Three of Georgia’s top teams showed up at Lake Mary High School to take on three Florida teams in the second annual Florida Vs Georgia Showdown. Allatoona, Centennial, and Johns Creek were ready to play as the trio won all six games. In the first game of the weekend Lake Mary hosted Centennial, who is ranked 6th in Class 6A by GeorgiaLacrosseNews.com.  This was one of those well played games that seems to fly by with few whistles.  Both teams did a good job of sticking to their respective game plans for most of the game.  The Rams took a 6-5 lead into the half and stretched it out to a 9-6 lead with only :26 seconds left in the third quarter. However, that is when the constant pressure of the Centennial fast paced offense started to show some cracks in the Lake Mary defense and the Knights closed it to within two goals on the next face off. Centennial continued to chip away until they held a four goal lead with 4:10 left in the game.  But it was far from over as an additional five goals were scored in the last four minutes of the game but they held on and took a 15-13 victory. The Knights are fearless in transition.  They make passes across the middle that sometimes look like time and room shots,  creating high percentage shots.  Every ground ball in the defensive end sends middies streaking up the field for long outlet passes.  Their attackmen are young, maybe that leads to the fearlessness.  The two sophomores and a freshmen all move their feet well and have great stick-work.  They don’t need much room to operate and they finish.  Freshman Ryan Siracusa along with Sophomores Nicky Solomon (North Carolina) and Colin Hall combined for nine points in the game, including four goals by Solomon. It’s scary that this group has two and a half more years to work together.  Junior middie Luke Sadd also had a big game with three goals and an assist. The fast paced offense is not just an accident.  Coach Bryan Wallace says, “We tend to play a little better with our hair on fire.  We look to create as much as we can in transition…it’s definitely a staple for us.  A little less thinking but understanding how to create odd man situations.  We do a ton of it in practice.  That’s how we feel the game should be played.” There were plenty of bright spots for the Rams too.  Including a huge five goal game by Kyle Sande and four goals from Charlie Ragault.  Stand out LSM, Ben Carbone, chipped in two of his own.  Lake Mary’s approach to the game is pretty much the opposite of the fast pace that Centennial pushes, but they can put up some numbers too.  In the third quarter the Knights started to suck them into a running game but the Rams regained composure and returned to a more deliberate style. At the end of the day, I think Centennial was a little more tenacious going after loose balls and was able to turn them into more opportunities.  In a two goal game like this one, that was enough to tip the scale in  their favor. The second game saw Matanzas take on Allatoona.  Allatoona is ranked number one in the GeorgiaLacrosseNews.com poll of Class 5A schools and could be on their way to play for a State Championship.  They jumped out early on Matanzas, scoring the first nine goals of the game in the first quarter.  We knew that Matanzas has some offensive fire power with Gunner Parson, Andrew McIntyer, and Storm Schalit and thought the Pirates had a chance to make a game of it.  But thanks in a large part to Allatoona’s Danny Tesler (Cleavland State) they didn’t get a chance to get it going. The F/O specialist negated any offense Matanzas had planned as they rarely got a touch.  The senior also ended up with 2 goals and an assist on the day.  Trevor Stuart (Furman) had two goals in the game but continues to be a threat from anywhere on the field.  The middie is as comfortable working from X as he is from the top and draws a lot of attention.  Which is when the ball ends up finding Carson Sorrells.  I believe Sorrells had 7 goals. I may have lost count.  He is a big attackman who knows how to use his size to not just fill space but create it.  He can get his hands free and has a super quick release, a natural finisher.  The Buccaneers ended up cruising to an 18-6 win over Matanzas. Danny Tesler was back at it again on Saturday as he won every first half face off against Dr. Phillips with the exception of a single procedure call.  The game was more competitive but Dr. Philips just couldn’t get much offense going and Allatoona can spread it out and still play fast. Dr. Phillips’s Mike Berkman is a dynamic playmaker and when he had opportunities he was able to make some things happen.  He finshied with a pair of assists and Nick Forward had a pair of goals.  The Panthers  had a decent first half but found themselves down 7-4 at the break. The Panthers played the late game on Friday night and returned for a 9:00 AM face off and I’m sure that contributed to the second half.  They were only able to put up three more but they just didn’t get the opportunites to make enough happen.  The Buccaneers were able to pull away for the 13-6 victory. Dr. Phillips had played Johns Creek Friday night.  Johns Creek got the win led by junior middie John Hennesy with four goals.  Johns Creek returned Saturday afternoon to finish the weekend playing the host Lake Mary Rams.   It turned out to be a barn-burner! The Rams trailed most of of the second half but kept hanging around, refusing to let the Gladiators put them away.  They were down 9-7, then 11-9.  The Rams battled back and managed to tie it up at 11 with under a minute left to force the OT. Johns creek won the overtime faceoff and drew an unfortunate slash call.  It’s always bummer when the officials weigh in on these overtime games. Johns Creek made the most of the opportunity and won the game on the EMO with a skip pass to Griffin Goggins who was waiting on the  GLE and was able to put it away. Now the Georgia teams are off to enjoy spring break and the Florida teams are preparing for District playoffs.  Lake Mary is going to have a battle for District 8 with Lake Brantley, no doubt.  Matanzas is the top seed in District 7 but could be tested by Saint Augustine.  The two losses by Dr. Phillips snap a 12 game winning streak for the Panthers.  Dr. Phillips is the heavy favorite to emerge from District 13 as they beat the number two seed by a 10 goal margin in the regular season.  Lee and I are discussing the entire play off picture in a pod cast available later tonight.