Last week’s game of the week was the SFIA championship between Benjamin and Jupiter Christian.  We were not dissapointed.  You can read about the game in an article written by our guest sports writer, Emily Herr, a student at Boca High School.  You can read her article on the game here http://insidefloridalacrosse.com/?p=1668 This week there are  just too many great games on tap this week to choose a Team Florida game of the week.  So the staff here at IFL decided to take a look at the FHSAA play-off picture, District by District.    District 1  District 1 is a true “up for grabs” tournament.  In the first game at Chiles HS the number 2 seed Maclay will take on the 3 seed Leon.  These two teams split the regular season including an OT thriller back on April 5^th that Maclay pulled out.  The only thing for sure is that there will be quite a few goals scored in this one. In the second game the top seeded Lawton Chiles will take on Lincoln Tallahassee.  Lincoln may only be 7-9, but they did beat Maclay, who did account for one of Chiles’ two losses on the season.  So this one won’t be over until it’s over.   We predict Chile’s takes the district with a close championship game over Leon.  But we could be wrong! Update: So far our educated guess is right on the money! Chiles beatLincoln 8-2 and it was Leon over Maclay 13-6.  Update:  OK, so we missed by one overtime goal!  It turns out Leon took a close championship game over Chiles.  Leon will play Episcopal Jacksonville in the next round.  District 2  With Bolles disqualified for this year’s tournament things really open up for the two-loss Episcopal team.  Aside from the loss to Bolles early in the season, none of the other district games were very close.  We predict Episcopal Jacksonville running away with District 2.   Update: Episcopal ran over Mandarin 17-0 and Paxon beat Stanton Prep 8-7 in an overtime thriller!  Update: Episcopal won over Stanton Prep easily 18-3.  They face off against Leon next.  

District 3   District 3 kicks off Tuesday at Nease with the second seeded Bartram Trail taking on the 2 seed Creekside.  Nease will then play Ponte Vedra.  We predict PV running away from Bartram Trail to win District 3.  We’re not going out on a limb on this one.  Update: Ponte Vedra rallied behind Brendan Francis who led the team with 4 goals and 1 assist to knock Nease out of the District 3 playoff picture.  Michael Power had 4 goals, Anthony Pradella had 2 goals and 1 assist and Derrrick Miller had 2 goals. Marcus Dunlap had 1 goal and 1 assist and led the team in ground balls with 6. Matt Jones had 3 assists. Darby Brower had 1 goal and Eric Elderdise had 1 assist.  Bob Harding led the team in Caused Turnovers with 4.  In the other District 3 game it was Bartram Trail in a close one over Creekside 6-5.  Update: Ponte Vedra knocked off BT – They will face Oak Hall on Tuesday.  More on that game is here. District 4  The first game of the district is #2 Buchholz taking on the #3 P.K. Yonge.  That will be followed by top seeded Oak Hall vs. Gainesville.  Oak Hall has the best record and the most experience of the four teams in this tournament.  We predict Oak Hall will take the championship over Buchholz.  Update: So far we are right on with this one.  Buchholz over PK Yonge 15-3 and Oak Hall over Gainesville 19-1.  We will see what happens Wednesday. Update: We were right!!! It sounds like it was a great game.  If anyone has any pictures or more info please use the Game Report form or Contact form and send it in!  Oak Hall by 2.  They will go to Ponte Vedra on Tuesday. District 5  District 5 games will be played in Palm Coast this year.  The first game has Matanzas up against Lake Mary, followed by Flagler Palm Coast vs. Winter Springs.  Lake Mary won their district games 16-2, 16-1, and 12-3.  Hard to see how the district play-offs will end any differently. Update: We went out on a limb and picked Lake Mary for this one.  Lake Mary beat Winter Springs 16-3.  They face Lake Brantley in what should be a great game next week.  A serious contender for the Team Florida Game of the Week!! District 6 #2 seed Oviedo takes on #3 seed Hagerty and top seeded Lake Brantley will face Lake Howell in the first round.  Oviedo is strong this year and not to be taken lightly, especially in a year that Lake Brantley has had some struggles, but we don’t think Oviedo has quite closed the gap and predict that Lake Brantley will come out of this district. Update: Oviedo nearly closed the gap!!! Lake Brantley wins by ONE 10-9.  