When you look at the area I live in and the area my podcast partner Wells covers we basically have Districts 19-23.  Throw in 24 too for me since it is one who’s games I have attended during the year and has one of the most attractive district finals in the state in Stoneman Douglas and Pine Crest. District 19 is probably the state’s best this year and we’ll have Jensen Beach hosting Vero Beach on Friday.  Look at District 20 and we have a Jupiter-Benjamin final.  Not much needs to be said about that one.  In District 21 Oxbridge Academy will likely easily beat King’s Academy to move on and neither semifinal was competitive.  District 23 was the best in the state last year and at least on paper Saint Andrew’s – Pope John Paul have a compelling match-up. And then there is District 22. I would wager that many of the readers of my columns this year, if asked, would have a hard time coming up with the four teams that played Tuesday night in Delray.  I’d also bet big money that if they could answer the teams that they would struggle to name more than two coaches.  They’d have to read my articles carefully to do that. District 19 is geographically tough for me to cover in person right now given my Boca location. I’ve seen enough games in 20 over the last few years and will attend their final on Friday anyhow (hopefully Jack will be in attendance and I can ask him if yesterday’s hole in one trumps an OT-winning goal by one of the grandkids . . .), while 23 is something I’ve seen over and over again.  24 is tonight and I’ll be there.  20 should be fairly straight forward tonight. District 22 gets very little coverage right now.  Even though the number 22 is pretty important in lacrosse.  A Syracuse tradition.  22 is so important in math that it is the numerator in ‘Pi’.  And when you look across the field from the stands at Heritage and count the banners hanging behind the player’s benches . . . there are 22 of them. That last one might not have any real significance but you never know . . . something about working in mysterious ways is something I read somewhere.  If Heritage is playing for a state title four years from now I might revisit that thought.   American Heritage/Boca or Delray – I keep seeing both used.  As Edgar Friendly would say . . . pick a color. Wellington Palm Beach Central Park Vista John I Leonard   Let’s get the worst statistic over with first.  John I Leonard, according to my research, is on a 66-game losing streak.  At least.  That’s as far back as LaxPower goes.  Next year I promise I will cover a game.  Jose Perez succeeded Jeff Baumiller as coach in 2014.  In case you ask. JIL is a school of about 3,000 students that opened in 1965 and is now officially located in Greenacres after it started in Lake Worth.  There are three current NFL players from there; Kenrick Ellis, Pierre Garcon and Marcus White.  Super Bowl champ Kevin Fagen is also a grad.  It’s not athletic talent, it’s commitment there. Please Principal Tierney . . . show SOME support or end this.  Not fair to the players or the coaches if you are not going to care.  If it’s money just let us know . . . a crowd funding effort will take care of that for you.  I’ve got the contacts for you.   Anyhow, on Tuesday there was a district tournament held in Delray at American Heritage and I decided I wanted to cover this one.  Having seen all four teams I knew what I was going to get.  Lots of effort and a NY homecoming.  If Coach Calby were from Long Island I had the perfect intro, playing off the Long Island Iced Tea thought.  Jeff Goldberg, Bill Allen and Vinnie Mastro . . . all my homies.  The LIRR, Trainland, Zorn’s Poultry Farm . . . all the rest, including living down here. But since Joe was born in New Jersey and moved to Florida as a little kid and played down here it does not quite fit the Jerry Seinfeld line . . . “My parents moved to Florida . . . they didn’t want to but they turned 60 and that’s the law” since I doubt Joe’s parents were that old.  So I have to consider him the sliced orange hanging on the rim and let Jeff, Bill and Vinnie be the main alcoholic ingredients.   He mentioned to me that Jay Liegey actually got him into lacrosse in the 2nd grade, making Jay . . . kinda old. Just kidding Jay.  I’m not that much younger than you. One of the more fascinating things about attending the semifinals of the district tournament is that outside of the Final Four on May 1st this is the only time you can attend an event where two teams will end their season. Another is that there are four sets of fans in the stands. Theoretically. Wellington was well represented, as was Heritage.  The Heritage parents were into the game right off the bat.  PBC and Park Vista?  Not so much.  It’s not a short trip but it would have been nice to see some more support there. And since both teams were eliminated maybe you could make a case that you were seeing why at the micro level . . . Of course my Heritage family mafia, the McAdoreys and Paul Davis, also showed up and we renewed our normal off-the-record type of conversations.  Paul managed to show up in his ‘last day of the store before closing’ pastel combination, which would give Ernie a run for standing out in a crowd.  We had a humorous exchange about ‘Mom goals’, of which one did appear and caught up like we always do. American Heritage is a pretty good place to watch a game.  Stands close to the field.  The main bleachers face east so the sun is behind you.  But the breeze tends to be with you.  The only thing missing was an easy way to buy a burger.  There were a number of other events going on; baseball, softball and football practice without pads.  Believe it or not, the first game I ever saw in Florida was a kid’s travel game at Heritage. Probably more than ten years ago now.  At least I hope it was a travel game based on the quality of the game. We’ve come a long way since that one.  

Heritage drew Palm Beach Central in the first round.  In the regular season they played to a 9-7 AH win but that didn’t foretell what happened. It didn’t start too well for PBC. 5-1 after the first, for of those in the first four minutes as Roberto Villasana, Colyn Sydek and Matt Pica got off to fast starts with Sean Lemay finally answering for Central in the last minute.  A good example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing was when I heard one parent yell out ‘Hold it’, thinking possession would be obtained for the second quarter.  Not at even strength. Austin Cavallo, who put up a monster game when I saw him play against Park Vista, got PBC back to 5-2 early in the second but Heritage scored the last two late in the half to take momentum back as Villasana and Pica potted goals and it was 7-2 at the half.  

