You gotta love District 23.  All five teams are in Boca Raton and the rivalries are as strong as you would expect.  The schools themselves are no more than ten minutes apart.  The kids and families go to the same grocery stores, movie theatres, restaurants (head to 32 East in Delray and talk lax with the chef – he’s more knowledgeable than almost anyone and he cooks a mean skirt steak), and of course they all shop in the same mall.  There’s love and no love lost.  At the end of the day, they are all more alike than not and these kids have given us years of thrills.  Each year we miss the group which moves on and each year new stars emerge.  Statewide, this year’s senior class is one of the best, but the younger players coming up, in total, are even better.  I ran into a fan last night who attended a number of games five years ago, took a five year leave of absence and started going to games again this year.  Shall I say this former D1 player stated the obvious – the quality of play in our state has grown substantially. Oh, yea, back to the game and the tie-in to the Lee style rambling (that’s what he gets for making fun of my fashion choices).  Saint Andrew’s and Pope have locked horns for years and once again the Scots came out on top.  The outcome was probably expected by impartial observers, but the real story was a great level of play by both teams.  You know how the NFL has the 85 Bears play the 72 Dolphins?  (By the way, the Dolphins would have won.)  Anyway, I would love to see some of the old great Florida teams play some of today’s crew.  I don’t think everyone appreciates what is happening in front of our eyes.  Since the Masters is on, in golf it is easy to see improvement – the handicap system is proof.  For those of us here all the time, the improvement of our lacrosse kids happens week to week and is harder to see.  Step away for five years, come back and “WOW” about says it all. Saint Andrew’s moves on to play at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas next Friday night.  Douglas handled the Scots easily in the season opener, 14-7 and the rematch should be interesting.

 

 

Scoring for players not mentioned above: Pope Patrick Brower – 1 goal SA Mark Heatzig – 2 goals Brian Fox – 1 goal Davis Diamond – 2, 2 Tito Thompson – 1 goal Harris Feldman – 10 saves