Great game.  District 7  The first game pits Apopka against East Ridge followed by host Ocoee taking on West Orange.  Top seeded Apopka ran the table in this district and will probably sneak by a vastly improved West Orange team to win this district.  But this is not a lock. Update: Apopka downs East Ridge 18-2 and it’s Ocoee over West Orange 6-5! Our first miss! Update: This one takes place tonight.  Should be one of the better games on tap for this evening.  This game is at Ocoee, FHSAA web site says 8:00, it’s been wrong on a couple this play-offs, you may want to double check the start time with the school if you head out there. District 8  Second seeded Tampa Catholic will get this tournament going against All Saints Academy at Berkeley Prep, followed by top seeded Cardinal Mooney facing off against Berkeley Prep.  We predict that this will come down to a low scoring war in which Cardinal Mooney plays Tampa Catholic, who split games this season.  Cardinal Mooney wins by 2 over Tampa Catholic.  But in reality, this one is too close to call. Update: Cardinal Mooney over Berkeley Prep 12-1 and Tampa Catholic blanked All Saints 9-0.  Update: It was a war all right, but terriblely low scoring.  Cardinal Mooney wins in OT 9-8. Read all about the game here.  Cardinal Mooney awaits the winner of the Apopka vs. West Orange game. District 9  Bishop Moore is hosting what we think we be a pretty good district tournament.  In the first game Lake Highland Prep will take on up and coming First Academy.  TFA is not ready for Lake Highland just yet, but they have come a long way in a short period of time and are putting together a program to be taken seriously.  Bishop Moore will then take on Olympia, who is in a re-tooling phase this season but won the three seed in an exciting overtime win against The First Academy.  We predict that Lake Highland wins the district over Bishop Moore by 6. Lake Highland Prep, as expected, topped  The First Academy 21-4 and Bishop Moore over Olympia 15-3.  This sets up a pretty good District final.  Lake Highland won the last meeting 13-5.  Both teams have been playing well down the stretch. Update – It’s Lake Highland 12-2.  Lake Highland took an amazing 53 shots in this game.  Read the story here. District 10  Timber Creek is hosting this tournament which features three of the top teams in Central Florida.  The first game has the top seeded Winter Park against Trinity Prep.  Although Trinity Prep turned it around this year after a disastrous 2-13 2010 outing, they would need to find a lot more offense than they have mustered this season to pull the upset.  Timber Creek vs. Boone could be one of those games people talk about for a long time.  These are two very evenly matched teams.  Timber Creek won by 2 during the regular season.  Winter Park should take this district but they have not finished the last part of this season in full stride, we are calling this one too close to call. Update: Timber Creek beat Boone in a THRILLER! In a great game that went back and forth Timber Creek was too strong in the final 3 mintues and pulled it out by 2 goals.  It was actually closer than that  as the last goal was socred with 1.1 seconds left as Boone was pulling out all the stops, triple teaming the ball.  Great finish.  In the other game, Winter Park, despte suspending several players before the game, had plenty of depth to finish Trinity Prep’s season 17-3.  Check back on this site tomorrow for follow up on the ugly mess at Winter Park HS! Update: Winter Park deleated the cell phone photos, hired lawyers, rescinded the suspensions, and kicked Timber Creek’s butt.  Business as usual at the Winter Park lacrosse program.  They did look strong and Timber Creek didn’t show up.  We knew the Timber Creek defense would give up some goals, but who knew that the offense would only muster 5 goals, one of which was the last minute meaningless variety.  Winter Park heads to Lake Highland for the next round.  Game is scheduled for Lake Highland on Tuesday at 7:00.  This is also a good candidate for the Team Florida Game of the Week!!   District 11  Holy Trinity is playing host this year to the District 11 tournament.  The first game is the Melbourne Central Catholic vs. Saint Ed’s game.  The Pirates never really found their groove this season and have dropped two already to MCC.  The second game features Vero Beach taking on Holy Trinity.  Vero Beach played a very tough schedule this year and was probably looking for a little more than an 8-6 regular season.  Look for them to take it out on their District 11 opponents and win this one in grand fashion.  Update: It was Vero Beach over Holy Trinity and Saint Ed’s squeaked by MCC to win the other semi-final game.  That’s the second one we got wrong. Update: Vero Beach rolled over St. Ed’s 14-4.  Next up for the Vero Beach squad is the winner of the Lake Highland/Winter Park game.  That district draws the second round bye this year. District 12  District12 Champ Barron Collier (12-4) is the heavy hitter of the SWFL lacrosse scene.  They defeated all of their district foes by at least 15 and have the area’s top player in Robert Morris bound Daniel Mora.  They are not a one trick pony, as they have 9 players currently being recruited at one level or another.   Gulf Coast (9-6) finished 2^nd in the District and is led by Mercer bound CJ Moore and the athletic Garrett Galliard 11′ and AJ Carter 13′.  Goalie Ben Boswell has had an amazing year and looks good heading into the playoffs. Community School of Naples (10-5) is led by a three seniors Mike Dedio, Hunter William’s and Alex Watson.  The Seahawks finished 3^rd in the District and have drawn a solid Gulf Coast squad who beat them 10-4 a month ago.   They will be looking to score early and let their talented defenders attempt to shutdown Moore.  Naples (5-7) finished 4^th and is led by Arie Murmo 11’ and the Digorno brothers Doug 12’ and Danny 11′.  They are very young and have great athletes.  They play SWFL’s best team in Barron Collier in the 1^st round and look to improve on their 1^st meeting, a 19-2 win for BC.  Things immediately get tough on the District 12 winner….State play in game vs. District 13 and defending State Champ, St. Andrews, who should be well rested. Update: Barron Collier over Naples 13-6 and Gulf Coast over CSN 16-11.  I would recomend that anyone who has CSN on their schedule next year be very well prepared.  Update: Barron Collier defeated Gulf Coast to take the District 12 Championship.  You can read about the game here. Next up is a well rested St. Andrews team.  Maybe they will be all stiff from a lack of activity after sitting out the District Championships.  District 13 We predict another District Championship for St. Andrews.  We predict that this would have been our prediction even if they weren’t the only team in their district.  Now, thanks to the infinite wisdom of the FHSAA, while the rest of the state is out there beating each other up to advance to the next round the strongest team in the state can just rest up and get stronger. Update: Still Resting. Getting ready for BC. And beyond. District 14 North Broward Prep is the site of this district tournament.  Two seed Pine Crest will play third seed American Heritage in the first round and the top seeded Saint Thomas Aquinas will play Archbishop McCarthy.  This play-off will come down to a great game between St. Thomas Aquinas and Pine Crest.  The two teams played to a one goal game, won by St. Thomas Aquinas, during the regular season. Update: Pine Crest over American Heritage. Update: After beating Archbishop McCarthy the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders pulled out a close one over Pine Crest.  This 10-9 game must have been a great one. If you were there please send in some info on a contact form.  Thanks!!  District 15  Gulliver Prep, the top seed in District 15, will play Miami Country Day School in the first game.  Host and second seed, Coral Shores will then take on Ransom Everglades.  Gulliver Prep is the big dog in this district these days and it’s going to be an uphill battle for someone to knock them off.  However, their regular season wins over Coral Shores was not a blow-out, winning 10-7.  If Coral Shores can build on that and get by Ransom Everglades, they might have something to say about it.  We predict Gulliver Prep in a close one over Coral Shores. Update: We almost got it right.  It was Gulliver prep over Ransom Everglades to win District 15.  Gulliver Prep takes on St. Thomas Aquinas in the next round.  The Raiders man-handled Gulliver Prep during the regular season 15-3.