It won’t officially be decided until early June.
But the process of selecting the Hudson Valley members of the USILA all-America team actually evolves over the course of many months.
So now that we are at the midway point of the season, let’s take a first look.
We undoubtedly have a pretty good idea who most of the leading candidates are. So let’s hear your thoughts.
John Jay’s Chris Bocklet is the lone returning AA from last season. History tells us that those who have received the award as juniors — or even in some very rare cases sophomores — and who continue to play at the standard they’ve established almost always repeat as AAs the next season.
Even so, that leaves seven other spots. Who do you think should get them and why?
Please focus your comments on why certain players should receive the honor rather than why some should not. With your help, this can be a positive and informative discussion that opens a lot of eyes.
Here are a few quick facts:
• Last year’s AAs were: Bocklet, Brian Douglass, Kevin Stockel and Ryder Bohlander (John Jay), Andrew Collins (Lakeland/Panas), Rob Bosco (Hen Hud), T.J. Smith (Rye) and Jay Lucas(Fox Lane).
• The number of selections went to eight in 2006. The number is determined by the USILA based on the number of teams that offer lacrosse.
• More than 300 players through the country earn AA honors each year.
• Prior to Bohlander and Bosco in 2006, the last Section 1 junior named AA was Jordan Rabidou (Somers) in 2002.
• T.J. Smith’s selection last year marked the first all-American in Rye history.
• The last Section 1 all-American named who had not committed to a Division I program was Steve Settembrino of Yorktown in 2004. Settembrino, who attended Trinity-Pawling for a year after graduating from Yorktown, now plays for a Division I program: UMBC.
• The last three-time Section 1 AA was Chris Watson, who graduated from Yorktown in 2001.
Related link:
• “All-America selection info”:http://www.uslacrosse.org/mens_div/hs_aa_process.phtml
79 Comments
*Bocklet is a no-brainer, obviously.
*The kid Perrelle from Mahopac is real good, but he’s just a sophomore and Mahopac has struggled this season so I’d say no to him.
*People rave about Drew. Haven’t seen him enough to make a judgment.
*Granelli is so unselfish and such a playmaker. Keep an eye on him because sometimes he gets lost in the shuffle when you talk about Jay’s weapons.
*Rocky Bontatibus does it all.
*I’ve heard people say Brendan Kurpis, but for my money John Ranagan is a much more complete player, not to mention the fact that he’s also a physical specimen.
*I have not seen Somers or Rye this season, so I’ll juast have to take everyone’s word on Marasco.
*Lakeland/Panas has Mackay. Not sure. I think it’s next-to-impossible to predict which goalie may get it at this point.
The best players always come from the top teams. Makes sense. A couple of super-talented kids get snubbed every now and then (eg Chris Haggerty, C. South) because of the team that they play for, but for the most part the right kids get selected. Some other noteworthy snubs I remember local laxheads getting upset about were JJ Lian of Lakeland and Matt Bocklet of JJ. Those two are a little harder to figure out than Haggerty, considering they each played on excellent teams their senior years.
This year, if you consider the top teams in the section to be JJ, Yorktown, Rye, and Brewster then the selection process becomes much easier.
JJ: Bocklet and Drew are locks. Both are ranked top 15 in the country and probable Under Armour All Americans. Latino is a strong candidate and Granelli has a decent shot too depending on how he plays down the stretch.
Yorktown: A slew of candidates from the Green Machine. Rocky is their best all-around player, so he’s a lock. Froats isn’t having as much production as I expected up to this point, but there is a whole second half to go. Kurpis is their leading scorer. Ranagan, Fox and Mike. B are only juniors, so I’m going to say they are less likely to get the nomination from the Town coaches. But what do I know, they might put up the sophomore Interlicchio for all I know.
Rye: Gordon’s their best player, he’s probably as close to being a lock as Rye has ever had if they go on to win the section (which they will). I don’t see getting two, but if they were to, I would imagine the goalie Rix (stopping 77% of his shots right now) would be the easy choice.
Brewster: King is on a tear right now. Seven goals vs Mahopac and 5 vs L/P in his last two games. Like Rye, I can’t see Brewster getting two unless they pull off the monumental upset on JJ, but Badalucco would probably be the pick for all he does on D and at the face-off x.
Wild Cards (great players, not so great teams): Joe Marasco of Somers is one of the better players in the country. If anyone’s an AA, he should be. Somers is pretty bad this year though which could potentially hurt his chances. That in turn, makes it even more unlikely that Coppelecchia will make it, despite the fact that he’s an excellent defenseman. Lakeland/Panas goalie Mike MacKay’s only chance is if L/P rights the ship and starts winning some ball games. Junior Jack Doherty is a much bigger long shot, but a very good player. HH’s big middie Nieminski is fighting a losing battle (six straight L’s) with Hen Hud, but he’s putting up some nice numbers along the way. P’ville’s top kids are both defenseman. Gautieri and DeFabio’s only shot is if P’ville can make a run and knock off Rye, but I don’t see it happening. Tyler Perrelle from Mahopac is excellent, but he’ll have to wait for next year and hope Mahopac continues to make strides. Senior teammate Dom Oddo won’t have the same luxury.
