One of the benefits of doing this is to be able to highlight for the readers some of the teams that don’t get recognized too often.  And to find those gems playing that are not first on the tip of the tongue. Last night, in Pembroke Pines, about 2 miles from where the old Sportatorium was located, I was able to find some more undiscovered gems.  Old Florida hands will kind of shrug at that . . . But as someone who would visit Hollywood in the 60’s (my grandparents were among the first to buy into Hillcrest) the Sportatorium held a mythic feel to me, as a young fan of Gordon Solie and CWF.  Google it if you don’t immediately feel it . . . Enough memory lane for now. Last night I had the privilege of attending Flanagan hosting Cooper City. Old school coach Rick Nash (Levittown and Syracuse) versus young riser Philip Garza.  The two faces of Florida lacrosse.  A grizzled New Yorker and a football coach who picked up the gig when the program started.  I think that makes TWO Levittown natives coaching down here . . . Afterwards, Coach Garza and I talked a little and he told me he’s enjoying coaching lacrosse more than football.  I secretly think Bill Belichick is wishing the same thing. Flanagan played with better offensive flow and road a solid defensive effort to the 15-5 win.  The offense set up a number of back door looks in front and converted a number of them.  Goalie Alejandro Gil had a solid effort with 13 saves for a 72% save percentage. And then there was the story of two long poles on Flanagan . . . Nicoli Mccarthy, who showed me the first player to mostly play a long pole with ONE HAND when he carried the ball, which was fun to watch and heart-attack inducing to coach.  Must have forearms like Tiger Woods to do so. And then there was Alcino Donadel, Flanagan’s top long pole.  A junior who is still looking at schools. Schools, pay attention and go look at him. Here, I’ll make it easier for you:  http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3722676/highlights/191621385/v2 – his sophomore year He can play on ANY team in this state.  Maybe start on all of them too.  He’s this year’s Harrison Rodermor . . . and that’s pretty high praise from me.  Doesn’t try to play outside of himself.  Great balance, good stick skills.  Nice instincts. There was some solid offensive talent on display.  Both sides.  Still some growing pains too, par for the course when you’re in the middle of the pack.  But the area has been growing their own youth programs so let’s see what this game looks like in 2020. Statistically the game pretty much mirrored the result.  Flanagan dominated faceoffs, shots and shots on goal. Hence the result. But still, any time spent at a lacrosse game pretty much beats most other things to do on a Monday night.   There was no game clock available due to a malfunction, so with time being kept down by the field I was only able to get the order right.   Flanagan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first.  Michael Francis scored the first on a left alley dodge, splitting two defenders and finishing with the right hand low.  That was followed up by Henry Huot taking a feed from behind the net from Marc Bouza while cutting back door down the middle, hitting the low left corner.  Cooper’s Christian Amberg got one back as he was given some room up top and stepped into one from about 15 yards out, going between the legs of Flanagan goalie Alejandro Gil and it was 2-1.  Flanagan responded twice to end the first with a 4-1 lead.  Julian Wright scored unassisted as he picked up a loose ball on the left wing, cut to the middle and hit the low left corner and that was followed up by Cecil Cordoba scoring from the left crease after taking a lengthy feed from Huot at right goal line extended to end the quarter. Flanagan blew open the game with a 6-0 run in the second quarter.  Flanagan was working the two man game very well and the first two goals were both scored by Cordoba off Bouza feeds.  The first was worked on the right wing as Cordoba took the feed 12 yards from goal and fired into the low left corner and the second had Cordoba cut back door down the right alley before taking the behind the net feed.  Francis made it 7-1 as he dodged from the left wing to the middle and hit the low right corner.  Cordoba then turned feeder, hitting Francis in the middle from the right wing and he stung the low left corner.  Graham Hertzbach then got into the act as he scored from the left wing from Bouza on the right and Hertzbach finished from 10 yards out, drawing a penalty on the play.  Bouza finished the quarter on a very nice two-man play, cutting out from behind the net and taking Hertzbach’s wing feed on the run and hitting the short side for a 10-1 halftime score. To it’s credit Cooper City did not quit and the second half was played to a 5-4 Flanagan score and a couple of CC’s offensive players were able to show their stuff.  After Gabriel Vargas gave Flanagan the first goal of the third on a left alley dodge Cooper responded with an EMO goal as Craig Barr took a right crease feed from Amberg and hit the far top corner with the left hand and then Amberg added another on an assist from Gabriel Valente.  Valente fed from the top left wing to the top middle and Amberg hit the top left corner from 5 yards out.  Huot then split the defense down the middle and hit the low left corner to make it 12-3 after three. Flanagan scored the first two goals of the fourth as Vargas also was able to split the middle and went low with his shot then Bouza climaxed a six-point effort with a stolen pass right in front of the goalie and deposited it into the open net.  Cooper City then came back with two of their own on identical plays, with Barr taking right crease feeds from Sam Simon’s top middle passes and Maxwell Davis finished the scoring after his hard work at the faceoff dot by utilizing a start and stop move down the middle and going low with the shot. Both goalies (CC substituted late in the game) made a number of solid saves to keep the score from going a good deal higher. Flanagan is back in action Thursday as they host district rival Archbishop McCarthy and Copper City hosts South Plantation today. I’m glad I got to this one.  A beautiful sunset.  And some more stories just looking for an outlet. Wake up the next morning and get a little better each day kids!   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  Flanagan 17-5 Shots:  Flanagan 46 – Cooper City 28 Shots On Goal:  Flanagan 28 – Cooper City 18 Penalties:  Flanagan 5-2   Individual Statistics   Flanagan Marc Bouza  2G/4A Cecil Cordoba  3G/1A Michael Francis  3G Henry Huot  2G/1A Gabriel Vargas  2G Graham Hertzbach  1G/1A Julian Wright and Maxwell Davis  1G each   Cooper City Craig Barr  3G Christian Amberg  2G Sam Simon  2A Gabriel Valente  1A   Alejandro Gil had 13 saves for Flanagan and John Cejka and Jacob Rones combined for 13 saves for Cooper City   Thanks to both Coach Garza and Coach Nash for talking to me and for giving great efforts to help spread the game in the region and guiding the kids!