Winter Park rolls to region championship
No. 4 Wildcats take care of business in their 5th shutout
Winter Park junior Bronson Dowdell spoke about finishing business Saturday after the Wildcats’ 14-0 rout of Windermere in the Class 2A Region 2 boys lacrosse final.
Dowdell referred to the region final, but he also pointed to last year’s state-final defeat to Jupiter. Thanks to an offense led by Dowdell’s 6 goals and Winter Park’s fifth shutout, the Wildcats get another state semifinal berth.
The fourth-ranked Wildcats (19-2) await their foe in Thursday’s semifinals at the Paradise Coast Sport Complex in Naples.
The winning region finalists will be reseeded. If current rankings hold, the Wildcats will play secondranked Ponte Vedra, which beat third-ranked Lake Mary 8-7 in the Region 1 final.
Top-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas assured a new Class 2A champion by beating 2021 champ Jupiter 13-9 in the Region 4 final. The Lithia Newsome-Tampa Plant Region 3-2A final was rescheduled to Monday because of inclement weather.
Different players led Winter Park’s region-final rout of Windermere, but the strategy matched their 14-0 rout of the Wolverines on March 1.
Dowdell scored several goals from 15 yards out as the Wildcats built a 12-0 halftime lead.
“We were moving the ball, finding the open shot,” Dowdell said. “We were just being us, finishing our business.”
Griffin Moore ignited the Wildcats’ offense with 2 goals in the first 2:14 of the game. He ended up with 3 goals.
“They slid really fast,” Moore said about what they learned from their last victory over the Wolverines. “We just kind of learned to move the ball right off the dodge and open up some alleys to shoot.”
Winter Park also got 2 goals and an assist from Lawton Dowdell, who had 4 goals in the earlier meeting with Windermere. The Wildcats picked up additional goals from Carter
Truesdell, Bennett Junod and Jameson Fogelsong.
Windermere struggled to get off shots until the second half.
Winter Park junior defender Parker Clem, who shut down leading Windermere scorer Ryan Langhoff in March, held the LenoirRhyne commitment without a goal again in the region final.
“We really wanted to focus on pressing out on hands and being good off-ball because we know they’re a perimeter team that likes to feed it backside,” Clem said. “So we were focusing on our slides and communicating off ball.”
Junior goalkeeper Paul Pilgrim had 6 saves to help the Wildcats preserve their fifth shutout.
“Pauly is the backbone of our defense — one of the best goalies we’ve had, only the second all-American goalie,” Winter Park coach Ryan Healey said. “Parker Clem got snubbed in the all-American voting, and he held two all-Americans in three games with no points. When you’ve got a kid who can do that on the assignment we gave him tonight against Langhoff — we didn’t slide to him, we were just going to play him one-on-one — and he shuts down one of the best kids in the state, that bodes well for our confidence and everyone else playing around him.”
Windermere keeper Eddie Casademont had 7 saves.
Wolverines senior Kade Fixler, who scored 40 goals and had 32 assists this season, missed the game with a broken collarbone.
Windermere repeated last season’s school history with a region-final berth. However, Windermere coach Darren Fixler said relative inexperience cost the Wolverines this year. Fixler’s program has played lacrosse for five years, and he said Winter Park’s success is something to which his team can aspire.
“It was a good season. 18-3 is nothing to hang our heads about,” Fixler said. “Winter Park is a top-tier team. They’re there every year. We learn from this program, and this is what we’re striving to get to.”
While Windermere ponders its offseason, Winter Park carries a 12-game win streak into the state semifinals.
Healey said the Wildcats had chances to win in a 10-9 overtime loss to Lake Mary on March 4 and a 9-8 loss to Jacksonville Bolles on March 22, but the team lost energy.
He said the young Wildcats, led largely by juniors, struggled to learn that they can fix mistakes in-game and rally back.
Clem said the Wildcats learned to stay positive in tough times. He said that’s carried his team through close games, including a 10-7 victory March 26 against Montverde and through the rest of their 12-game win streak.
“We really learned how to work through adversity as a team and build each other up as a team instead of pointing fingers,” Clem said.
FHSAA region finals Class 2A Region 1
Ponte Vedra 8, Lake Mary 7 Class 2A Region 2
Winter Park 14, Windermere 0
Class 1A Region 2
Palm Beach Gardens Benjamin 11, Montverde Academy 6