So I’d so those are the candidates. I may have missed one or two, but that’s what your keyboard is for.
It makes the JJ Yorktown game so much more significant when you consider the All American selections. My guess is the winner of that game gets three, the loser gets two. The Section 1 Player of the Year could also be determined that night, right Joe.
What about King from Brewster. He seems to be tearing it up.
bocklet,drew and marasco are a given. all 3 highly recruited, bocklet and drew ranked 7th and 15th nationally.
mike b and latino next…no one says can’t have 2 goalies and both are keys to their teams.
badalucco does everything for brewster.
granelli,ranagan,rocky b or a rye defensemen probably fill it out.
there are others that should be considered but probably don’t face a tough enough schedule to be considered over the above.
Perrelle is a junior. He has 13 goals in the past two games. Anthony Oddo who is a senior LSM for Pac should make it too.
Gordon from Rye clearly belongs. To Rye’s credit the scoring has been spread around among 3-4 guys but he stands out and is running the team. Awesome shot. Recruited by Colgate (going) and others.
From Town: Kurpis(sen), Ranagan(jun), Rocky(sen), Interlicchio(soph), Mike B.(jun) are all deserving of AA but obviously not all of them can get it…Guess it will come down to who stands out in 2nd half of the season BUT believe me, these kids can care less about this stuff, they only want the rings…
Agree with ‘goTown’......All of them will be well deserving…last 3xAA was Chris Watson, Interlicchio has a shot if he continues to have all multi-point games AND Town keeps winning, even against teams like Darien…
Bocklet is the obvious #1, great player and great kid….Town certaintly has a good amount of potential AA’s, it would be nice to see another 3xAA not just for Town but for Sec 1….Its crazy how many potential AA’s there is for JJ and Town combined, cant wait for that game!!
First start out with the obvious, bocklet, marasco and drew. Then you have Rocky B who is an all around great player for Town. Granelli is a possibility, very unselfish player amongst top of section in assists, and also takes face offs. Then Ranagn is a tough, smart player who is up there. Another possibility is Whalen, JJ’s best defender, held kid from Manhasset goin to UVA to 1 goal, and held King from brewster to just one goal.
As for goalie it’ll come down to May 17, but for now both goalies had their good games and bad games, very tough call. Good luck to all!
Just because Mam’k is way down this year, doesn’t mean Shane Ferguson shouldn’t be in this conversation. He won’t have the year he had last, but neither would anybody if you were being Zach Greer’ed (short stick super glued to you all over the field). He been at attack, midfield, man-down, man-down clear, and regular run it out clear. Name anybody else with that much versatility and who does it as well, and I guarantee those kids are already anointed as AA’s (Drew, Jojo, Bocklet). Just my 2 cents.
All things considered and I have seen every kid mentioned play this year.
Bocklet is a lock
Drew- is over rated, yes going to cuse but is just athletic not going to take over any games because of pure lax skill
Rocky B- so far a great season, the best player on the best team
Mike B- needs to put up a really strong showing against Darien and Jay to be considered
Perelle- don’t deny a kid who had a great games against all the big boys because his team is down
Jo Jo- He is a great player and Somers would not compete without him (side note: he needs to be a team player cost Somers 3 critical goals yesterday against rye)
Kurpis- is a stretch for all american
Interlicciho- is one of the more over rated players in the section due to coaches who push his name. for all the goals he scores he makes mistakes that cost ytown big too
Latino- again will come down to Ytown game
Malan- doesn’t get enough touches on the ball and bad losses by LP
Just because there at 8 allowed by US Lacrosse doesn’t mean they should have to give out 8. The last great year for AA was 2001, then 2002.
first off donald keough should have much consideration for defensive all american he has shut down every single attackman hes faced from matt king, frotz, wantagh’s empire attackman, marasco and many others and he will continue to dominate.
IF your looking for the 8 best lacrosse players reagardless of team or year, here they are:
Bocklet
JO JO
Drew
Rocky
Rannigan
Gordan
The last four we’ll have to see who plays under pressure
King
Latino
Mike B
Bodalucco
Do you guys think how far you go in the sectional/state tournament should play a role in who gets AA?
Example: Joe Blow scores 90 goals for Team X, but Team X doesn’t go far in its own section, let alone the state tournament.
Should there be a team requirement? Or is there one already that I’m not aware of?
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Interlicciho an overrated 10th grader?-pushed by coaches who can’t keep themselves from being ejected? Just let the kid play and add up the numbers in 2 years.
