thanks to Tom Congdon and Ted Swoboda for the pictures!   After the regular season game between these two there was a sense that if LHP wanted to get back to the top of the mountain in Florida they were going to have to really find themselves as a team.  There was a clear definable distance between them and STA . . . and the biggest difference was how physical each team played.  STA just overwhelms you physically in all aspects . . . Ryan Izquierdo is a bull in a china shop on the faceoffs and going downhill.  Joey Guglielmo defines the get down and dirty two-way midfield approach.  The Kevin and Jimmy Show goes to the net and never avoids the contact.  In settled defense situations STA gets in your face and dares you to snarl back.  All around toughness. And it showed in that regular season loss when LHP was basically out worked on the ground balls and pretty much everything else too.  It was a big wake up call that the name on the front of the uniform really didn’t mean as much anymore . . . and certainly didn’t guarantee anything either. And all season the team looked to find that identity and over time it started to click.  But the road was really bumpy.  Frankly there weren’t any really impressive wins over the second half of the regular season except for the one goal win over Bishop Moore.  And then the playoffs started and it was a late comeback at home against a surprising Hagerty and another close call against BM, where they had to cause a last minute turnover, score the game tying goal with seconds left and pull off the OT win.  A Final 8 blow out of Berkeley Prep helped keep momentum going and then another nail biter against a Lake Mary team that frankly controlled the game entirely for 30 of the final 36 minutes before LHP found a way to get the late win.     And waiting for them was the immovable object. With an ace card in the hole . . . the desire to get their last Florida loss back in the finals of 2015. As well as looking to build their legacy on the back of the previous dynasty. Something had to give. It did, but it took a lot longer this time around. But don’t be fooled.  The score looked close in the fourth quarter but STA showed why they have now won 40 consecutive games against Florida schools and 61 of the last 62. And did it in the face of the following: TEN more turnovers committed as part of 21 for the game . . . 12 in the first half alone An LHP goalie performance by Michael Fess that was off the charts An injury to STA starting goalie David Madril in the second quarter And a mostly solid effort at matching the physical play of STA by a team that was not built for it. But STA still won the game by 5 goals. And there’s no other way to look at it. LHP gave it it’s best shot . . . and we now have a new sheriff in town in the STA program.  All paths to the FHSAA title now need to go through Davie Road off I-95 . . .     STA got off the mark early as Michael Costello took the CJ Borodiak feed from up top on the left wing and fired home another one of his top right corner bullets for the early 1-0 lead at 11:11.  The teams traded a number of possessions as STA pressed early and showed a surprising lack of patience in the first quarter but counteracted that by dominating ground balls.  Finally their sloppiness gave LHP the opening to tie the game as Ethan Carpenter inverted behind the net, drove to the left side of the cage and found James Stine on the left wing for the high right corner shot to tie it at 1 with 4:24 to go in the period. That lasted less than a minute as Costello curled from left behind, splitting tow defenders and getting to the middle for the low shot at 3:39.  Brock Gonzalez made it 3-1 at 2:15 as he managed to find the loose ball in a 10-man scrum right in front of Fess and when he turned he was all alone for the easy put away.  Then with 29 seconds left Jimmy Harrington took the Gonzalez pass as a turnover occurred inside the LHP half and Harrington was in all alone, making no mistake and it was 4-1 after one.  And it could have been a lot worse as STA out shot LHP 16-2 in attempts and Fess was forced to make SEVEN saves in the quarter, many point blank.     LHP started stepping up the physical play and was rewarded at 8:26 as Jack Phillips found Christian Cisneros on the low right side from the left wing and Cisneros buried it for 4-2.  Harrington answered at 6:17 as he face dodged from left GLE to the crease and finished with the low shot for 5-2.  Phillips responded less than a minute later as Madril injured himself on a previous shot and Phillips took advantage to walk in from the left wing and fire low right, where Madril could not get over to for 5-3. Ryan Leahy came off the bench cold to man the STA net and he was tested right away a couple of times but came up big.  But LHP kept scrapping and were rewarded at 1:31 as Lucas Kott found Carpenter on a back door cut off the two man game and Carpenter found the top right corner for 5-4.  But, as so many times this season, STA scored a dagger of a goal as Costello took the Guglielmo feed in the middle of the defense and stepped down with the bounce shot with 57 seconds in the half to make it 6-4 at halftime. An EMO situation for STA led to an early 3-goal lead as Gonzalez took the Crowley skip pass from left wing on the right crease and he finished low for 7-4 at 8:31.  The goalies then took over for most of the rest of the quarter until the last seconds.  A late turnover by LHP on the clear led to Crowley getting the ball on the left wing and he walked into shooting position before launching a low shot with 23 seconds left in the third for the 8-4 lead.  That could have been a huge downer for LHP but to their credit they came right back on the next faceoff and Jack Vaughan got control of the faceoff and worked down the wing before leaning towards the middle and finding the middle for the low shot that Leahy got a piece of but couldn’t stop, sending us to the fourth at 8-5, with LHP holding on to past comebacks.     Guglielmo opened the scoring in the fourth on an incredible shot from the middle after taking the Borodiak feed, nailing the low to low shot for 9-5 just 28 seconds in.  Only 35 seconds later LHP responded as Cisneros found Phillips all alone on the left crease after dodging from right wing to the middle and it was again a 3-goal game.  Then Joseph Doremus gave the large LHP contingent in the crowd a jolt with his spin move on the right wing and his low left hand shot with 8:15 left to cut it to two. Again, the spirit of the late season heroics were stirring. But STA then showed why they are who they are this last two years. For that was the last shot on goal LHP was to get.  Some rushed passes led to a game high 5 turnovers in the fourth and those took the starch out of the Highlanders. Then, as in so many games this year the STA offense took over the end of the game and slammed the door.     With 5:56 left it was Crowley curling out from behind the left side of the cage for the left alley shot to the top short side for 10-7.  A few minutes later STA took advantage of a small window when an LHP defender limped off and the resulting 6 on 5 allowed Borodiak to be fed by Nick Yovino on the right wing and Borodiak made it 11-7 at 3:34.  Harrington closed it out at 2:09 as he worked behind the left side of the net and forced his way to the crease, putting it low . . . such a symbolically representative goal of how STA played all year.  LHP had given it their all and finally the physical and mental toll of the run had seeped through. There will be some what-if over the summer by the LHP community, but really they shouldn’t.  Getting to the final this year was always going to be an uphill battle and they fought all to the way to the summit before having to move the immovable object, and that proved just too tough this year . . . As every other team in this state found out too. STA rules the roost.   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  STA 14-8 Shots:  STA  41-29 Shots on Goal:  STA  28-18 Turnovers:  STA  21-11 Penalties:  LHP  3-1   Individual Statistics   STA Jimmy Harrington and Michael Costello with 3G each Kevin Crowley and Brock Gonzalez  with  2G/1A each CJ Borodiak  1G/2A Joey Guglielmo  1G/1A Nick Yovino  1A David Madril and Ryan Leahy combined for 11 saves   LHP Jack Phillips  2G/1A Christian Cisneros and Ethan Carpenter with 1G/1A each James Stine, Jack Vaughan and Joseph Doremus with 1G each Lucas Kott  1A Michael Fess with 16 saves   Thanks to Coach Crowley and Coach Spaulding for talking to me before and after the game and congratulations to Terry and his staff for their second championship!