Orlando Lacrosse- A FloridaLacrosse.com Blog

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A Summary of Friday’s Semifinals Predictions:

-Predicted: Saint Andrews 21- Lake Highland Prep 8.
-Actual: Saint Andrews 15 – Lake Highland Prep 2.
-Winner predicted correctly, spread predicted correctly.

-The whole weekend was extremely unexciting with the games played, a couple of the matchups were fun to watch, but else wise it was rather easy to lose focus on the play on the field. Saint Andrews scored fast and early with junior attackman Matt Bellando who was on a hot streak all weekend leading the Scots with goals. FO/GO Josh Knight had two big-time goals of the face-offs and was extremely tough for the Highlanders to control. No matter how hard Lake Highland tried throughout the game they couldn’t manage to break past the Scots defense which was backed up by goalie Bernie Susskind, who made several highlight reelesque saves on one-on-ones.

-Predicted: Lake Brantley 7 – Nease 6 in 2OT.
-Actual: Lake Brantley 11 – Nease 3.
-Winner predicted correctly, spread off by 7.

-I was truly surprised by the game which I figured to be a defensive battle; it ended up being a one sided beating of the Panthers. Nease simply could not find a way to beat the Lake Brantley defense and find any penetration inside twelve yards. On offense the Patriots Tucker Ammerman and Jonathan Horbert couldn’t be contained in the second half.

A Summary of Saturday’s State Championship Game Prediction:
-Predicted: Saint Andrews 15 – Lake Brantley 8.
Actual: Saint Andrews 19 – Lake Brantley 5.
-Winner predicted correctly, spread off by 7.

-Let’s face it. Saint Andrews is really good. This was easily seen when in the late 3rd quarter when the Scots gave goalie Bernie Susskind a well earned substitution and proceeded to let their backup goalie, an 8th grader, handle the rest of the game. Saint Andrews attackman Matt Bellando was open all day and was shelling the Patriots keeper. The most exciting part of this game was the Maryland verse Johns Hopkins matchup of Patriot LSM Jesse Bernhardt (U of MD) against Scots middie Lee Coppersmith (JHU), with Jesse winning the one-on-one matchup, but unable to help with the other five on defense behind him who were picked apart ball watching or sliding when not needed. Great season for all the teams participating in the weekend. A special congrats go out to the boys’ winner Saint Andrews Scots and girls’ winner Vero Beach Indians for winning the state championships. Saint Andrews; please play up north during spring break from now on. Everyone in the state wants to see how you will fair against the Gilmans, Loyola-Blakefields, Calvert Preps, Georgetown Preps, Saint Anthonys, John Jays, and West Gennys of the high school lacrosse world.

Things to look forward to next year… Coaching changes, possible transfers, more 3-man ref teams during the regular season, people continually complaining about the reffing, less games scheduled due to budget cuts, loss of JV teams, more schools playing lacrosse without qualified coaching available, more complaining about the referees, and a possible talent dip in the Orlando area.

Next update… The OrlandoLacrosse.com’s All-Orlando Team and Honorable Mentions…
Feel free to send me messages on www.twitter.com/OrlandoLax and let me know of any current lacrosse information for the Orlando/Greater Central Florida.

-OrlandoLax

Note: These are predictions from my personal witnessing of teams or reports from respected people around the state about the teams playing. None of these picks are intended for gambling or other illegal reasons nor the opinions of Florida Lacrosse & Sports. Please take my choices with a grain of salt, if I am wrong then great job by the winning teams. If I am correct, you’re welcome…Friday’s and Saturday’s Games…

Now for the predictions on the FHSAA State Semifinals games on Friday…

Saint Andrews Scots (District 10) vs. Lake Highland Prep Highlanders (District 8) @ 2:00PM

This matchup features the top private schools from the south and north facing off to move on to the FHSAA State Championship game. The Highlanders come into the game with playoff wins over Timber Creek, Bishop Moore, and Vero Beach featuring an extremely talented starting six offensive players and a goalie that has been taught by Tom Groeninger (Virginia ’91). The Scots from Boca Raton come off a dismantling of Gulliver Prep who is arguably the #2 team in the state. Saint Andrews features a lineup/bench that can beat every team in the South. The starting attack and midfield is loaded with scorers who can both dodge to feed and they can all score at will. Bernie Susskind will be in the cage after missing the prior game verse Lake Highland and the Dartmouth bound goalie will be a huge presence in the cage. The prior results from the two games the teams have already played this year was a 23-3 beating of the Highlanders on March 7th and a April 4th game that was kept close with the Scots pulling away in the 4th quarter for a 12-9 win.