Syracuse- I would certainly say that its a factor especially since being an all american isnt all about points. Being AA has alot to do with leading your team whether your a dodeger, feeder, finisher, goalie or defenseman. Look at max seibald for cornell last year, he was all american and tewarton finalist and didnt have the point of greer or many other great midfielders in the nation but everything he conributed made his team win whether is was scoring or play D etc.
SYRACUSE,
NO DONT THINK HOW FAR YOU GO IN SECTION/STATE SHOULD MATTER. IF THAT WERE CASE JO JO MIGHT NOT MAKE IT WHICH WOULD BE RIDICULOUS. HE’S CLEARLY AN AA.
Jojo
Rocky B.
Michael B.
Bocklet
Drew
Badalucco
don’t know about Rannagan, possibly Kurpis or Gordan.
Laxbroadcaster
ask Huntington if Drew can take over a game or not.
Drew had two lefty goals against Duxbury, do you think his stick is improving?
Ive seen alot of Lax the past two years. Im NO Tom L but here ya Go:
AA’s— Bocklet-JJ
Latino—JJ
Drew—JJ
Marasco—Som
King—Brew
Ranagan-York
Gautieri—Pleas
Coppalecchia—Som
WoLax
No Rocky, and you have Gautieri from P-Ville, c’mon.
Where’s Tall Greg in all of these?
Since there’s no site for today’s game, guess I’ll post here Rye 6 – Iona 5 Great game!
no way king should get it over gordon in my opinion
the rye iona game was a great one. The iona goalie stood on his head and robbed some of the rye players and the rye goalie did the same. Iona proved that they can play with these section 1 teams. Rye def. deserved the win so kudos to them. As far as stats go all i know is taht Gordon had 3,0 Rob Santagelo 1,0 and Cole McCormack 1,0. For Iona Trizano had one i beleive and Gelespie had a couple nice diving goals.
Gordon also caused a key turnover by Iona’s goalie near the end of the game and then Frankie Lorono got the GB afterwards which gave rye the oprotunity to kill out the clock. Very close stuff….
Number 10 for Iona was quick as hell
gordon 3 francis santangelo 1, robert santangelo 1, cole mccormack 1 rye goals.
Why put the pressure on these kids half way into the season ?
joe b-
When should we put pressure on them? 3/4 season? Actually, there was a pre-season All American discussion back in March. I don’t think any of the kids who are actual candidates are feeling the added pressure of esteemed LoHud blogging community one bit. I just think it’s probably cool to see your name mentioned in the discussion here and there.
Mark these names down now:
Bocklet
K.Drew
JoJo
K.Gordon
Rocky B
Badalucco
Coppolecchia
Latino
how you have more somers players than yorktown players is beyond me
joe wasn’t stephen mcelduff a 3 time all american after watson, i could be wrong but i thought he graduated the next year and got the honor three times
joe any rockland players?
Pretty sure Stephen Mac was a backup 3rd baseman. I guess he still could have been a 3x AA but that’s politics for you
Vin, with all do respect I think that you are in the wrong blog. This is a lacrosse blog and with your last post you have proved that you know nothing about section 1 lacrosse. Stephen McElduff was a 2x AA from Yorktown.
Are you another crazy parent??
My bad.
I was a 6x AA.
It’s ok I just wanted you to get your facts straight, being a 3x AA is an incredible achievement!
I think you will like this blog there is a lot of great information on it, you will learn a lot about the players and teams in the area.
Hope to see another post from you again soon!
Wow. Vinny D and Stephen Mc back-to-back posts. Great hearing from the former stars of the not-too-distant past — at least in Stephen’s case. (Just kidding, Vinny.) What’s up guys?
BTW, “here is a link”:http://www.insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?PageRID=126804 with HS AAs up till ‘06. I listed ‘07 AAs above.
Rockland – Sure. Let’s hear some potential Rockland AAs by all means.
Strong Island
You obviously have not seen Gautieri play, As for ground balls, positioning, discipline, he may be the best close D man in the section right now.
Jim Teacher…wait until the players are named and see all the bad mouthing about player being over rated or not as good as this kid. We may get 5 or 6 and we already have about 20 kids being mentioned. I just think it is a little too early.
Vince,
Andrew was the third baseman and Stephen played lax…common mistake with them being brothers and all. Hilarious that you are posting with your real name…not that I’d expect any less from a classic like V-nice. Lax god, wish you were in on this, but the fact that you’re not makes it that much better. Didn’t Ous Greene play short stop on that team…or was that Stueysboy Shein?
What about Remy Lieberman???
I agree with Lax fan’s AA choices…with one oversight…this kid King from Brewster is the real deal. He IS Brewster. He scores from all over the field, from dodging to cutting and finishing. His numbers are impressive, and so is his game. This kid should be a lock.
Dice
Joe,
How old do you think I am?? Jeez…J/K
YRK….I can’t believe you are posting under YRK…dead giveaway for a Yorktown fan!