The South is solid and the top teams (CR, Cape, Dover, Polytech) could compete with a majority of the teams within the MD eastern shore public school division. Here is a breakdown of those squads-
Cape: Luke Benson= wow. that kid can flat out play, im a shocked he has not committed to play D1 ball when he gets done at Cape. Benson was a sophomore last year and was the key to their offense and will be again this season, he is definitely one of the best players in delaware. That really concludes their offense in my eyes, Benson will have a ridiculous year for Cape. Defensively, The Vikings have jr Thomas Ott who is a big, physical defenseman to protect another stud jr. for Cape in Grant Gillan in the Cage. Gillan's ability to stop shots are ridiculous. He is committed to play at the new D1 program in Monmouth. Their schedule is revamped this season as they play two schools from the MIAA (St. Pauls and Severn). Cape is for real this year with a very young team, and Lingo has this program going in the right direction. My game to watch is when Cape takes on CR for the henlopen conference title. Cape should come out fired up this season after losing to their rivals last year. This is always a big game for southern DE.
CR: They lost a lot to graduation last year but they return alot of young talented players. After reaching the State Championship last year they have alot of work to do to continue their prior success.Attackmen jr. Hunter Schaeffer, and so. Dave Schmidt come back to the Riders after Schaeffer got an All-State selection and Schmidt scored a ton of goals as a freshman. On defense, so. Kevin Sheahan is very solid. Sheahan was a 2nd team All State selection last year and is a top defenseman in the state. Sr. Goalie Johnmicheal Smith is very skilled in the cage for CR. The Riders schedule is really poor, though they do play the Sals it is still not a very hard schedule. My game to watch is when the Riders face their rivals Cape for (what seems to come down to every year) who takes the henlopen conference crown. CR took the title last year but Cape returned most of their star players, while CR lost some to graduation. CR v. Cape= Battle for the South
Dover: New coach, John Coveleski should have this program heading in a new direction. They return two solid poles in Ryan McQuaide and Brandon Carrion. Carrion was an All-Stater last season, and McQuiade shows alot of promise for the Senators. Offensively, they are a bit suspect losing all conference offenseive players to graduation. It will be a learning year for the Senators but I still think they can compete within the State. Coveleski has his hands full with a young Dover squad, but this team is definitely on the upswing with him in control. My game to watch is when they take on Polytech which could decide playoff seedings and rank in the henlopen conference.
Polytech: Huge blow to Polytech after losing 3 all state players last year. There are alot of holes to fill for Polytech, but they are also another young program who has a good coaching staff. With a young, and very talented and experienced midfield, the Panthers could be a good transition team this spring. Who will step up for Polytech defensively? Only time will tell. Polytech is always a solid team in Delaware but this could be a time to advance their program. My game to watch is when the Panthers take on DMA in late April. These two teams are always in the mid tier of Delaware lacrosse so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
This is a more or less detailed analysis of the Henlopen's top 4 teams. Come the spring we will see who dominates and who does not.
