High School Pre-Previews Drop

Lax.com recently published "Midwest Maturing," a mini-preview post of high school lacrosse in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio (HT: 412 Lax). Of course, part of this is relevant to us. Their top three teams in the state:

Brother Rice

Can anyone in Michigan stop the Warriors? In 2010 Brother Rice cruised to an 8th straight state title and are the front-runners once again. The Warriors’ dominance in their home state alone is quite an accomplishment in itself, but don’t forget that the 2010 season also brought them another Midwest Scholastic Lacrosse Association championship, a conference which includes some of the best teams from Michigan, Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. The rest of the state will have to step their game up, considering no one in Michigan has beaten Brother Rice since 2002.

Detroit Central Catholic

The Shamrocks are heading into 2011 after finishing last season with a loss to Brother Rice in the state championship. While Brother Rice might be the best tem in Michigan right now, Central Catholic has the best chance at upsetting the Warriors this season. The Shamrocks will be tested early on in the season with match ups against Western Reserve Academy of Ohio and Culver Academy from Indiana.

Forrest Hills Eastern

The Hawks close out the pre-season top three in the state of Michigan. An early exit in last season’s state playoffs will still be lingering as they try to climb to the elite ranks of Michigan high school lacrosse. While a lighter schedule should favor them when it comes down to playoff seedings, the Hawks will need to stay focused to avoid another disappointing finish this season.

They go further than that, also pointing out a trio of players to watch:

Bennet Packer, M, Brother Rice MI, Committed to Delaware, Sr.

Alex Van Slyke, A, Forest Hills Eastern MI, Not Committed, Sr.

Mitch Burgin, A, Detroit Central Catholic MI, Not Committed, Sr.

"Bennet" Packer thinks Lax.com needs to invest in some proofreading staff, for what it's worth. As does Detroit Catholic Central. And anyone who's ever been near a forest.

Without taking alllllll of Lax.com's content, here are the top three teams in each state:

Ohio - Upper Arlington, Worthington Kilbourne, Dublin Jerome.

Indiana - Culver Academy, Saint Joseph's South Bend, Indianapolis Cathedral

Illinois - New Trier, Loyola Academy, Stevenson

Michigan teams will have a few chances to prove their mettle against these teams, and earn respect across the midwest. Brother Rice, Catholic Central, and Country Day all have games against some of this competition.

From another publication, Inside Lacrosse's preseason Midwest Power Rankings have Brother Rice #1 and Detroit Country Day (!?!?!?!?!) at #9. I'm somewhat new to following high school lacrosse in the state, but judging by the minor meltdown on the MLive forums, something's wrong with the Jackets that high.

Special thanks to Clark Bell for the oh-so-appropriate photo. If you're interested in in purchasing lacrosse photos from him, you can do so at his smugmug site.

Birmingham Lacrosse Shorts

This is far from a gear blog, but when a local team is going to wear something unique, I'd be remiss not to mention it. Check out the shorts Birmingham will be wearing this spring, from Lacrosse Playground (HT: 412 Lax):

Prettay, prettay sharp, though some people are well over the argyle trend. Click through to Lacrosse Playground to see Seaholm's (er... Birmingham's) King 3 gloves as well.

Inside Lacrosse Preseason High School Power Rankings

Inside Lacrosse has released its first set of power rankings for the 2011 high school season, and - surprise, surprise! - no Michigan teams were present. In fact, no midwest teams were in the top 25, and every team came from one of just 6 states: Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

This comes as no surprise, and it's unlikely that any Michigan team can get into the rankings any time soon - Brother Rice notwithstanding. The Warriors don't kick off their schedule until the end of March (as with the rest of Michigan high schools - it appears the first game is March 22), but they play a few out-of-state teams (from Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio), so a strong season could result in making the year-end rankings.

Talent may be down for Rice, as they've had a few years in the recent past with several Division-1 recruits on the roster, so we'll see how the season shakes out.