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Jupiter – Ponte Vedra, A Retrospective On A Great Game

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
  I was not really able to do my normal full-blown game review due to the weather and location of the game last night.  Due to the lack of availability of the Jupiter High School home field the game was transferred to Jupiter Community Park, a pleasant enough facility, but one without stands. Throw in a steady, light rain . . . the type of annoying rain that is not heavy enough to put the umbrella up but still stinging to the exposed flesh and the inability to actually take notes and you have the recipe for this article.  So I apologize in advance for anything I write that might be a little out of order time-wise. Of course there are also benefits to standing right on the sidelines as opposed to exile in a press box, as I wrote in the Watching A Game For Fun article a month ago.  One of them is visual perspective.  It’s similar to watching a hockey game sitting in Row 4 versus the upper deck.  The speed of the game is different from the sideline, as well as the intensity.  The shouts of the players can actually be understood.  The ground ball battles are more appreciable as are the close quarter stick skills.  You can also see the small margin for error a ball-carrier actually has when sprinting at top speed against a long-pole defender also running at top speed.  You could almost focus on that one thing to really understand this sport. Another thing that becomes apparent is how a lengthy pass looks like to the recipient.  One skill of this game that coaches preach and fans don’t think too much about is the simple act of catching the ball.  When you see a parabolic 50-yard pass up close the first thought you get is how similar it is to catching a punt in a football game.  Most of the time the recipient has to stand still and wait for the ball to come to him.  With G*d knows how many people running at you, because you can’t take your eye off the ball.  And having to decide what you are going to do when you catch the ball. And then there is the most revealing thing to me. It takes a LOT of courage to play this sport. Goalies sticking themselves in front of 90+ mile-an-hour shots . . . sometimes defenders too. Clearing up the sideline and wondering whether your angle of sprinting is better thought out than the middie looking to knock you out of bounds. Dodging from goal line extended to the front and getting the shot off a split second before the crease defender cleans your clock. And waiting for that long pass to come back down from orbit. And there are some humorous aspects to watching the game up close too. Moms who are gathered together to cheer on and razz refs (mostly because they are Moms and its their kids who are getting the short-end, of course), and who tell you that anything they say is ‘off the record’.  Don’t worry Moms, much of it is un-publishable anyhow . . . Dads who think their son actually is listening in the heat of the action when they shout out ‘play the hips’. Before the game I tried to keep to my normal routine.  Had a nice talk with Coach Loftus of Jupiter, asked him how he’s doing, just like I did the previous night and two night’s before that.  By Thursday he must have had that look in his eyes . . . what’s he going to ask me tonight?  It seems like I covered every game of his this year, certainly the home games.  Well Dan, next year you travel more.  I know, it’s my fault, I did pick your team #1 pre-season.  But there are benefits to it . . . Discovered Annie’s take-out food store.  Great place for the pre-game meal for me.  And Dan and Nick SEEM to like me . . . even greater for them than my appearance was the season-premier of Jesse Foertmeyer as he returned to the lineup.  Made a big difference, even in a part-time role to start. Had an even nicer talk with Ponte Vedra Coach Tom West.  Another Long Island homeboy and if I deciphered the conversation correctly, a fellow Islanders fan (take that Mr. Ooh-La-La . . .).  Last season I got into a little hot water for my write-up on the state semifinal and now it’s safe for me to enter the area again.  Tom is a really nice guy and he has a really nice team this year too.  As would be apparent later.  Funny how memory plays tricks.  I mentioned to him after seeing the kids come out on the field that they seemed to be a bigger team this year but he said that he had plenty of size last year too.  Maybe a few growth spurts this summer? The game itself was terrific.  Lead changes and momentum swings.  A nail-biting fourth quarter.  And to top it all off a sudden-death overtime finish. Hard, clean play.  No cheap shots taken the whole game.  If the kids respect each other like this all the time it would be great.  Even a well-reffed game in general. Jupiter generally controlled the first half and took a 5-3 led into halftime.  Ponte Vedra dominated the third quarter and the teams took turns controlling the fourth. Hence the overtime. It was one of those games where the top names produced and the support players took more of a back seat.  Until a freshmen scored the OT winner. For Ponte Vedra the biggest plus I saw during the game is that they were far more efficient on offense than I saw last year.  Last year the offense really ran through up top dodging and some behind the net play but this year there was far more ball movement and looking for the open man and it worked very well, even finding the inside at times.  I don’t remember much inside offense in last year’s semis. PV has some serious shooters in Cody Legeza and RJ Garcia.  When they got open they buried it, stinging corners.  Eric Applegate and Logan Taucher help spread the ball around and Miles Silva gave them the inside presence, which helped occupy Jupiter’s defense from doubling and sliding too much.  Although the defense is a little younger this year and Eric’s older brother Ryan is now in college the defense played pretty well. What was missing was Ryan Applegate’s clearing expertise, which was almost breathtaking to watch.  He might have been the fastest goalie I’ve ever seen and you just don’t replace that. Jupiter’s offense played much better this game, partly because of Foertmeyer and partly because they got back to moving better without the ball. A very good sign for the rest of the season.  While the defense struggled a little, particularly in the third, they showed a lot of heart late in the game, having to kill off a 3-minute unreleasable stick penalty as well as having to kill a late penalty.  PV completely controlled possession the last few minutes and the defense turned away PV’s chances to win it in regulation.  Viper showed off Messi-like feet in that goal line stand and when the fourth quarter ended it gave the Jupiter bench a big lift going into overtime. A little back and forth in the overtime between the two teams but Jupiter controlled most of the play and after a loose ball scramble in Ponte Vedra’s half Michael Dean took a feed all alone near the cage and shot home the final quiver of a great game. I suspect if I took the statistics the teams would have been pretty close on all the categories. The winner was the team that made a couple of more plays; the defense for Jupiter late in regulation, and the winner of the ground ball in overtime before the final tally. And all of us who got to watch too. Even in a losing effort Ponte Vedra took something away.  More confidence as they look to get over their bugaboo in the state semifinals. And some good pizza provided for them by the Jupiter parents.  Maybe that would take just a little edge over the bus ride back. Plus, after seeing PV in person yesterday makes my desire to see their Melbourne Central Catholic game all that much stronger. For Jupiter, a nice bounce-back to a tough week and a comfort level in knowing they could be going into the playoffs at full strength. And even the rain stopped just before the game ended.  Mother Nature probably decided to catch the fourth quarter.  Maybe she’s a closet lax fan too . . . Good luck to both teams the rest of the way.  With the brackets the way they are this game could have a rematch.  First weekend in May, in Bradenton.  Should be fun. Thanks to the coaches for spending so much time with me!  And for the fans, including one particularly proud Dad who also understands ’20 miles bounded by reality’. And the pepperoni pizza too.

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