FHSAA Season Preview – District 25
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
District 25
District 25 undergoes a shakeup as the old District 22 gets broken up, with American Heritage moving to the old District 23 to form the new 26 and the other teams joining the old 21. Oxbridge is the clear favorite going in and there really is no legit challenger for this year. The potential first round matchup with District 26 is much tougher and the path to the Final Four is brutal for Districts 25-28 in general as there will likely be some combination of Oxbridge, Saint Andrew’s, Stoneman or Pine Crest and St. Thomas Aquinas as the first two rounds of the playoffs . . . making this Boca-located reporter very happy for that possibility!
Oxbridge Academy has been pointing to this season since the program was formed as much of the freshmen that initiated the program are now seniors. Last season the team started out with a pattern of beating the teams they were supposed to but struggling to get that one signature win over the top programs and at the halfway point stood at .500, with the losses to IMG, Saint Andrew’s, Stoneman, Jupiter and Barron Collier. Then the team ran off a 10-game winning streak and found itself in a second round playoff game at Saint Andrew’s, where the team played their worst game of the season at the worst time, leaving the squad to shoot for something higher over the summer. In a way this is the most intriguing team to watch this season in the South; to see how they respond this season.
Coach Stan Ross has patiently built this program and each year has let the rope out more on the schedule and this season is no exception, with one change in that this year’s schedule closes tougher in the last three games to get the team better prepared for the playoffs. Coach Ross will be looking to returning D1 recruits LSM Colin Hayek (Maryland) and younger brother long pole Brandon (UNC), along with Robert Bayless at attack and Nick Ranta at midfield. Goalie Ethan Randell is solid in goal.
Wellington meets the answer to the trivia question about winning a District last year and not being able to defend the title. Wellington is coming off a poor year where they went 6-13 after a 12-win season in 2014. Fortunately for them their best win came at the right time, in the District 22 final over American-Heritage Boca but they proved no match for Oxbridge in the first round FHSAA game. Based on the results from last year the defensive side of the ball needs major improvement as the goals against was too high. The schedule does not get any easier either as Ponte Vedra, Stoneman, Benjamin, Jensen Beach and Boca Raton join conference game Oxbridge on the slate.
Coach Joe Calby will be challenged to replicate last year’s record.
Coach Bill Allen enters his 10th season at Palm Beach Central and is coming off a tough 3-12 season. Four of those losses were by two goals or less so there is some light to chase at the end of the tunnel. The defense struggled mightily at the end of the season and that is where they will focus on for improvement.
Park Vista comes off a 6-10 2015 season for coach Vinnie Mastro and showed a similar trend to PBC as their defense faltered in the second half. Their 19-17 win over PBC was covered by us and was one of the most entertaining games I covered all season and the best win was a road OT victory over Calvary Christian.
King’s Academy posted a very good 12-5 record last season and went to the district finals, only to lose soundly to Oxbridge. There were some very nice wins over PB Gardens and Calvary Christian but they were not competitive with Oxbridge and it’s hard to gauge this team’s progress with the schedule they played. Coach Van Alstyne has moved over to the Girls program and they will now be led by new coach Jacob Webb.
Cardinal Newman struggled to a 5-10 record last season and had lots of difficulty on the offensive side of the ball, scoring over 7 goals only twice last season. John Mockoviak takes over from Jason Carlstrom (one of the really good guys I’ve worked with) and he brings a lot of experience down from the state of Maryland so it’s now time for the school to step up in its’ support.
Coach Mockoviak will pretty much come in with a blank slate to fill.
In last year’s District 22 playoff coverage I called out the John I. Leonard administration about their program, basically pontificating that the school should either support the program or end it. Thankfully they took the former and hired a new coach to go with it. No need to go over old news but the team did not win a game last season so new coach Jeffrey Peters can start fresh.
Coach Peters wrote in to us with his thoughts on the upcoming season:
“Anticipated impactful players include Peter Boyd (Senior Attack), Dominic DeMaio (Senior Midfield/Attack), and Jorge Lopez (Junior Midfield/Attack). Our defense is very young, consisting of only freshmen and sophomores.
I don’t believe for us that there’s a “team to beat” in our district. We need to have the same mind set going in to every game and that is to keep getting better. I also don’t believe we have a real rivalry game yet because a rivalry implies that both teams have had some success in winning games in the past against one another.
