Name: Boys Lacrosse: Playoff predictions, top players, team favorites, upset alerts
Brand: highschoolot.com
SKU: highschoolot-com-4
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Boys Lacrosse: Playoff predictions, top players, team favorites, upset alerts

preview

The N.C. High School Athletic Association boys lacrosse playoffs began Wednesday with some opening round games, but everyone's in action this Friday and Saturday.In this playoff preview we hand out bracket superlatives, give four favorites and one dark horse for each bracket half, and even make championship predictions (that we're sure nobody will have any problem with and will be shocked if any of them don't pan out, right?).We also listed the top 10 players in each bracket half. Many of these players are candidates for our all-state teams that are released a few weeks after the regular season. There's a first, second, and third team of 20 players each, plus an honorable mention team of 40.Quick linksEnjoy the rest of this column below:Best second-round matchup — (13) Broughton going to (4) Topsail figures to be a good one. Both were ranked in the top 25 almost the entire year.Best chance at a second-round upset — Understanding that many times a lower seed winning isn't truly an upset, let's go with a checks-all-the-boxes upset. (19) Apex is battle-tested and playing an undefeated (3) Heritage. Not the easiest way for the Huskies to start the playoffs.The hardest road — (1) Green Level. It's a tough call, but we'll pick the Gators, who probably don't love the possiblity of playing Middle Creek in the third round.The easiest road — It's not all sunny days for the Crusaders, but (2) Cardinal Gibbons is on the opposite side of the bracket as the following ranked teams: No. 4 Green Level, No. 10 Middle Creek, No. 20 Broughton, No. 22 Topsail, and No. 24 Ashley.Favorite #1 — (2) Cardinal GibbonsFavorite #2 — (1) Green LevelFavorite #3 — (9) Middle CreekFavorite #4 — (3) HeritageDark horse — (10) Holly SpringsMason Bader, Apex Friendship (M)Jackson Spells, Green Level (A)Josh Smith, Green Level (FOS)Wes Cohn, Athens Drive (LSM)Roman Baranello, Holly Springs (G)Dylan Axman, Middle Creek (G)M.J. Folan, Holly Springs (D)Weston Thomson, Pinecrest (A)Justin Conly, Cardinal Gibbons (A)Landon Greenberg, Middle Creek (M)Best second-round matchup — (8) Myers Park hosting (9) Ardrey Kell is a rematch from their lone conference head-to-head match which Myers Park won 12-11 alllllllllll the way back on Feb. 29!Best chance at a second-round upset — (14) Weddington has more losses than most teams still alive, but check who they've played! The Warriors could take down (3) Northern Guilford.The hardest road — (4) Marvin Ridge would need to defeat the two best teams in the Triad in back-to-back rounds just to possibly see Charlotte Catholic in the fourth round.The easiest road — (3) Northern Guilford needs to survive Weddington and they could waltz into the fourth round. Then it gets tough with Lake Norman or Hough.Favorite #1 — (1) Charlotte CatholicFavorite #2 — (2) Lake NormanFavorite #3 — (7) HoughFavorite #4 — (4) Marvin RidgeDark horse — (8) Myers ParkJack Ransom, Charlotte Catholic (A)Mason Adams, Myers Park (FOS)Topher Accetta, Hough (A)John Torpy, Lake Norman (G)Cole Stankavage, Ardrey Kell (A)Brendan Deberardinis, Lake Norman (M)Mark McMahon, Charlotte Catholic (D)Dylan Murphy, Lake Norman (D)Caden Cinotti, Hough (M)Jack Nicolette, Marvin Ridge (SSDM)Best second-round matchup — A classic 8-9 battle with (8) Seaforth hosting (9) Western Alamance is pretty good.Best chance at a second-round upset — There aren't many options here, but let's go with (13) Swansboro at (4) Union Pines.The hardest road — (2) Croatan's path to the East final could mean wins over Terry Sanford, Northwood, and First Flight — a difficult task.The easiest road — (3) First Flight has a bracket half that features several teams it's already beaten this year.Favorite #1 — (1) OrangeFavorite #2 — (3) First FlightFavorite #3 — (8) SeaforthFavorite #4 — (2) CroatanDark horse — (11) J.H. RoseConnor Kruse, Orange (M)Alden Cathey, Orange (LSM)Evan Keuhnel, Western Alamance (A)James Flanagan, Northwood (G)Brady Geddes, Swansboro (M)A.J. Pease, Carrboro (M)Katie Wolter, Orange (G)Aidyn Rombalski, Union Pines (FOS)Carson Fortunes, Northwood (M)Graham Myers, Croatan (G)Best first-round matchup — (9) Cornerstone Charter at (8) Atkins is pretty much a coin flip.Best chance at a first-round upset — Going to go with a shot in the dark here at (10) Lincoln Charter at (7) Hickory.The hardest road — (1) CSD will have to go through either Lake Norman Charter or Christ the King before reaching the West final.The easiest road — (3) Bishop McGuinness gets to avoid CSD, Lake Norman Charter, and Christ the King. Not bad.Favorite #1 — (1) CSDFavorite #2 — (4) Lake Norman CharterFavorite #3 — (5) Christ the KingFavorite #4 — (2) North LincolnDark horse — (7) HickoryJack Dalton, Lake Norman Charter (A)Colton Davis, CSD (FOS)Luke Fenderson, Christ the King (A)Miles Fuehler, Bishop McGuinness (A)Braedon Chayes, Pine Lake Prep (A)P.J. Flynn, Christ the King (G)Conner Habeeb, Cornerstone Charter (A)Weston Black, Atkins (D)Tyler Price, Lake Norman Charter (A)Matthew Cetrone, Bishop McGuinness (A)4A East: (2) Cardinal Gibbons over (1) Green Level4A West: (1) Charlotte Catholic over (2) Lake Norman4A championship: Cardinal Gibbons over Charlotte Catholic3A/2A/1A East: (1) Orange over (3) First Flight3A/2A/1A West: (1) CSD over (6) Pine Lake Prep3A/2A/1A championship: CSD over OrangeNCISAA (brackets not released yet)D1: Cannon SchoolD2: Greensboro DayThis is a preview of this article. Read the full story by becoming an HSOT Insider. Already an insider? Make sure you're viewing this content with javascript enabled and ad blockers disabled to get the full story.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association boys lacrosse playoffs began Wednesday with some opening round games, but everyone's in action this Friday and Saturday.In this playoff preview we hand out bracket superlatives, give four favorites and one dark horse for each bracket half, and even make championship predictions (that we're sure nobody will have any problem with and will be shocked if any of them don't pan out, right?).We also listed the top 10 players in each bracket half. Many of these players are candidates for our all-state teams that are released a few weeks after the regular...

Boys Lacrosse: Playoff predictions, top players, team favorites, upset alerts

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS