Week 4 of 8 is in the books. In 2020, this was a far as everyone got. This year, things are looking up.
In general, the season feels like 2019 – aside from all the masks being worn. The stands have family and fans. Games are happening. There is a sense of normalcy once again and it’s making everyone feel better.
We can’t say there have been too many surprises so far in 2021. The biggest might be the level of play inching up from some lesser known teams like Lakeland, Bartow, and Northside Christian. These certainly aren’t the ‘big names’ of Tampa lacrosse, but they are competing well and improving in 2021. Seeing more teams compete and make names for themselves is definitely welcomed.
Another nice surprise has been the success of Mitchell. The Mustangs have always been competitors, but this year feels a little different for them. Their 8-0 start has them #3 in our 2A poll and #14 in the LaxNumbers rankings. Florida Lacrosse News isn’t convinced yet, saying, “Mitchell is 6-0 with their best win over Steinbrenner, and the rest of the season sees Alonso, Forest and Lakeland as their likely top games and that just isn’t enough. Plan to take on a few better programs next year!” We see their point. And agree somewhat. But Steinbrenner is #15 in the state. Alonso is #20. Neither team is a pushover. The Mustangs are winning their games. Good for them.
Plant is busy making state-wide waves with their play in 2021. It would have been nearly impossible for anyone to believe that Plant would travel to Florida powerhouse Ponte Vedra and go toe-to-toe with them – leaving with a single-goal loss. That game convinced everyone that was on the fence about the Panthers this season. TLR picked them as our pre-season #1 team overall. We don’t think we made a mistake there. They currently sit at #2 in the state right behind Ponte Vedra.
At this time last year, Jesuit was 4-3. This year, the Tigers are 8-0 and just rolling. This is likely a big year for them and we expect them to continue winning. They’ve got a stout defense, great goalie, and one of the best faceoff men in the state. In addition to those superlatives, they’re deep on offense with multiple threats everywhere. Locking down their two leading scorers will expose your defense to another 4 or 5 shooters that can litter a stat sheet. All of those points have earned the Tigers the #1 spot in the state by LaxNumbers.
On the downside of 2021, we lost more than a couple teams due to lack of players before the season even started. Teams that had their schedules entered into the site and ready for games had them all cancelled at the last minute. It’s a sad situation when all of us want to see the game grow.
In addition to the lost teams, games have also been cancelled and/or left to ‘TBD’ due to COVID issues. We had hoped this sort of thing was behind us, but while case numbers are decreasing in Florida, the number of infected per day is still very high. Sadly, it was to be expected. We’re hoping that the impacted games can be rescheduled.
A bonus curveball for the 2021 season was the decision by the FHSAA to make every team eligible for district playoffs. Not only that, but playoff seeding will not be based on district standings. Instead, teams will be seeded based on their rating on MaxPreps.
No one saw that coming. And while it still hasn’t been announced how the games will work, rumor has it that lower seeded teams will play outside of the district host location for the chance to be included in the standard 4-team district playoffs. But like we said, we haven’t seen anything concrete on this yet.
We’ve still got plenty of lacrosse left to play! And since many teams schedule their more difficult opponents later in the season, everyone should expect some marquee matchups, a few surprises, and tons of great games.