I’m sure if you asked most people, they would assume that our main goal would be to win a game this season. However, our main goal this year is to improve every day. If everyone can buy in to our system and put the team before themselves, then a win will follow.”
We all wish Coach Peters luck with the endeavor . . . and we look forward to covering that elusive win.
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Oxbridge Academy has been pointing to this season since the program was formed as much of the freshmen that initiated the program are now seniors. Last season the team started out with a pattern of beating the teams they were supposed to but struggling to get that one signature win over the top programs and at the halfway point stood at .500, with the losses to IMG, Saint Andrew’s, Stoneman, Jupiter and Barron Collier. Then the team ran off a 10-game winning streak and found itself in a second round playoff game at Saint Andrew’s, where the team played their worst game of the season at the worst time, leaving the squad to shoot for something higher over the summer. In a way this is the most intriguing team to watch this season in the South; to see how they respond this season.
Coach Stan Ross has patiently built this program and each year has let the rope out more on the schedule and this season is no exception, with one change in that this year’s schedule closes tougher in the last three games to get the team better prepared for the playoffs. Coach Ross will be looking to returning D1 recruits LSM Colin Hayek (Maryland) and younger brother long pole Brandon (UNC), along with Robert Bayless at attack and Nick Ranta at midfield. Goalie Ethan Randell is solid in goal.
Wellington meets the answer to the trivia question about winning a District last year and not being able to defend the title. Wellington is coming off a poor year where they went 6-13 after a 12-win season in 2014. Fortunately for them their best win came at the right time, in the District 22 final over American-Heritage Boca but they proved no match for Oxbridge in the first round FHSAA game. Based on the results from last year the defensive side of the ball needs major improvement as the goals against was too high. The schedule does not get any easier either as Ponte Vedra, Stoneman, Benjamin, Jensen Beach and Boca Raton join conference game Oxbridge on the slate.
Coach Joe Calby will be challenged to replicate last year’s record.
Coach Bill Allen enters his 10th season at Palm Beach Central and is coming off a tough 3-12 season. Four of those losses were by two goals or less so there is some light to chase at the end of the tunnel. The defense struggled mightily at the end of the season and that is where they will focus on for improvement.
Park Vista comes off a 6-10 2015 season for coach Vinnie Mastro and showed a similar trend to PBC as their defense faltered in the second half. Their 19-17 win over PBC was covered by us and was one of the most entertaining games I covered all season and the best win was a road OT victory over Calvary Christian.
King’s Academy posted a very good 12-5 record last season and went to the district finals, only to lose soundly to Oxbridge. There were some very nice wins over PB Gardens and Calvary Christian but they were not competitive with Oxbridge and it’s hard to gauge this team’s progress with the schedule they played. Coach Van Alstyne has moved over to the Girls program and they will now be led by new coach Jacob Webb.
Cardinal Newman struggled to a 5-10 record last season and had lots of difficulty on the offensive side of the ball, scoring over 7 goals only twice last season. John Mockoviak takes over from Jason Carlstrom (one of the really good guys I’ve worked with) and he brings a lot of experience down from the state of Maryland so it’s now time for the school to step up in its’ support.
Coach Mockoviak will pretty much come in with a blank slate to fill.
In last year’s District 22 playoff coverage I called out the John I. Leonard administration about their program, basically pontificating that the school should either support the program or end it. Thankfully they took the former and hired a new coach to go with it. No need to go over old news but the team did not win a game last season so new coach Jeffrey Peters can start fresh.
Coach Peters wrote in to us with his thoughts on the upcoming season:
“Anticipated impactful players include Peter Boyd (Senior Attack), Dominic DeMaio (Senior Midfield/Attack), and Jorge Lopez (Junior Midfield/Attack). Our defense is very young, consisting of only freshmen and sophomores.
I don’t believe for us that there’s a “team to beat” in our district. We need to have the same mind set going in to every game and that is to keep getting better. I also don’t believe we have a real rivalry game yet because a rivalry implies that both teams have had some success in winning games in the past against one another.
I’m sure if you asked most people, they would assume that our main goal would be to win a game this season. However, our main goal this year is to improve every day. If everyone can buy in to our system and put the team before themselves, then a win will follow.”
We all wish Coach Peters luck with the endeavor . . . and we look forward to covering that elusive win.
Back to main preview page
