2019 Midwest Region Boys Lacrosse Preview

What You Need to Know

Loyola Academy (Ill.) and New Trier (Ill.) have traded championships every year since 2015. Loyola Academy won it all last year, so could 2019 be New Trier’s turn again? On paper, Loyola Academy boasts five college commits versus New Trier’s two, but with this rivalry the paper doesn’t tell the entire story.

Culver Academy (Ind.) is a solid pick for the No. 1 team in the nation with 19 players already committed to play in college. Coach Jon Posner added former Episcopal Dallas (Texas) head coach Pat Kennedy to his coaching staff, adding another proven winner. Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.) and Culver Academy’s Varsity squad snapped the seven-year streak of title games that featured Cathedral (Ind.) and Carmel (Ind.). Hamilton Southeastern is the first program not starting with the letter C to win an Indiana state championship since Zionsville (Ind.) won it all in 2006.

After making it to the final four the past two seasons and being ranked No. 9 in the Midwest by Lacrosse Magazine during the 2018 season, Blue Valley (Kan.) have merged with two other schools in their district due to restructuring in the Blue Valley School district and is now named Blue Valley Eastside (Kan.). In addition a new team, Blue Valley Southwest (Kan.), has been formed from the restructuring. Shawnee Mission East (20-3 and 1st Place), Pembroke (17-4 & Runner-Up) and Rockhurst (Mo.) are consistently the top teams in the league making the Final Four each season with the fourth spot usually up-for-grabs. Northland (Mo.) is expected to compete for a final four spot this season with so many returning players from last years No. 4 seed. Other teams that could contend from spot in the Final Four are Blue Valley Eastside, Mill Valley & St. Thomas Aquinas.

Detroit Catholic Central (Mich.) snapped a streak that may never be repeated. DCC took home the Michigan Division I championship and dethroned Brother Rice (Mich.). Brother Rice had won 15 consecutive championships. That championship streak is second only to Landon (Md.), which won 22 consecutive titles. One distinction between the two programs is many of Landon’s titles were regular season titles as from 1981 to 1994 when there was no post-season tournament. But with Landon playing in the IAC, their regular season is similar to a weekly playoff run.

MICDS (Mo.) has won the last two state championships and three of the last four. Head Coach Andy Kay needs one more title to tie Mike Sennett’s record of six championships. Sennett led DeSmet Jesuit (Mo.) to six titles in seven seasons from 1996 to 2002.

Upper Arlington (Ohio) has not won a state championship in the last two seasons, making it the longest drought for the program since it went without a title in 2002 and 2003. The Golden Bears reached the Region 3 final last season, where they were defeated by Worthington Kilbourne (Ohio) for the right to reach the state Final Four. Since Ohio sanctioned lacrosse, the Division I title has been won by St. Xavier (Ohio) in 2018 and Archbishop Moeller (Ohio) in 2017. St. Francis DeSales (Ohio) and Mariemont (Ohio) won the Division II titles in 2018 and 2017 respectively. A pair of juniors came close to breaking the Ohio record for most points in a season. Joe Boesel of Ottawa Hills (Ohio) came within eight points of Trevor Brown’s record of 142, which was set in 2015 with Walsh Jesuit (Ohio). Wyatt Fruland of Indian Hill (Ohio) scored 127 points. Can either player improve upon last year and set a new state record?

Verona (Wisc.) won it all last season, making it the fifth time in program history. The Wildcats were led by a strong group of seniors and graduate four of their top five scorers from last season. A trio of players return in Wisconsin who were among the state’s leading scorers last season. Kettle Moraine (Wisc.) senior Chris Bender led the group with 88 points - just one shy of the state lead. Bender’s teammate Caleb Hotchkiss was fourth in the state and second on the team with 78 points.  Arrowhead (Wisc.) junior Will Lauterbach scored 82 and was third in the state. 

Coaches Approaching Milestones

New Trier head coach Tom Herrala could reach 200 career victories this season. He needs 19 to reach that total. The Trevians are coming off a 21-win season.

Brian Kaminskas of Clarkson (Mich.) needs seven wins to reach 200.

Dave Wilson of Detroit Catholic Central (Mich.) needs 16 wins to reach 200.

Players Approaching Milestones

Graham Bundy needs 12 points in his MICDS (Mo.) career to reach 300. With 112 points (146 last season) he will become the first player in state history known to reach 400 career points. Should he reach 336 points he will become the state’s leading scorer. 

Dylan Day of Tecumseh (Mich.) needs 17 points to become just the third player in Michigan history to reach 400 career points. 

Griffin Fries of Shawnee Mission East (Kan.) needs 47 points to join the 300 Club. He is coming off a 110-point season in which he averaged 5.5 points per game.

Wyatt Fruland from Indian Hill (Ohio) is coming off a 127-point season and should reach 300 career points, which will place him in the Top 10 of the state’s best scorers. 

Cade Newton of South Elgin (Ill.) need 19 points to reach 300 for his career. He is coming off a 48-point season. He scored 35 goals and 13 assists and averaged 3.43 points per game. He played in seven fewer games last season than the previous two seasons, so we’ll see what he has in store for his senior year.

Brendan Sigurdson needs 74 points to reach 300 for Archbishop Moeller (Ohio) this season. The Cleveland State commit has 113 goals and 113 assists and is already 4th in points, 3rd in assists and 6th in goals on Moeller’s career list.

With 132 faceoff wins this season Patrick Farist will get his 1,000 faceoff victory with Indian Hill (Ohio). It will be an interesting year to see who finishes with the most career face-off wins. Farist should take over the current top spot, but Penn Charter (Pa.) senior Gavin Tygh is the odds-on-favorite to finish with the top spot by the end of the year. It’s worth noting that Tygh is in his fifth season with the Quakers after playing as an 8th grader and Farist is in his fourth year.

Last Year’s IL Region Ranking and Results

College commits area based on the Inside Lacrosse database.

1.   Culver Academy (Ind.) 
Last Year’s Record: 
Result Last Year: 
College Commits: 19

2.   Detroit Catholic Central (Mich.) 
Last Year’s Record: 19-2
Result Last Year: Michigan Division I champion
College Commits: 7

3.   MICDS (Mo.) 
Last Year’s Record: 20-2
Result Last Year: Missouri D-I champion
College Commits: 3

4.   Cincinnati St. Xavier (Ohio) 
Last Year’s Record: 19-3
Result Last Year: Ohio Division I champion
College Commits: 1

5.   Loyola Academy (Ill.) 
Last Year’s Record: 22-3
Result Last Year: Illinois Division I champion
College Commits: 5

6.   East Grand Rapids (Mich.)  
Last Year’s Record: 19-4 
Result Last Year: Michigan Division II champion
College Commits: 1

7.   St. Ignatius (Ohio) 
Last Year’s Record: 16-8 
Result Last Year: Ohio Division I runner-up
College Commits: N/A

8.   Dublin Coffman (Ohio) 
Last Year’s Record: 
Result Last Year: 
College Commits: 1

9.   New Trier (Ill.) 
Last Year’s Record: 21-4
Result Last Year: Illinois Division I runner-up
College Commits: 2

10.   Forest Hills Central (Mich.) 
Last Year’s Record: 
Result Last Year: 
College Commits: 0