Hare (OSU) to significantly contribute, along with Christian Cropp (Yale), Cameron Thompson and Griffin Bowie.
Coach Rye also noted “Jupiter won our district last year for the first time (previous to the past two years we were in a different district) – with that in mind they continue to be the team to beat in our district.
Big games are always LHP, SA. Also playing Bronxville N.Y. over the break; should be a good test. Our goal is to have more fun and to be the last team standing.”
W.T. Dwyer (5-9) finished third in the district regular season due to their opening game win at Palm Beach Gardens but they were unable to build on that. In their five wins they scored double digits in goals but in the nine losses they failed to reach it once. There were some close calls against top competition but for the most part the better teams were able to put up goals against them. The late season scare put into Stoneman was arguably the peak of the season but Benjamin proved overwhelming in the district playoff.
Coach Chris Heide, one of the Deans of South Florida lacrosse, noted:
“Danny Pagano (2016) returns this year anchoring the Dwyer defense and is looking to continue where he left off last season, playing on both sides of the ball. A healthy Austin Paxson (2016) returns after being injured all of last year which will provide added depth to the defense. Reid Quattlebaum (2017) is the third piece to Dwyer’s defensive trio. Quattlebaum has been the lockdown defender on the talented Dwyer defense. On the offensive side Dwyer returns Nick Calabria (2017) at attack.
Calabria will lead the offense by distributing the ball and getting to the goal with his elusive dodging. Robert Dephillipo (2017) looks to have a successful year at attack with his finishing ability. Sean Haymes (2017) will also be dispersing the ball to his teammates from the attack position. The midfield will be led by Alex Cabrera, Calvin Hobbs and Donte Smith (2017). Cameron Banegas (2018) will look to control the faceoff x for the Panthers. This season the 2019 players Thomas Dean, Evan Quattlebaum and Preston Bierman are anxious to help strengthen the Dwyer underclassmen’s contributions of Stone Flanery, Matt Poirier and Jack DePhillipo (2018).
Our Dwyer roster will be sending Danny Pagano to the Air Force Academy to play lacrosse for the Fighting Falcons. Nick Calabria will be playing at Belmont Abbey and Donte Smith will be playing at Alderson Broaddus. We are looking to stay healthy and play competitive lacrosse in the 2016 season.”
Palm Beach Gardens slumped off 2014’s Top 20 poll ranking as they fell to a 5-9 a year after finishing 10-5. The season had a strange feeling to it, as they did not beat a team with anywhere near a winning record but they played their top opposition well, with one goal losses to Jensen and Oxbridge, a 3-goal loss to Benjamin and a 5-goal loss to Jupiter before Jupiter handled them easily in district. Almost as if the team could only get up for the tough games. And the goals for and goals against were all over the place too. So the question becomes what PB Gardens will we see this year? Or do we get a repeat?
Second year coach Bobby May must be wondering the same thing and he will turn to senior attackmen Trevor Keena (Palm Beach Atlantic) and Stu Kocha up front, senior midfielder Dalton Anderson, senior Hunter Arbit on defense, senior goalie Sean Yoder and junior LSM Sebastian Chipoco.
Coach May also noted:
“Benjamin and Jupiter are the teams to beat as per usual. For us our biggest “rivalry” is probably Dwyer our cross town rival. In the end all games are equally important as they all count for one win or one loss.
Our goal as a team to continue to rely on our senior leadership while our younger players develop, hopefully we will be able to peak towards the end of the season and possibly make a run through district and into the playoffs. Our ultimate goal is to continue to develop young men of character.”
Suncoast Riviera comes in to the district after finishing 4-10 overall last year, and 0-5 in last year’s District 21, with Oxbridge, King’s Academy and Cardinal Newman. They were not competitive with the top teams they played and both sides of the ball need improvement to make a dent in this district. One statistic is that the defense yielded 97 goals in the last 5 games of the season, so that is where to start.
Coach Wayne Sanders takes over for Bobby Hantske.
Back To The Main Preview Page
Coach Dan Loftus has built a premier program and he does not have a completely bare cupboard as he returns Viper Scheele, an All American goalie already committed to D1 Bryant and Michael Dean, a Jacksonville commit, on attack. He also will rely on underclassmen Tanner Gabriel at midfield and Joey Bretz on defense. Senior middies Chris Cabo and Cole Lipscher will fill starting roles.
Coach Loftus also noted “It may take us a few weeks or a month to figure ourselves out, but we need to get better as the season progresses. With a lot of players that have little to no game experience, playing as much as possible is key.”
