2025 IAC and WCAC Playoffs Results and Commentary

[Anonymous]

Any McDonogh kids jumping ship to Prep?

I guess we will find out soon.

[Anonymous]

Unless Bullis brings in a few year transfers, the IAC ship next spring will come down to Landon and Prep.

Landon graduated a ton last year and will be very young. Prep returns the most individual talent but their 2026 is nothing special.

The bigger story will be around who does Hgy bring with him... Do any of his coaches from McDonogh join him at GP? Do any of his former players follow him to Prep?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prep dominates in football, baseball, swimming and lacrosse.

Only because the offer athletic scholarships

Oh, boy!

There are, of course, no athletic scholarships in any of the private schools. There is, of course, Financial Aid. And it's highly likely that athletes at all these schools get better FA packages than they would have if they were not so highly prized for their athletic ability.

This favoritism started when these kids were identified, recruited and admitted over more academically qualified applicants.

THEY ALL DO IT!

Parents on the losing side of games are always going to search for reasons. (They recruit! They have more students! Their players are older!, etc. etc)

The idea is that other team somehow has advantages that are illegal, immoral and/or unethical (Or if they are not, they ought to be!)

Flat out the 'THEY ALL DO IT" admonishment is total BS. Can tell you for a fact - like hint we went there with three kids, and SSSAS and EHS definitely do not. Plus having fewer boys to draw from makes fielding teams nearly impossible. So please find another excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any McDonogh kids jumping ship to Prep?

I guess we will find out soon.

Does prep accept transfers? I thought St. Johns was the only school that accepts transfers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any McDonogh kids jumping ship to Prep?

I guess we will find out soon.

Does prep accept transfers? I thought St. Johns was the only school that accepts transfers.

That’s funny. Prep and most others have accepted transfers for varying reasons since the 80’s at least.

[Anonymous]

Why do pp's say there is a difference between giving financial aid and giving scholarships? It's a different term for the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless Bullis brings in a few year transfers, the IAC ship next spring will come down to Landon and Prep.

Landon graduated a ton last year and will be very young. Prep returns the most individual talent but their 2026 is nothing special.

The bigger story will be around who does Hgy bring with him... Do any of his coaches from McDonogh join him at GP? Do any of his former players follow him to Prep?

+1. The IAC is going to be very down next Spring. With Saint Stephen's lax programs on life support, the IAC is becoming a 5-team lacrosse conference. EHS Administration also appears to be de-emphasizing athletics and, unfortunately, is going woke. (Their football team has dropped off dramatically in the past 2 years.) and it's pissed off several old-money donors.

It's not going to take a lot of talent or coaching to win the IAC next spring, Landon, Bullis, and even STA all graduated a ton. Prep should dance its way to the finals and likely will play its cross-town rival, Landon, in the ship. Hilgy will learn soon, competing for titles in the IAC is a heck of a lot easier than competing at the top in the MIAA.

The WCAC will be a much more entertaining conference to follow as the league will be deep. I don't see any elite team on paper, but between SJC, PVI, GZ, and GZ, it's a toss-up. DeMatha graduated a ton and will be in a rebuilding mode. And lets not forget about the Cinderella last Spring, Saint Mary's Ryken.

[Anonymous]

The tiers for next year:

Tier 1

SJC
Prep
Landon

Tier 2

Good Counsel
PVI
Gonzaga
Bullis

Tier 3

St. Albans
DeMatha
Heights
Episcopal

Then a pretty steep drop off to everyone else. Ryken graduated too much and will be back in rebuilding mode.

[Anonymous]

Gonzaga should be rather strong next year, they didn’t graduate much at all - right? I’d move them up to tier 1.

Otherwise, these look about right.

[Anonymous]

Tier1: SJC, Prep, Landon, Gonzaga

Tier2: Bullis, GC, PVI

Tier3: STA, Episcopal, DeMatha, Ryken, Heights

Tier4: Saint Stephens, Potomac School

Not much separation between teams in teir1 and tier2.

DC area lax will be down again as a whole next spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gonzaga should be rather strong next year, they didn’t graduate much at all - right? I’d move them up to tier 1.

Otherwise, these look about right.

Goalie and FOGO graduated so we'll have to see how the new guys look. Both seniors were pretty good. Otherwise IMO they look like they have some solid younger guys coming up. But yeah agree overall WCAC doesn't seem to have a clear runaway favorite, just a lot of pretty good teams plus lower level teams that can pull upsets as well. Should be a good season.

[Anonymous]

DC privates are losing too many kids to the boarding schools up north (families opting to stay in the publics). A growing concern is how expensive lacrosse has become boxing out middle-class families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Landon will be fine. Top of conference until they aren't. For anyone that pays attention, rarely, would a first year coach come in and knock of an established team like Landon immediately. Will take time. Not saying it can't happen but trying to keep it in perspective.

Bullis lost their entire 25 roster, and frankly that team wildly underperformed the last three years, based on their talent. They have also lost underclassmen over the summer. They will not be strong unless something drastic changes because that program no longer recruits lax players. There is a big chasm at the school between lax team and rest of teams/school. Documented issues last couple of seasons. Not sure how they've let it get this bad.

Hilgy is very talented coach and the hire commands respect. However, he did not rule the MIAA and as someone else pointed out. Team 91 became a great pipeline to him at McD. He won't have that immediately at Prep.

Give him 4-5 seasons. Which is much too long than most lax parents are willing to give. Amazing that last Prep coach was given such a short leash imo.

What underclassmen did Bullis lose and where did they go?

[Anonymous]

they lost their goalie to st johns

[Anonymous]

The rising sophomore?