WE got a chance the full IMG National team in action at the IMG National Championships.  This spring IMG is fielding two separate rosters.  The “National” team features post graduate players and is not eligible to play FHSAA teams.  The “Varsity” roster is made up of FHSAA eligible players and will play a full FHSAA schedule as an “independent.”  Meaning they are not assigned to a district and will not b e competing for a State Championship.

At the IMG National Championships Lake Mary was the only team that really gave the IMG a test.  Of the 23 players on the IMG roster, 13 have already committed to NCAA programs and 7 are currently in a post graduate year.  This is a very talented group of lacrosse players that play a very unique style of lacrosse.  IMG plays a box/field hybrid offense and displays a two-man game that most high school defenses just are not accustomed to defending.  It’s not just the style, the play it very well. Ohseeken Ontario’s Tehoka Nanticoke-Hill and Toronto’s Ben French team up for some plays that even experienced defenders are just not looking to defend.  Playing against Georgia’s Cherokee Extreme Nanticoke-Hill made a laser pass to French from the very top corner of the box to the far post through traffic for an easy lay up.  French’s defender had moved inside prepared to slide giving French plenty of room to finish.  Not many high school players would attempt to make a pass like that.  Fewer could make it happen. Quinnipiac commit, Foster Cuomo of Ontario rounded out the attack unit.  Foster is a cunning attackman who many coaches we spoke with referred to as the best player on the field.  LSM/Defenseman Marc-Antoinne Pion, a Harvard commit from Montreal, is a huge threat to score.  He may play long stick, but he has as many shots in his bag as most attackmen.  He doesn’t just let the long shots rip, he is not afraid to work his way to the crease on transition and use a little fake high-go low with the long stick.

IMG has talent and speed all over the field on this team.  Speedsters like Colin Lyons of Medrow, NY (Albany) are able to keep constant pressure on the ball all over the field.  Senior midfielder, Cougar Kirby, will be joining Lyons at Albany and is a threat overtime he gets near the ball.  Montreal’s Taylor Boyd and Florida’s own Tyler Liotta (Hofstra) are both accomplished F/O middies who can handle the ball and score goals as well. Florida Southern commit, Max Smith (Sarasota) played great in the goal the few times he was called upon when we saw him play.

While most of the scores from IMG games may give the impression that the competition at the tournament was not top notch but that’s just not the case.  There were quite a few high level teams in the tournament but IMG is just a few steps ahead.  One team that did give them some trouble was a very impressive Old School Lake Mary team.  A dominant first half at the F/O X by Lake Mary’s Kevin Sande spurred Lake Mary to a 6-3 halftime lead. Kurt Sisco played great all weekend and can dodge and shoot with the best of them.  He should have a huge season, especially if Lake Mary plays a lot out of the 1-4-1 offense.  Ben Carbone and Zach Nash also played very well defensively. But even with Alex Forehand and Garrett Gile playing well on the offensive end of the field, once IMG started getting more possession time and the offense started clicking they can execute a style of offense that is hard to match up for most teams.  IMG did get things rocking in the second half and that offense was able to go to work on the Old School defense and pulled out a 12-7 win.  That is as close as anyone would get to IMG. The IMG “National” team will play the hug bulk of their games on the road during a pair of North East swings, but they will be playing at home twice.  April 7th they host St. John’s (Washington, D.C.) and April 10th the Ascenders will host national powerhouse Bergen Catholic of New Jersey.  Bergen Catholic won 19 straight games last season before dropping the New Jersey State Championship to Delbarton in OT.  That should be a great game. IMG’s Director of Lacrosse, Bill Shatz, has been with IMG since 2011 and has brought the program into national prominence.  He has assembled a strong staff with Mike Ryder, Craig Lepiane, and John Basso.  This program has come from just a few kids to fielding two full squads and attracting top level talent from all over North America.  If you get a chance to see the National team or the Varsity team play this season I suggest you do it.  They are fun to watch. The IMG Varsity team will play a full schedule of FHSAA games against some top shelf Florida teams.  They have an early season weekend match up against Barron Collier and Gulf Coast on back to nights.  IMG also plays Lake Highland, Ponte Vedra, Jupiter, Lake Brantley, and Oxbridge on the schedule this season. We got a chance to see some other Floridians playing very well against some national competition.  Southern Express LSM Christian Avalos, a 2017 player at Newsome High School had a great weekend.  Ian Lukas, a lefty attackman from Newsome did a bunch of scoring for Southern Express.  Wharton High goalie, James Davison, had a good weekend for Southern Express head coach Marty Ward.   Neweome defenseman Timothy Green anchored a defense that performed well overall. Scheduling conflicts appeared to have gotten the better of Ponte Vedra as they did quite have the same roster of players they had when they beat IMG at the Wounded Warrior tournament.  But Miles Silva (Army) was still able to get the ball in the net as usual and John Harding continues to look like he’s going to have a great senior season.  Recent Mercer commit, John Michael Night  of Trinity Prep School did a nice job at the X for the PV team.