The pick… Saint Andrews scores fast and early and doesn’t stop for a win over Lake Highland Prep by 13 (21-8). The Scots midfield and play in the cage is the difference maker. The Highlanders have issues at times hitting the cage and for a game against this caliber opponent they need to be hitting the cage on at least 80% of their shots and need to convert around 50% of them. Saint Andrews moves on to play the winner of Nease verse Lake Brantley in the FHSAA State Championship Game on Saturday night at 7:30PM at West Orange High School in Winter Garden.

Nease Panthers (District 3) vs. Lake Brantley Patriots (District 5) @ 5:00PM

Defense wins championships. Ask any coach at any level of play in any sport and you will hear the same motto. And the Panthers and Patriots defenses will be putting on a show. The Nease Panthers features an athletic and talented defense with the starting defense all moving on to play D1 Lacrosse and/or Football. Look for Panther goalie Nick Colon to keep up his yearlong hot streak in the cage and be a huge difference maker. The Patriots from Altamonte Springs feature an equally talented and athletic defense featuring Maryland-bound LSM Jesse Bernhardt. Bernhardt’s assignment for Friday night will be to remove Nease midfielder Brett Angerer’s presence on the field. This game looks to be an up and down the field battle that will be won in the scrums, face-offs, and transition rather than in the settled offenses.

The pick… Lake Brantley escapes in dramatic fashion over Nease by 1 in 2OT (7-6) with an assist from Jesse Bernhardt who corrals a groundball off second overtime faceoff, pushes the ball and finds an open attackman who barely sneaks it past Panther goalie Nick Colon. This game was the toughest yet to guess on (yea I said guess, this one will is too evenly matched to say outright who will win) besides the Bishop Moore-Lake Highland Prep game earlier in the playoffs and I wouldn’t put it past the Panthers from Ponte Vedra to pull off the upset. Lake Brantley moves on to play the Scots of Saint Andrews in the FHSAA State Championship Game on Saturday night at 7:30PM at West Orange High School in Winter Garden.

Now for the prediction on the FHSAA State Championship Game on Saturday at 7:30PM…

If my predictions are wrong in the semifinals for the Lake Highland Prep vs. Saint Andrews and/or Nease vs. Lake Brantley game, then I will write another blog with the updated teams…

Saint Andrews Scots (District 10) vs. Lake Brantley Patriots (District 5) @ 7:30PM

Defense wins championships. But offenses make the difference once you get to the game. Two of Florida’s top three defenses will faceoff on Saturday night featuring arguably the best goalie in the state, Saint Andrews’ Bernie Susskind (Gulliver Prep’s JP McCook and Nease’s Nick Colon are my top three), and the best defensive player in the state with Patriots’ LSM Jesse Bernhardt. Look for the Scots to let whoever Bernhardt is covering to not touch the ball and for the other Scots middies to isolate constantly against the other Lake Brantley short-stick midfielders in a very settle offense. The rematch of last years’ state championship game will be a huge test for the Patriots offense who doesn’t have the stud player presence that was found last year with Lake Brantley’s Jake Bernhardt (Maryland ’12 and yes, Jake and Jesse are brothers).

The pick… Saint Andrews wins its 17th State Championship over Lake Brantley by 7 (15-8). The Scots show why they are the #9 ranked team in the nation with phenomenal play at the faceoff X and in the cage. Lake Brantley plays a hard fought game that features their excellent athleticism and physicality, but there are far too many weapons on the Saint Andrews roster and without a gamebreaker on offense and a marquee goalie in the cage for the Patriots the Saint Andrews’ offense finds the cage more often. Great season for both Saint Andrews and Lake Brantley. Someone please have Saint Andrews spend a spring break in Baltimore or Long Island playing the top #15 rated teams in the nation, we want to see the skill of the Scots play the nation’s best and prove that Florida lacrosse is something to look out for. The Saint Andrews Scots will have won the Florida State Championships in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

FHSAA Girls’ Lacrosse State Semifinal Games Predictions…

Vero Beach over Park Vista in the Noon game Friday at West Orange High School in Winter Garden.
Lake Brantley over Winter Springs in the 7:00PM game Friday at West Orange High School in Winter Garden.
FHSAA Girls’ Lacrosse Championship Game Prediction on Saturday at 5:00PM…
Vero Beach wins over Lake Brantley to win the FHSAA Girls’ Lacrosse State Championship.