  PB Central is located in Wellington and has 2900 students, but not much of a Wiki entry for some reason.  The school opened in 2003 . . . certainly something has happened since that could be noted? Did anyone see CNBC Squawk Box (or maybe Opening Bell) on Monday morning?  To celebrate Opening Day for baseball they had Mike Piazza on the floor of the exchange and the interviewer was noting to him the demographic issues baseball was facing as the average age of a baseball fan was trending up and what should baseball do about it?  And what did Piazza say? “Well, the kids are playing lacrosse” Mike lives in Miami . . . we’ll try to get the clip up later. American Heritage also goes back to 1965 and the Plantation campus has such an old-Florida feel to it while the Delray campus screams summer camp to me.  According to Wiki it was more likely an academic institution as there is no mention of the THREE state football championships in the last decade. I get the feeling there’s some more there.  

Heritage pretty much put the game away in the third.  Dante Moore, Ben Sundook and Parker Sargeant scored in the first three-plus minutes to stretch it to 10-2 and the teams then traded goals to make it 13-4 after three.  Tyler Thomasson and Trent Smith scored for PBC and Chase Skorupa and Nick Lounsbury got into the act for Heritage.  It was a quiet fourth quarter, both in stands on on the field as the atmosphere strayed away from the action.  Heritage scored the first three goals in the fourth as Lounsbury, Villasana and Sydek filled the net.  And PBC dominated the last four minutes with three goals as Thomasson added two and Matt Liermann, wearing #22, also scored.  Heritage’s own #22, football player Charlie Brockwell (definitely a better football name than a lacrosse name), was set up a couple of times and was able to get off a close in shot that missed the net, ending the #22 myth for the game.    

The final was 16-7 and after the game I ran into a frustrated Coach Allen, who was clearly expecting a better performance.  As did his players.  For the seniors who are not going to try to play at the next level a sense of something lost.  At least until they hit prom night or that first day of college, when life renews all over again.  And for those few parents in the crowd, a night of work ahead of them to calm them down. And for me too.  When I see these less-followed schools in person I get a little attached, mostly because of their efforts and their toiling away on their skill sets and I want them to give their best . . . knowing that for most of them I won’t have that pleasure again. The second game pitted Wellington versus Park Vista and in the regular season Wellington won 7-4 at home. It’s fair to say Wellington beat the point spread in the rematch as they won 19-4 (for some reason I have it that way but LP shows 19-3 so maybe one of the Park Vista goals was disallowed and I missed on that.  I had to leave after the third quarter and I had it 13-4 at that point so Wellington also scored the last six goals.  

Just like the first game Wellington jumped out quickly in the first period as Patrick Oporto, Nestor Abad and Felipe Caro all scored unassisted goals in the first five minutes.  After the third goal, a lone Park Vista parent yelled out ‘Let’s go Vista’; there should have been more joining in . . . and finally Tyler Hyland answered the furtive call for PV.  The teams then traded goals to end the first at 5-2 Wellington as Jeff Goldman and Tyler Etten sandwiched another Hyland score.  Hyland’s second was one of those frustration goals you sometimes see as he went through four separate defenders as he made his way from the left to the middle to the right.  Etten’s tally came after he beat three defenders.  Both nice goals but it also meant not finding the open man. Nick Caterina brought PV within 5-3 early in the second but that seems in retrospect to be like looking in the rear view mirror as you leave the cruise ship as Wellington scored the last four goals of the half to make it 9-3.  Goldman, Oporto, Abad and Caro added to their totals.  One unfortunate thing about the run was how Park Vista goalie Austin Pomianowski took the run at halftime, sitting himself away from his teammates at the half. Austin, you have no need to feel that way.  It’s a team game and will always be one.  As a junior you’ll get another chance and you’ll respond with a terrific game.  This sport humbles you at times as much as golf does.  If it wasn’t hard everyone would play the position . . . just getting in that cage is plenty courageous for the rest of us.  

  Park Vista is also about 3,000 students established in 2004.  Geez, two schools in the area started in 2003 and 2004 with nearly 3,000 students EACH.  Tre Mason of the Rams is a grad.  It’s officially in Lake Worth even though it is next to The Links at Boynton Beach and the West Boynton Park and Recreation Center.  Maybe someone will explain that to me. Wellington High was actually established in 1988 and has 2100 students . . . interesting since to many of us down here Wellington would likely have been the newer school on the block.  A list of alumni included Everett Stern, who has a pretty interesting story:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Stern. The Wellington parents, as noted above, came out in force.  As we entered the third quarter and the margin mounted they started to talk among themselves . . . as usual, proving that the lacrosse parents become a community among themselves when engaged.  As the third quarter wound down I moved closer to the front of the stadium and heard a lone Wellington mother mutter to herself about her kid’s defensive performance “really ____, really?”.  It was actually pretty funny to me given that the game was well in hand.  She was pretty serious about it . . . really!  

The third period started with a Wellington flurry as Anthony Jiovenetta and Darrell Schwetz scored in the first 100 seconds to make it an 11-3 game and after John Kennedy got one back for PV Abad and Logan Rogers made it 13-4 after the third. And the writing was on the wall for Park Vista.  I didn’t get to hang around but I’m sure Vinnie Mastro would have had a similar reaction for me after the game was over. Wellington went on to the comfortable win and will now face Heritage in the final.  Heritage won the regular season game 7-6 so this game should have plenty of fireworks to it.  

For me I’m glad I went to this district and was able to see it.  There’s an intensity to playoffs no matter the sport that is sometimes not on display and even with the relatively small crowd it came out there too. For the seniors of the losing team I wish you all the best as you go on to college or your career choice and hopefully I’ll see some of your names on Wiki when I check back for an article I do twenty years from now.