March 31, 2005

The satisfaction was clear in Jake Reed's voice as he talked about his win on Tuesday evening. His McDonogh High School boy's lacrosse team had just captured a hard-fought victory in the conference opener.

Reed, and members of his coaching staff, relished McDonogh's narrow, 6-5, triumph over their Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) rival, Boys' Latin -- one of the many teams in the conference that could stake claim to being favorites to win it all this year.

But is a 1-0 conference record really cause for a little self-congratulation? When you play in the uber-competitive MIAA `A' Division, you better believe it.

The MIAA is universally regarded as the best prep lacrosse conference in the country. There are 11 teams that make up the league, led by such squads as McDonogh, Gilman, Boys' Latin, St. Paul's, and Loyola, to name a few, and each team is threat to knock off the other on any given afternoon. If you start looking past one team, you're in trouble.

"You can't do that in this league," said Reed. "It's truly one game at a time."

Reed knows all too well about how quickly the MIAA can humble a coach. McDonogh had an outstanding squad last year, finishing 18-5 with wins over top teams from seven other states, but finished 6-4 in the MIAA. That placed them in a three-way tie for fifth place at the end of the year and, as things lined up, they were the odd team out of the six-team MIAA playoffs.

"You have to play well in every game," said Mitch Whiteley, head coach at St. Paul's. "McDonogh was a really good team last year. You've got to get better each game and peak at the right time."

"[McDonogh] beat us early in the year and ended up out of the playoffs because they lost their last two games," said Bob Shriver, the head coach at Boys' Latin and the dean of MIAA coaches. "They beat us early and we ended up tied for first place. This league is brutal. Brutal."

Needless to say, when a team with a record and talent like McDonogh can't make the playoffs, the thought of going undefeated in the MIAA is nearly a fantasy. Rarely do you see a 22-0 record like the one posted by Manhasset last spring or the 22-1 mark racked up by Delbarton when you glance at the MIAA standings at the end of the year.

"They don't play anyone," said Shriver, who boasts the last undefeated season in MIAA play when his 1997 team rolled through the conference. All it took for Boys' Latin to accomplish that feat was a amassing a ridiculous amount of talent -- 13 Division I players graced that team and one of the subs ended up earning DIII attackman of the year honors in his career.

Only Boys' Latin and two other teams, St. Paul's in '92 and St. Mary's in '96, have managed to go unbeaten in the last 30 years.

"In 1997, we knew we had a phenomenal amount of talent, but you didn't know until the final whistle," said Shriver. "When you start the year, you just can't comprehend winning every game because it is not going to happen. If you check back in two weeks, I bet none of the teams will be undefeated."

"We were awfully good last year and we still lost a couple of league games," said Whiteley. "There have only been a handful of teams to go undefeated going back to the 1930s."

"Our league is like ACC basketball," said Reed. "Every win we get is a big win and any of the teams we play can beat us."

And like ACC hoops, non-conference opponents gear their seasons around beating an MIAA squad. The league has a tradition of playing teams from all over the country, each one of them primed to validate its season with a win.

McDonogh alone has beaten four teams from Florida, along with teams from N.Y., Virginia and Pennsylvania. Teams from Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts and D.C. also dot the various MIAA schedules.

While the conference schools boast a 33-7 record against out-of-state competition (including D.C., which is responsible for three of the losses), MIAA squads always get the best effort from each interstate opponent they face.

"A long list of teams want to come and play one of the MIAA schools and that can be problematic," said Whiteley. "We already play the best teams in Maryland, so we already play good competition. For other teams who play us, it is their Super Bowl, but we're just trying to get ready for the league."

"We've got a target on our backs," said Reed. "For them it's an opportunity, it's a no-lose situation. For us, it's a no-win situation; we're supposed to beat them. We play tough games every Tuesday and Friday, so it's not exactly easy getting the kids up for the other games."

"The target is always there," added Shriver.

In talking to the various coaches, it's tough to tell who has the bullseye on them within the league. Reed, Whiteley, and Shriver all feel they have teams capable of competing for the conference crown, and both Gilman and Calvert Hall have enough talent to upend any conference team on any given day.

So it's really no surprise that McDonogh's Reed and his staff went out to enjoy themselves a little bit. Hey, it's not very often you're undefeated in the MIAA. Even Shriver said Reed should enjoy the moment. And as much as he'd like to stew over the overtime loss, there is no time for self-pity in the MIAA.

"You just don't have time to feel sorry for yourself in this league," said Shriver. "[Reed] had a couple of wins over some good teams this past week, so he should pat himself on the back. But in this league, I promise you he woke up the next morning and wasn't thinking about B.L. He was wound up with Calvert Hall."

Such is life in the MIAA -- the toughest high school conference in the country.

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