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Gulliver Prep dominated the Miami-Dade All-County
Lacrosse team, placing four men on the 12-member squad, one of them
also named the county's top player.
Pictured above is the Miami-Dade All-County lacrosse team, (front row,
left to right) Nick Izquierdo, Gulliver Prep; Jorge Larrauri Gulliver
Prep; Eric Silver, Miami Country Day School; James Palmieri, Palmetto
Senior High; Wallace Groves, of Ransom-Everglades; (back row, left to
right) Player of the Year Jordan Gruber, Gulliver Prep; Julio
Jane-Diaz, Gulliver Prep; Kevin Schoneck, Palmetto Senior High; Jaimie
Alvarez, Palmer-Trinity; Dean Abtahi, Ransom-Everglades and Coach of
the Year Jim Livingston, also from Ransom-Everglades. Not pictured is
attacker Brett Abramson of Ransom-Everglades.
Coaches from the seven lacrosse teams in Miami-Dade --
Palmetto, Gulliver Prep, Ransom-Everglades, Palmer-Trinity, Coral
Reef, Archbishop Curley and Miami Country Day School selected the
players for the team and named Gulliver Prep midfielder Jordan Gruber
as the county's Player of the Year.
Roy Kelly Palmetto High School head coach
Gruber led Gulliver Prep to the playoffs with an 11-4
record, beating Ransom-Everglades in the first playoff game, then
playing a strong game against the eventual state champion St. Andrews
of Boca Raton, before losing 16-12.
Coach of the Year Jim Livingston Ransom-
"He was the captain and leader of our team,"
said Gulliver head coach Jim DeLang. "He was one of the highest
scorers in the league and in the big games he was really dominant;
against some of the other Dade county teams, he was probably the
difference between us winning and losing."
The three other Gulliver players who made all county
were attackers Julio Jane-Diaz and Nick Izquierdo, and midfielder
Jorge Larrauri.
Close behind Gulliver Prep with three men on the team
was Ransom-Everglades. The players were attacker Brett Abramson and
defenseman Dean Abtahi and goalkeeper Kyle Groves. Ransom-Everglades
head coach Jim Livingston was name Coach of the Year.
Also making all county was attacker Eric Silver of
Miami Country Day School, and defensemen Kevin Schoneck of Palmetto
Senior High and Jaime Alvarez of Palmer-Trinity.
The Miami-Dade high school teams are part of the
14-team South Florida Lacrosse League, which also has teams from
schools as far away as Lee County on the west Coast and in Martin
County to the north.
Miami-Dade high school lacrosse coaches say that
interest in this the oldest sporting game in the United States, one
that was originated by the American Indian, is on the upswing.
"The growth of the sport at Palmetto High School
has really exploded in the last two years," said head coach Roy
Kelly. "When I first started coaching lacrosse 15 years ago,
Palmetto was the only program in the county. Now, we've moved up to
seven programs, and that gives us a good base for the league. And, in
Orlando five years ago they had nothing and now they have 16 teams
playing."
Kelly said the attraction of lacrosse is that it is a
very fast, physical sport that allows players more freedom of movement
and action.
"In that regard, it's similar to soccer,
basketball or hockey," he said. "There are not a lot of
time-outs, not a lot of stoppage of play, it's continuous action,
there are quite a few goals scored and kids get to act more as
individuals than in other sports."
The Miami-Dade lacrosse coaches voted the Blake
Babcock Award for Sportsmanship to Ransom-Everglades.
Gaining honorable mention for all-county lacrosse
honors were John Raiffe, David Morales and Brent Martin, Miami Country
Day School; John Mekras and Brad Smith, Gulliver Prep; Kevin Sanz,
Randy Alonso and David Adler, Palmer-Trinity; Dan Rodriguez, Mike
Militello and Mike Epstein, Palmetto Senior High; and Josh Miller and
Ryan Holtzman from Ransom-Everglades.
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