On Thursday I covered two of the powerhouse programs of the state and the hype was met. And last night I got to see the other side of the spectrum . . . two programs that are still pretty much in their infancy. Calvary Christian is further ahead in their development and they have something Taravella does not, a legitimate Division 1 talent in Hunter Ramsay (who according to my sources is even better in the classroom and as a person than he is on the field). So many times games with teams at this stage of their growth end up like this one.  The team with the more experienced players wins it fairly handily because there is no answer for it. Taravella was taken over this year by Coach Joseph Chiarella, with a lot of local lacrosse experience after Rob Herzog decided to move on.  Taravella managed to go 6-7 last year after a 1-12 2013 including a game I covered in 2013 against Coral Springs Charter.  It has shown athletic success before and a truly strong academic ranking.  It’s large at 3,000 students, so if the community decides to really get involved there is plenty to work with, including a number of area youth programs.  The alumni includes professional football, baseball, and soccer players . . . and interestingly enough, one former recent beauty queen.  Time will tell going forward but at least there was an organizational structure and strategy to the game that the kids hopefully will grow in to, as the players learn and mature physically. Calvary Christian is a very interesting story right now.  Two years ago an area coach told me that CC and their district rivals Cardinal Gibbons were two programs to keep an eye on.  CCA has their own enormous campus in Ft. Lauderdale that houses K-12.  It’s athletic director Dana Ridenour was a minor league pitcher that made it all the way to AAA and was actually traded for former major league star Steve ‘Bye Bye’ Balboni.  I think even Dana would agree that the Yankees won that trade . . . but just barely.  Coach Adam Bond introduced us and I had a chance to talk to Dana a little about the program and its’ direction.  Adam, for those who don’t know, was the very first Florida-bred player to play for Johns Hopkins, so he obviously knows what he’s doing.  He mentioned that with the intramural program and the middle school, etc., he now has about 200 kids at the school who are playing lacrosse one way or the other, and the school has certainly made the proper efforts to bring the program along. Last night had almost a family outing feel to it.  The first game was the Taravella and CCA girls teams and there was pizza waiting for the players afterwards.  Adam mentioned that to me before, but with my foggy memory I decided to stop on the way at the Moonlight Diner for some take out and the Fish Tacos were the easiest thing I figured I could eat in the car before the game, so I was not able to partake afterwards.  I really recommend that Diner as it has such an old-fashioned comforting feeling to it and some of the old items like floats and shakes that really never needed upgrading. CCA makes it easy to park near the field and the stands are close enough to the field so I don’t have to go too far up the stands.  The field is beautiful and both team’s uniforms were thankfully easy to read.  (Note-some schools I cover regularly do need to think a little bit the next time they change their jerseys about that issue . . . ) Had a chance to talk to both coaches before the game and also catch up with Bob Clancey as we talked about last Saturday’s event at Oxbridge.  Kids from both sides did get up there and next year we’ll do even better at that. CCA started a little shorthanded as students were still arriving back from their Orlando annual retreat and so there was some rotation of positions as the game progressed. It was such a pleasant night marred by about 15 seconds of the lightest sprinkle Florida can possibly experience . . . I think I could count on both hands the number of rain drops that hit me. Fortunately the efforts of the players out-shined the competitiveness of the score as the game was not close after the first quarter.  And that first quarter was not close statistically but Taravella starting goalie Dom Flader made 5 saves in the quarter to keep it reasonable.  CCA got off 61 shots in the game and less than half actually hit the cage.  Taravella did hold their own at the faceoff dot but not too much elsewhere.  The final score was 15-2.                 Nine CCA players hit the scoresheet with a goal or an assist.  And one other made a mighty attempt to do so but Noah Mielke fell short . . . shoot overhand Noah! Mr. Ramsay played close defense for most of the game but got a little run at midfield/attack in the fourth to put up a goal but mostly played under wraps to let other players take the spotlight.  CCA only has 4 seniors on the roster and 4 freshmen, with one very talented 8th grader too.  All of the seniors are on the defensive side of the ball, which is an interesting anomaly and on the offensive end the youth did show itself, as the shooting and decision-making needs maturing.  There were plenty of opportunities for the team to utilize off ball movement that would have opened up crease passing chances but the team will need to learn how to recognize openings when they show up.  Eight of the 15 goals were assisted but very few of the assists were inside looks.  Part of that was Taravella packing the middle with a zone but part of that was not recognizing when to cut. Coach Taylor noted before the game to watch his 8th grader, Jason Thomfhorde, since he had a 6-point effort recently and the young man didn’t disappoint.  He played mostly on the left wing and behind the net and when he started to create from behind the offense looked better.  He will have to learn to protect himself a little better since he looks like about 100 lbs soaking wet from the stands but the vision is there and that’s half the battle when you are starting to move up.  I remember Coach Al Arbour of the NY Islanders once saying about drafting Mike Bossy that he could teach him how to play defense but I can’t teach him how to score 50 goals.  It will be the same here . . . vision is organic, the rest can be groomed. Well, Jason replicated his 6-point night and as the game went on you could see his confidence grow. It took Ben Stephenson a little more time to get going last night.  In the 1st half he spent a little too much time looking to see how difficult splitting a double team could be and after later in the game found more success by letting the game come to him.  Certainly plenty of talent and size for the sophomore but needs to learn to play off others better.  Freshman Gabe Turner also scored a hat trick and the sophs and juniors also chipped on. All in all, a promising future on offense for CCA next year and the question mark will be on defense. For Taravella, it was a struggle offensively all game.  Dylan Schwartz and Tyler Nash scored the two goals.  Nash’s goal was all effort as an all out groundball scramble in front of the net required a full effort to gain possession.  Schwartz made a nice right alley dodge and shot. There will be a lot of work ahead for Taravella.  The area is competitive . . . Stoneman, Pine Crest, Cardinal Gibbons, CCA and Pine Crest are all area programs to look at for measuring themselves. I wish Coach Chiarella all the best in taking this on and will look forward to covering the progress. After the game we all saw the best of high school sports.  The pizza party for both teams, giving them a chance to mingle and spend some time.  Rugby is famous for it . . . of course you aren’t going to literally copy them at the high school level . . . but the camaraderie is something we could use a little more of at times. Friday Night Lights does not have to mean knocking each other’s brains out, as in the movie. It could also mean the sports equivalent of movie and a dinner. Let’s see more Friday night lacrosse games that end with both teams hanging around together. A nice tradition looking to be started . . .   Taravella will play at home Thursday against Plantation and CCA will host Pine Crest on Tuesday.   CCA Jason Thomfhorde  3G/3A Ben Stephenson  3G/1A Gabe Turner  3G Ethan Slapp  2G/1A Jimmy Batchelor  2G Hunter Ramsay  1G/1A David Lonsway and Bryce Veith  1A each Ben Fuchs and James Frise both played and combined for 2 saves   Taravella Tyler Nash and Dylan Schwartz  1A each Dom Flader and Anthony Owens combined for 12 saves   Thanks to Coach Bond and Coach Chiarella for talking to me before and after the game