March 3, 2005

The look of the Florida high school boys' lacrosse tournament will be changing this spring as the sport has earned recognition from the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) - a move that might mean the imminent sanctioning of the sport.

The FHSAA recognition - which amounts to a two-year trial period when the sport will be evaluated on various criteria - has caused a tweaking of the current playoff format. The state will continue to be divided into Central and South regions, but instead of the top eight teams in each region playing off for a spot in the title game, each region will be separated into four districts.

Each district will then send a rep to a four-team `super-regional,' with the winner heading to Disney World and a shot at the state crown. The alteration to the tournament is to reflect what it would look like if lacrosse was sanctioned in 2007.

"Lacrosse has done great things in this state and there has been a tremendous evolution over the past 30 years," said Roy Kelly, head coach at Miami-Palmetto High School.

Kelly has a team he considers in the upper echelon of the state, but will have to overcome a dense schedule and a small squad size to make an impact in the tournament. Kelly keeps 15 players on his varsity team, which can be a double-edged sword.

"It's a good and a bad thing," said Kelly. "We don't have complaints about playing time, but if we get anybody hurt or get tired, we might be in trouble."

With players like attackman Todd Friedman and middie Danny Doddo, who are heading to Swarthmore and Pennsylvania, respectively, they will be in most games.

Fatigue is an issue because Miami-Palmetto relies on volunteer coaches, and must adjust the game schedule according to other commitments. Kelly is a firefighter for the Miami Beach Fire Department and his two assistants are a sales manager and an attorney.

Starting tomorrow (March 4), Miami-Palmetto will play four games in eight days against some strong teams, including a team considered the class of Florida: St. Andrew's School of Boca Raton.

Not only has St. Andrew's racked up eight of the last 10 state championships (and two-straight), it also challenging teams outside the state.

With his connections to coaches up and down the Atlantic Coast, St. Andrew's skipper Jeff Goldberg has coaxed down some of the best teams in the country for some southern hospitality. McDonogh (Md.) narrowly beat St. Andrew's, 9-6, last season and Goldberg's crew has put a scare into South Side and Lakeland, among others, in the past.

This year, Woodberry Forest (Va.) and Indian Hill (Ohio) are making the journey, along with a repeat visit by McDonogh.

The good news for Florida teams with championship aspirations is St. Andrew's graduated eight seniors off last year's championship squad. The bad news is Goldberg really likes his team.

"This is one of the most poised teams we've ever had and we control the ball very well," said Goldberg. "We're not a dodge and shoot team, we'll work it around. We're a balanced team that is very composed with the ball."

Goldberg had high praise for his top returning gun, senior Jordan Cooper. A three-year starter, Cooper's coach describes him as "a true attackman with a great nose for the game." Joining Cooper up front will be sophomore Josh Etzion, giving St. Andrew's a powerful one-two punch.

The midfield is balanced with Sebastian Fox - a four-year starter and face-off man - as the leader of the group.

"We're going to get better as the year goes on," said Goldberg of his 6-0 team.

There are some excellent teams in the state this year, as Gulliver Prep, Lake Brantley and St. Edward will also be in the hunt for a title. Combined with the improved play, the recognition by the FHSAA is a pivotal step in the emergence of the sport in Florida.

But lacrosse, like every other sport in the state, will always take a back seat to football.

Simply due to the primacy of football, the lacrosse season cannot extend past May 1 - the traditional start of the high school spring football season. This forces a 20-game schedule and playoffs to be shoe-horned into a two-month window - a fact keeping lacrosse primarily in the private school ranks.

"In Dade County, lacrosse is meeting with some resistance in the public schools because football is king," said Kelly. "There is such a resistance to losing athletes to football."

Goldberg feels the recognition by the FHSAA is a positive step for the sport and chooses to look at the bright - and cooler - side of the shortened season.

"I think it's the perfect season. By the time May gets here it is electric - the heat is fully on. It's 85 degrees at night."

Michigan High School Athletic Association Honors Two
The Michigan High School Athletic Association announced its spring scholarship recipients for 2005 and a pair of lacrosse players picked up $1,000 for their college endeavors.

Lauren Gaer of Birmingham Marian and David Dindoffer of Grosse Pointe South were both selected and will be honored on Mar. 19 at halftime of the Class C basketball title game held at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University.

Gaer is a three-year varsity letterwinner for Birmingham Marian as well as a member of the National Honor Society for three years. A captain of the lax team her senior year, she will attend Columbia University and pursue a degree in economics.

Dindoffer earned two varsity letters for GPS and was tabbed a Macomb Area Conference scholar athlete. A two-year National Honor Society member, Dindoffer was a Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition finalist. He is undecided about his college choice, but will eyeing a degree in either pre-med or bio-medical engineering.

The Lacrosse Magazine Online High School Notebook will be published each Thursday through the high school season. To submit information for the notebook, please send an e-mail to Jac Coyne at jcoyne@lacrosse.org.