2018 Pirates defend and win second straight District 23 Championship!

First, I need to apologize for my lack of attention to putting this article up for our players, parents, friends, alumni and followers.  Simply, more than enough items at hand keeping me on my toes!  And noting that, before I get started, I must issue a huge thank you to our Team Mom's and their champions, Suzy Bartosch and Laura Bird, for making so many sacrifices in organizing team meals, snacks, drinks and yes, even scorebook accounting.  Remember on top of all that responsibility, they have their own families to take care of too!  Simply incredible and certainly MVP performances!

All of you should take the time for a big thank you to my lacrosse staff of William Keating, Robb Greenfield, Anthony Ventresca, Justin VanTassell, our student intern Alex Houk, and our Athletic Trainer Jeremy Gillan for their great work.  I think it's important for you to know that I encourage my staff to tell me what I don't necessarily want to hear.  Yes, we must remain unified, however that doesn't mean we always have to agree or see things 'my way.'  In the end, I think this open and frank relationship usually means as a group, we eventually get it right for the players we serve.  As my coaches can share, we all have our opinions, but it's my decisions that I must live or die with!  So when I wake in the morning, and look in the mirror, I do ask myself if I've made the right decisions for the student-athletes I serve.  I wish I could say I was perfect or always correct, but I know I'm just human and a coach trying to work to make this group of individuals work at becoming the best team we can become...so I will always work to find the right way to make good things happen for your son and our team.  I know we as coaches, we all work from that perspective.  

That said, our second title game in as many years, was and is, just as sweet a victory as our first championship, but our second straight District 23 Championship win just as compelling, just in a different manner!

So here are some of my thoughts that maybe you had not thought about regarding our District 23 Championship game.

As you know we started off slowly, once again not controlling the face-off X, and thus starting our game without a possession against a team that did have a very good FOGO.  It's been a achilles heel all year long, especially against very mature teams like Oxbridge, Saint Andrew's , Benjamin, and certainly Jupiter too!  It's something I have to solve for 2019!  With that said, we held our own and gradually pulled to a 2-0 lead.  Then a few things started to "not" go our way; a stick penalty here, a caused turnover here and there, forcing situations that were not present, and also just dropping the ball uncharacteristically at this time in the season.  Those circumstances, of course, helped Martin County get some momentum, a lift in confidence, and a halftime lead of 4-3.  And of course, that looming cloud of uncertainty among loyal friends and fans; that feeling that a "sure victory" might be in jeopardy.

Our coaching staff remained calm though at halftime, and the main theme was for us to begin trusting in our teammates to make plays other than just our usual suspects, and for each of us being accountable for the ground ball and just sticking with our game plan as we have certainly "repped" it time after time, again and again!  There wasn't a feeling of panic, there wasn't a feeling of doom, just a quiet resolve that we needed to play better utilizing our body of work over the entire season that should be creating confidence in what we are capable of, battling to win our championship game.

The second half was a quiet, controlled burn.  Patience with ourselves, hustle and a resolve to trust in each other's talents led to a second half that favored the Pirates, 7-1.  We broke their will with our game, even though they controlled almost every face-off. 

Final score 10-5, and our boys and this young team captured our second straight District 23 Championship! 

Was our second championship as dramatic as last year's event?  Thank God it wasn't!  Yes, last year was just an exciting come from behind, once in a blue moon Championship "W."  Injuries plagued us, illness nearly broke us and somehow we just got the momentum going in the second half, and Martin County fell apart to the pressure put on by '"Big Mo!"      

But this year was different!  The "Big Mo" had turned to Martin County's favor.  Seemingly things were not going our way.  A lesser team would have folded, found a way to let the small things become big things.  But not our 2018 Pirates!  They didn't lose focus of the next play, the next small battle, the next ground ball, the next possession, the next opportunity.  They found resolve and trust in each other to counter the "Big Mo" that Martin County had enjoyed going into half time, and slowly turned the tide not allowing the game to get away from us.  We kept our cool, resolved to battle each play, and trust in our teammates to create plays.  We won because we became a team who didn't need a miracle, a blue moon, as stroke of luck, a moment in time that you cannot always explain.  No, we beat Martin County with our resolve and our skills, and a desire to trust in each other.  We slowly put together the most satisfying half of lacrosse a coach could ask for in his team.  The slow burn associated with putting out a fire with fire, a complete half of disciplined, poised lacrosse!  That's why, the Tigers had no chance to get back in the game; it's why they could not rely on momentum, and it's why our 2018 Pirates are the District 23 Champions.  

Championships are not about trophy.  They are about the journey with your peers and coaches.  No one wins a championship without making that journey together!  Our tough schedule and our perseverance together proved to be right trials that cemented our form in the second half of that championship game.  

This young team has much to look forward to in the future.  We don't have a 2019 rebuild to do like we had this year after graduating 12 seniors, rather we have the core of strength to build upon for 2019, plus more young developing players to insert into the battles on the field, and certainly a coach working like crazy to turn our face-off deficiencies into a strength!