LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Some crazy games going on in the semis

Anyone have picks for the championship in each Division?

D1 - SJP by at least 12

D2 - Longmeadow but close

D3 - Medfield but also close

D4 - Nantucket

You got all 4 correct.

Just learned that Dover Sherborn can’t field a team next year. This is insane. They have won multiple titles over past 10 years and are a “sports town”.

Is there an explanation: demographic changes, feeder program, kids leaving for ISL, etc….

Lacrosse was booming in the public schools of Mass, and now it appears to be in decline.

That's crazy about DS. The urge to go private definitely peels off a lot of the top players. I also think a lot of kids are really into lacrosse, but don't make a top club team in 4th/5th, and then fall out of love with game. Kids who could be solid to very good high school players end up quitting before they develop because they aren't "elite" at 10 years old.

Somewhat related, though I doubt anyone from Dover-Sherborn is commuting to Danvers for school every day, NELJ had an article about 2025 commitments from the MIAA and the gap SJP has built is absurd. They have 13 which is more than double the quantity of any other program, and the difference is even starker for strictly D1 recruits. Maybe they come back to the pack in 2026 but the five-peat looks almost inevitable as state champs.

SJP is an awesome school and Pynchon is a great coach but SJP needs to leave the MIAA. Recruiting from over 60 towns is embarrassing when you show up to play Hingham.

It’s the same with CM football. I hear fewer and fewer towns want to play them - so CM has to travel out of state to fill out their schedule.

Either way, in my opinion, both the ISL and Catholic League are killing public school lacrosse.

The MIAA could do a lot to try and fix this - but they won’t.

It keeps getting worse. AB lost 3 of its best kids to the ISL this year, and they might be the top public in D1 in MIAA.

I also think Laxxal22 is correct. Good, athletic middle schoolers bail on lacrosse if they don’t play for Laxachusetts Double Diamond Black or 3D All New England Select.

The whole thing is a mess.

Lacrosse used to be booming in middle income towns across the State and it has come full circle to once again be a sport of the affluent prep schools….. and now private travel clubs.

It sucks and not the direction I wanted to see the sport take in Mass.

That blows about the players at AB but not surprised they got poached.