2026 Private School Boys Lacrosse Commentary, Scores, and Updates

[Anonymous]

Will DM win a single conference game with this team? 3 straight double digit losses is the worst the program has seen since before 2000. May need to look into hiring a different JV coach.

[Anonymous]

Thinking about how Gonzaga will have it rough this year then seeing Dematha scoring 6 goals in 2 games gave us hope

[Anonymous]

GZ is still favored to be 4th in the WCAC unless the Heights moves the wonder kid to foA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will DM win a single conference game with this team? 3 straight double digit losses is the worst the program has seen since before 2000. May need to look into hiring a different JV coach.

I find it really interesting that people are shocked about DM and their performance... Messersmith the head coach played Junior College lacrosse at one of the worst programs in all of JUCO, Anne Arundel CC. Then he went on to play at Newberry, which is a middling D2 program known for taking guys who have rough backgrounds and/or poor grades. Not saying you have to play at a blue blood to be a good coach but you need at least some sort of experience in a program with successful culture to then apply yourself as a head coach. I went to the game they just played vs Calvert Hall... what I and many others saw was a team that was ill-prepared and poorly coached. Cheapshots after whistles, teammates yelling at each other & coaches on the sideline, list goes on.

Maybe they can pull something together but anyone who is shocked at these results hasn't done their research.

[Anonymous]

Dave Mitchell (Next Level) recruits won DeMatha the ship last year. Going to be a rough year for the Stags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prep will do a hit and run next year when St. John's is young. Too many seniors this year.

Ah, ok.


St. John's secured the best 2030 class in the area apparently. Prep will rebuild via transfers & borders. I hope they do play for the entire area, but St. John's definitely the better team this year.

What evidence do you have to state SJC secured the best 2030 class in the area? Not disagreeing with you, just curious. Speaks is one of the best recruiters in the area.

The Georgetown Prep administration is fully behind Hilgartner's approach to build through transfers and landing borders nationwide; this is what he did at McDonogh all those years, as McDonogh's JV squads were always terrible.

Landon, GC, SJC will benefit from winning more local lacrosse families as Prep goes the national boarding route.

GZ's program has been in a gradual downward spiral the past two seasons, and this year could be the nail in the coffin with the current coaching staff if they can't turn it around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crazy how quickly DeMatha dropped off after winning the ship last season.

WCAC has 3 contenders in SJC, PVI and GC.

The coaching is the issue offensive players seem frustrated after being benched mid game in a blowout loss, Dematha needs a long term solution at head coach.

Shouldn't players get benched mid-game in a blowout loss?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prep will do a hit and run next year when St. John's is young. Too many seniors this year.

Ah, ok.

St. John's secured the best 2030 class in the area apparently. Prep will rebuild via transfers & borders. I hope they do play for the entire area, but St. John's definitely the better team this year.

What evidence do you have to state SJC secured the best 2030 class in the area? Not disagreeing with you, just curious. Speaks is one of the best recruiters in the area.

The Georgetown Prep administration is fully behind Hilgartner's approach to build through transfers and landing borders nationwide; this is what he did at McDonogh all those years, as McDonogh's JV squads were always terrible.

Landon, GC, SJC will benefit from winning more local lacrosse families as Prep goes the national boarding route.

GZ's program has been in a gradual downward spiral the past two seasons, and this year could be the nail in the coffin with the current coaching staff if they can't turn it around.



This above, of course, is a wild guess of what might happen.

For lacrosse families who don't want to go to Prep, SJC is a possibility.

But most of the Catholics that consider Prep also consider Gonzaga. Both are all boys Jesuit schools. Other than location, they are very similar in many ways including the groups they appeal to.

Landon is rarely an alternative these people consider. OLGC is only slightly more attractive as a destination.

[Anonymous]

"Prep will do a hit and run next year when St. John's is young. Too many seniors this year. "

The 27's at SJC are better than the 26's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dematha gets blown out by Gilman is the goalie the problem or the defense?

The close D played reasonably well, but the middies aren't very good at defense. The goalie only had about 5 saves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Prep will do a hit and run next year when St. John's is young. Too many seniors this year. "

The 27's at SJC are better than the 26's.

Doesn't matter.

