Anonymous wrote:Severna Park is actually quite strong.

They are one of the few publics in the state who can compete with some of the top programs from the MIAA and IAC.

Severna Park had some very good talent in the 2016 and 2017 classes. But competitive with some of the MIAA and IAC top programs? LOL. Not even close.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better coaching, better facilities, longer history and culture of playing lax in local privates is key. The age thing is overblown.

I've had one DS play lax at Gonzaga and one play at a very good public. Wealthy private school parents are willing to hire every private trainer under the sun for their kid year round, send them to multiple overnight camps over the summer and school breaks, pay for club lax, travel, clinics, etc. Most public school parents either can't afford this or think it's nuts.

I believe that private school parents, in general, are nuts.

Anonymous wrote:Better coaching, better facilities, longer history and culture of playing lax in local privates is key. The age thing is overblown.

I've had one DS play lax at Gonzaga and one play at a very good public. Wealthy private school parents are willing to hire every private trainer under the sun for their kid year round, send them to multiple overnight camps over the summer and school breaks, pay for club lax, travel, clinics, etc. Most public school parents either can't afford this or think it's nuts.

Better coaching, better facilities, longer history and culture of playing lax in local privates is key. The age thing is overblown.

Anonymous wrote:I'm afraid the dirty secret lies in the differing rules of NY area youth lacrosse vs the DMV. NY has a very strict age based system for their lacrosse leagues and the DMV has a class based system. There is absolute benefit in gaming the sytem down here to move a good player to a private from a public and have the kid repeat a grade along the way. There is no lacrosse benefit in doing this in the NY area because the kid will always play in his age group. When 30-40% of the DMV lacrosse private roster is older than the public, there's going to be a difference in playing level.

+1

Anonymous wrote:Anyone think gonzaga can upset Bullis tonight ?

Gonzaga 11, Bullis 10

https://twitter.com/GonzagaLacrosse/status/1112862533151543296
GonzagaCHS Lacrosse
? @GonzagaLacrosse

Final Score Gonzaga:11 Bullis:10
4:41 PM - 1 Apr 2019

Gonzaga 11
Bullis 10

Gonzaga sweeps through the IAC this year, beating Prep, Landon and Bullis.

I'm afraid the dirty secret lies in the differing rules of NY area youth lacrosse vs the DMV. NY has a very strict age based system for their lacrosse leagues and the DMV has a class based system. There is absolute benefit in gaming the sytem down here to move a good player to a private from a public and have the kid repeat a grade along the way. There is no lacrosse benefit in doing this in the NY area because the kid will always play in his age group. When 30-40% of the DMV lacrosse private roster is older than the public, there's going to be a difference in playing level.

I think this is right. I think the main issue with the public schools in the DC area is that in NOVA the lacrosse talent is so spread out that no one school fields a nationally elite team. In the MD suburbs, the talent is much more clustered geographically based on my experience, but a high percentage of these kids go to the privates. If Landon, Billis, Gonzaga, GP, etc. didn't exist and all the in-bounds kids went public, then schools like Churchill or Whitman might be among the strongest in the country. But because they lose so many kids to the privates, there's no way they could compete with the Long Island public schools, which don't have the same pattern (or at least to the same degree).

Churchill 2 years ago was undefeated and ranked maybe as high as top 5 in WAPO poll. They were hosting Landon and many were saying this would be the year that a public would beat a good private. I think it was 11-0 at half and Landon empitied the bench by the 3rd. Now I don’t think Churchill is trying to play Landon anymore.

Landon two years ago was giving almost every team a hard time. They were undefeated national champs. Churchill has produced some decent collegiate players, see Louis Dubick. However, for every Louis Dubick at a Churchill, Landon has three. So where a solid public school program like Churchill may have three or four players that can play at the next level, Landon has 15-20 throughout their roster. It's just not an apples to apples comparison. There is strong lacrosse being played in public schools in the DMV. If you travel to New York or CT, it's a whole different story. The publics are typically the much stronger programs with Manhasset, Jamesville-Dewitt, Victor, New Cannan, and Darien all capable of going head to head with the strongest privates.

Severna Park is actually quite strong.

They are one of the few publics in the state who can compete with some of the top programs from the MIAA and IAC.

Severna Park, the tradition MD public power, plays Spalding much later and Spalding is middling at best.

Churchill 2 years ago was undefeated and ranked maybe as high as top 5 in WAPO poll. They were hosting Landon and many were saying this would be the year that a public would beat a good private. I think it was 11-0 at half and Landon empitied the bench by the 3rd. Now I don’t think Churchill is trying to play Landon anymore.

Forget about an okay public beating a really bad private a few years ago. I'd like to hear if there really are any publics who could beat the top 10 privates in the area. Have there been any matchups this year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wp rankings are a feel good ranking to. make sure all geographic areas, publics and privates are represented. They don't hide it when asked.and is not a true poll.

Not sure why a public school would be ever ranked in front of an iac school. Public school lax is shitty, should not be in the same conversation with iac teams.

Idiotic comment. There are times when some public school teams are better than some private school teams. Herndon HS - hardly a public school power - beat STA a few years ago. The IAC is one of the best leagues out there, but not all of their teams are far and away better than some publics in some years.