Above – PV head coach Tom West described the play of big Ben Buchanan.  “He was a truck..a truck.” The highlight of the Moe’s Lax Classic this year was clearly going to be the State Semi-Final rematch between Lake Highland Prep and Ponte Vedra. PV had never beaten the Highlanders during FHSAA competition but had been getting closer and closer every year.  Lake Highland is the three time defending State Champs and Ponte Vedra, prior to losing to Lake Mary in the playoffs last season, had been an annual fixture at the final four. The champs came into the game fresh off a huge upset loss to Lake Brantley and the Sharks were rolling in on a streak of three convincing wins in a row. The game did not disappoint.  We were treated to a college level game.  Fantastic goalie play by both goalies, Wyatt Schupler for PV and Austin Farwell for LHP.  The game was back and forth at the face off X and both teams were able to fire off some great shots.  But from the beginning of the game it was clear that the speed advantage went to the Sharks. Ponte Vedra took control of the ball first and got two early shots off before Farwell was able to gain control and clear the ball.  The first LHP shot came from the go-to guy for the Highalnders, Jackson Colling.  He fired a huge shot that caromed off the far post.  We had barley started this game and both teams had already generated legitimate scoring opportunities. On the next trip down the field PV’s Matt Keeler let go a nice low to low from up top that found the net to get the Sharks out front early.  Keeler would end up with a hat trick on the night.  Keeler has recently returned from an injury and the bad news for competitors down the stretch is that he’s still not 100%.  The natural midfielder is playing attack to keep less pressure on the still healing foot.  Three goals against the champs and still getting better. Lake Highland looked like they were going to answer right back as Kyle Brown took the face off straight down the string line and bounced a shot that just missed going under the cross bar.  However, later in what looked to be a promising possession, the insane speed and pressure of PV eventually turned the ball over to the the Sharks and CD James scored giving PV a 2-0 lead. Wyatt Schupler made a ton of great saves throughout the evening but one of those great saves got away from him after another face off win by Brown and it rolled out in front of the crease.  Jack Phillips, a big junior attackman with good hands picked it up and went right over the top of Schupler to get the Highlanders within one. Ben Buchanan would answer right back, however, and put the Sharks out front 3-1. With 5:27 left in the first Jackson Colling made it look simple taking a run down the right alley and ripped it to the top left to close the gap again.  Kyle Brown won his third in a row and led to another goal for LHP and it was tied up at the end of a very fast first quarter. The second quarter started with another face off win for Lake Highland.  Both teams traded turnovers. LHP was getting a little bit of offense going but they just were not able to generated those high percentage shots.  After four minutes of play that was mostly Lake Highland a crease violation gave the ball back to PV and with 7:32 left in the half they got their first shot of the quarter.  A goal by Andrew O’Dare off a perfect feed by CD James. Up to this point PV’s most dynamic player had been using his speed and quickness to create opportunities for others.  But he didn’t stay quiet for long as he found a seam and created a quick shot that just missed.  Getting the ball right back he rolled twice and got the second shot off and it found the back of the net to give the Sharks a 5-3 lead. Both teams traded possessions.  Ponte Vedra’s were ending in excellent shot opportunities and some great saves by Farwell but Lake Highland was still having trouble finding any answers for the speed of PV’s middies and defense.  Ben Buchanan forced a turnover in the defensive end of the field, picked the ball up, and sprinted straight to the pipes and buried a shot for point blank to give his team a 6-3 lead. The Highlanders started finding some better opportunities as the second quarter started to wind down.  But, unfortunately for them, the better shots they found the better Schupler started to play.  He was taking away LHP’s opportunities every time they found them. The second half started with an LHP goal as Jackson Colling found big Jack Phillps who scored his second of the game.  Tom West put the tall LSM, Devin Naidoo, in to start taking the face offs.  Often when we see a long pole trot out there to take the face off he tries to pinch and pop, or to win the clamp and it usually doesn’t go well.  But Naidoo understood his job perfect.  Create the 50-50 ground ball and use speed and wing play to win the GB’s.  It worked.  Even when LHP would eventually win the face off it was off an elongated ground ball and the chance to make something happen with a dynamic face off guy like Kyle Brown was negated. PV won the next possession and Andrew O’Dare made a nifty dodge off the wing to score. Lake Highland’s Lukas Kott, a sophomore who shows tons of promise, took a long shot from way outside to find the back of the net after a couple of back and forth runs by both teams. Matt Keeker came right back and made a big shot of his own for another PV goal.  That one was followed up by another Reid Smith goal, this one as he pushed up from below GLE, hit the island, and got a nice shot in for the 9th PV goal. A delay of game penalty on PV gave the Highlanders their second EMO of the night. But, once again, a huge save by Schupler put an end to it.  Minutes later Ponte Vedra had an EMO of their own and in mere seconds sophomore Jack Burke put it away to increase the Sharks’ lead. LHP won the opening face of the fourth quarter and down 10-5 we had the feeling it was now or never.   Jackson Colling drew a triple team and swung the ball down to the wing.  The wing man past the ball to X who swung the ball around to the back side.  Even with that great LHP ball movement, the lighting fast defense of PV had recovered and there was no opportunity.  This PV team is fast. And opportunistic. A moving pick call gave the ball back to PV.  Matt Keeler ran the ball across the top of the formation and fired a side arm shot into the goal to make it 11-5.  It was clear that Lake Highland wasn’t going to find the answer on this night and PV slowed it down with about 7:00 left in the game. Wyatt Schupler still found the chance to make a couple more fantastic saves before Jackson Colling was able to get one more past him with 1:57 left on the clock to bring it to it’s final score of 11-6. Just how good was the goal tending display by Schupler? We asked PV Head Coach Tom West, “Wyatt Schupler in the goal was amazing. He’s the guy we gave the game ball to.  Some of those big saves in the second quarter win it was close when it was a one goal game..that was the difference.” This Ponte Vedra team is very young but it’s clear they are not just an average bunch of sophomores. I asked West to describe this group.  “Easy, one word. ‘Team.’ We’ve never had a group that’s this united and they fight for each other…they push each other and compete.  We’ve never had a group this young that has come together like that.” Coach West has coached Ben Buchanan since he was a little kid and even he was impressed with his game against LHP, ” That’s the best he’s ever played.  He was ready.  Before the game he told me he was ready.  He was a truck..a truck…he did everything right tonight.”