A few SJC parents and boosters fixate on Prep.

Prep, on the other hand, doesn't care about SJC a bit. And they prove that by not being interested in scheduling SJC.

The SJC people think it's fear that influences this. It's not. It's lack of interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dave Mitchell (Next Level) recruits won DeMatha the ship last year. Going to be a rough year for the Stags.

Last year's seniors (and even some of this year's) were Scott Morrison Recruits. Dave Mitchell (Next Level) brought no almost players to DeMatha and then left the cupboard bare for his alma mater (the Heights) to take DeMatha's place in the standings. They used to have a Fresh/soph, a JV and a varsity. Now they fresh/soph players on the varsity and a very weak JV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Prep will do a hit and run next year when St. John's is young. Too many seniors this year. "

The 27's at SJC are better than the 26's.

Doesn't matter.

A few SJC parents and boosters fixate on Prep.

Prep, on the other hand, doesn't care about SJC a bit. And they prove that by not being interested in scheduling SJC.

The SJC people think it's fear that influences this. It's not. It's lack of interest.

It's not lack of interest in the lacrosse. It's lack of interest in sharing the sidelines with those parents for 90 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:O/U Dematha lacrosse coach making it 6.5 games, last coach was fired after 7.

Does that count the games that he is suspended for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quick Tweak to the Pre-Season Rankings.
(Yes, scrimmages matter)

1. SJC - STAB isn't a DC area team
2. PVI - manhandles the early season
3. GP - room to move up
4. Landon - we hear you about the fogo
5. GC - Spaulding, yeesh
6. Bullis - dark horse
7. GZ - not done yet
8. STA - missing players but coming together
9. Episcopal - have some good transfers
10. DeMatha - still have a couple pieces
HM
Heights - loss of wppoy seems to have really, really hurt
Publics - Langley, Yorktown, Robo. Someone will reveal themselves

PVI historically is firing on all cylinders in the early part of the season and generally fades after March.

Until someone from the IAC beats Landon, it's hard to rank a team ahead of the Bears.

Give Hilgy another year or two to get his "players" in at GP, and the Lil Hoyas will be on Culver's level with the nationwide recruiting for its dorm. Local Catholic families are already looking elsewhere.

Don't count out the DeMatha Stags this season. Sure they graduated a ton in 2024, but they are well coached, always scrappy, and won't go down easily

I'll take Gonzaga over Good Counsel any day, the Purple Eagles are better coached. The Eagles might not have the talent this year as they have had in past years, but I'll give them the mental edge.

Ok, I'm willing to let a lot slide but Gonzaga is definitely not better coached than Good Counsel. That's clearly someone not familiar with Coach King.

I did hear that some of the local kids are getting scared off by Prep spreading their recruiting net to a more nationwide level--particularly the Mater Dei kids. Prep does need to create a balance between national recruiting and keeping the local constituency happy. Bullis had that problem a few years back when they had the kid from St. Anne Belfield (I think that's the school) transfer in only to play one year at Bullis and then return to his original school.

Curious where you're hearing kids are getting scared off of Prep b/c of a potential new recruiting approach? Is this a real thing or just a narrative people are spreading? Hilgartner got the job in June so this is the first 8th grade class that's choosing where to go to HS and there isn't any evidence Mater Dei 8th graders who were going to apply to Prep decided not to because of what may or may not be going on with the Prep lacrosse program.

You can make a different argument which is that 8th graders in the area, from schools like Mater Dei, have been casting a wider HS net for a while now. More kids who may have historically kept their choices to Gonzaga or Prep are looking at schools like SJC, Good Counsel, Bullis, etc... SJC and Good Counsel are coed (a plus for lots of 8th grade boys), have strong sports and are less expensive. There's also the wildcard of the boarding school trend - multiple Mater Dei kids over the last 5 years have gone to boarding schools up north like Deerfield - and it's disproportionately lacrosse players.

The Deerfield kids are hockey players who also happen to play lacrosse. In terms of the local kids looking elsewhere other than Prep, I spoke directly with a senior administrator at a traditional Prep feeder school who said it is a real thing. Prep is still getting more than its fair share, but did not get as many as they would have in the past. Kids are more open to GZ and SJC than they would have otherwise been in the past.