Next updates… Championship Weekend Summary and OrlandoLacrosse.com’s All-Orlando Team…

Feel free to send me messages on www.twitter.com/OrlandoLax and let me know of any current lacrosse information for the Orlando/Greater Central Florida.

-OrlandoLax

photo above provided from Hammer Sports Photography from the Biship Moore vs Lake Highlands Prep lacrosse playoff game.

Note: These are predictions from my personal witnessing of teams or reports from respected people around the state about the teams playing. None of these picks are intended for gambling or other illegal reasons. Please take my choices with a grain of salt, if I am wrong then great job by the winning teams. If I am correct, you’re welcome…Tuesday’s Games…

Lawton Chiles Timberwolves (District 1) @ Jacksonville Episcopal Eagles (District 2) – 6:00PM
Chiles and Episcopal both recorded upset wins against the district favorites to win to make it this far. Chiles became the first team in Tallahassee to actually beat the Maclay School, ever. While the Eagles from Jacksonville managed to pull off the largest upset so far, beating a red hot Bolles team who had recently beaten Nease and Bishop Moore. This game will come down to a matter of who has the ball the most and that thank do what’s best during that time. The Timberwolves will have to figure out how to stop Joey Sapora, from the reports I have heard, the kid can just win face-offs. And at this point of the season a hot face-off guy and goalie can do wonders for a team. Chiles brings to the table a lot of desire and fight, having never made it this far in their history, the new kids on the block want to continue to push the envelope with this senior lead team. Look for the skills of Episcopal and the athleticism of Chiles to make for an interesting matchup.

The pick… Episcopal beats Chiles by 2 (11-9). Sapora makes the difference, Chiles goes home with the respect they have earned. Episcopal moves on to face Saint Augustine Nease on Friday.

Winter Springs Bears (District 4) @ Lake Brantley Patriots (District 5) – 7:00PM
The favorites to win their districts, Lake Brantley and Winter Springs will square off on Tuesday to decide which of Seminole County’s teams will move on to the next round of the playoffs to face Apopka. The Swarthmore-bound midfielder Peter D’Amore is the main hope for Winter Springs to move on to upset the extremely athletic Patriots. Look for Maryland-bound LSM Jesse Bernhardt to be constantly hounding D’Amore. This game will be decided by the play of everyone on Winter Springs not named Peter D’Amore, if they can find a way to crack Lake Brantley’s athletic, skilled, and hard hitting defense, then they have a chance.

The pick… Lake Brantley breezes by Winter Springs by 9 (14-5). Jesse Bernhardt wins his matchup verse Peter D’Amore. Once D’Amore puts in a couple goals off face-off fast breaks the Patriots let Jesse push the envelope defensively and Winter Springs don’t have the firepower to top the rest of the Lake Patriots’ defense. Lake Brantley moves on to face the Apopka Blue Darters on Friday.

Saint Andrews Scots (District 10) @ Saint Thomas Aquinas Raiders (District 11) – 7:00PM*My first post listed Saint Andrews as the home team, according to the FHSAA website- which was incorrect; Saint Thomas Aquinas will be hosting the game.
This game will unfortunately not be very pretty, basically a warm-up for Saint Andrews to play Gulliver Prep. Saint Thomas Aquinas is a few years and a good feeder program away from being the next big South Florida private school to be dominant in Florida. The Scots have won so many state championships for a reason; the kids have played forever and they have the coaching to show them the way to be a champion. The Raiders have the coaching and eventually they will have the talent. Just not soon enough…

The pick… Saint Andrews by more than a little over Saint Thomas Aquinas, winning by 18 (23-5). Saint Andrews gets the horses warmed up and the offenses perfected to be ready for Gulliver Prep on Friday.

Bishop Moore Hornets (District 7) @ Lake Highland Prep Highlanders (District 8) – 7:00PM
The game to watch in Central Florida on Tuesday (Sorry LB verse WS), the private schools are ready for this showdown. Both feature potentially high-octane offenses and good defenses. The question will be who hits the cage more during the game, the overall skill of the Highlanders attack and midfield against the precision of the Hornets offense. Look for the Bishop Moore longpoles to have a huge impact or non-impact in the game.
The pick… Bishop Moore longpole finishes on a fast break late in the 4th to give the Hornets a one goal victory over the Lake Highland Prep Highlanders (13-12). Bishop Moore moves on to face Vero Beach on Friday.

Next update… FHSAA Regional Lacrosse Quarterfinals predictions and FSU @ UF prediction for Friday’s games…

Feel free to send me messages on www.twitter.com/OrlandoLax and let me know of any current lacrosse information for the Orlando/Greater Central Florida.

-OrlandoLax