Benjamin uncharacteristically struggled to a 9-7 season as they experienced growing pains from a young defense and a new goalie, replacing four year starter Anthony Cicio and All American long pole Jerry O’Connor. The defense was never able to fully overcome those losses and goals against was the main issue in their record. The schedule remained one of the best in the state but a late season surge did not overcome the district final versus Jupiter. This year the schedule lightens up a little but embedded late in the year is an interesting 2-game swing up north in the state of NY. All American attacker Andrew Packer (Maryland) returns for his final season and he will be counted on to again lead the scoring.
Coach Shane Rye also will look to D1 commits Wil Nicklaus (UNC) and Colin O’Hare (OSU) to significantly contribute, along with Christian Cropp (Yale), Cameron Thompson and Griffin Bowie.
Coach Rye also noted “Jupiter won our district last year for the first time (previous to the past two years we were in a different district) – with that in mind they continue to be the team to beat in our district.
Big games are always LHP, SA. Also playing Bronxville N.Y. over the break; should be a good test. Our goal is to have more fun and to be the last team standing.”
W.T. Dwyer (5-9) finished third in the district regular season due to their opening game win at Palm Beach Gardens but they were unable to build on that. In their five wins they scored double digits in goals but in the nine losses they failed to reach it once. There were some close calls against top competition but for the most part the better teams were able to put up goals against them. The late season scare put into Stoneman was arguably the peak of the season but Benjamin proved overwhelming in the district playoff.
Coach Chris Heide, one of the Deans of South Florida lacrosse, noted:
“Danny Pagano (2016) returns this year anchoring the Dwyer defense and is looking to continue where he left off last season, playing on both sides of the ball. A healthy Austin Paxson (2016) returns after being injured all of last year which will provide added depth to the defense. Reid Quattlebaum (2017) is the third piece to Dwyer’s defensive trio. Quattlebaum has been the lockdown defender on the talented Dwyer defense. On the offensive side Dwyer returns Nick Calabria (2017) at attack.
Calabria will lead the offense by distributing the ball and getting to the goal with his elusive dodging. Robert Dephillipo (2017) looks to have a successful year at attack with his finishing ability. Sean Haymes (2017) will also be dispersing the ball to his teammates from the attack position. The midfield will be led by Alex Cabrera, Calvin Hobbs and Donte Smith (2017). Cameron Banegas (2018) will look to control the faceoff x for the Panthers. This season the 2019 players Thomas Dean, Evan Quattlebaum and Preston Bierman are anxious to help strengthen the Dwyer underclassmen’s contributions of Stone Flanery, Matt Poirier and Jack DePhillipo (2018).
Our Dwyer roster will be sending Danny Pagano to the Air Force Academy to play lacrosse for the Fighting Falcons. Nick Calabria will be playing at Belmont Abbey and Donte Smith will be playing at Alderson Broaddus. We are looking to stay healthy and play competitive lacrosse in the 2016 season.”
Palm Beach Gardens slumped off 2014’s Top 20 poll ranking as they fell to a 5-9 a year after finishing 10-5. The season had a strange feeling to it, as they did not beat a team with anywhere near a winning record but they played their top opposition well, with one goal losses to Jensen and Oxbridge, a 3-goal loss to Benjamin and a 5-goal loss to Jupiter before Jupiter handled them easily in district. Almost as if the team could only get up for the tough games. And the goals for and goals against were all over the place too. So the question becomes what PB Gardens will we see this year? Or do we get a repeat?
Second year coach Bobby May must be wondering the same thing and he will turn to senior attackmen Trevor Keena (Palm Beach Atlantic) and Stu Kocha up front, senior midfielder Dalton Anderson, senior Hunter Arbit on defense, senior goalie Sean Yoder and junior LSM Sebastian Chipoco.
Coach May also noted:
“Benjamin and Jupiter are the teams to beat as per usual. For us our biggest “rivalry” is probably Dwyer our cross town rival. In the end all games are equally important as they all count for one win or one loss.
Our goal as a team to continue to rely on our senior leadership while our younger players develop, hopefully we will be able to peak towards the end of the season and possibly make a run through district and into the playoffs. Our ultimate goal is to continue to develop young men of character.”
Suncoast Riviera comes in to the district after finishing 4-10 overall last year, and 0-5 in last year’s District 21, with Oxbridge, King’s Academy and Cardinal Newman. They were not competitive with the top teams they played and both sides of the ball need improvement to make a dent in this district. One statistic is that the defense yielded 97 goals in the last 5 games of the season, so that is where to start.
Coach Wayne Sanders takes over for Bobby Hantske.
Back To The Main Preview Page
