1 – Sickles
We predicted Sickles would take this district in our pre-season write-up last year. We are keeping them at the top of district 15 – for now. However, we feel the race for this group of teams is MUCH tighter this season. The Gryphons lost some very good talent in 2018, including the entire starting middie line, 2 starting poles, and their goalie. Teams like Wiregrass and Steinbrenner could easily move into the top spot during the season. Coach Kuebrich even hopes to see something similar. “I am hoping Wiregrass has a repeat of the success they had last year. It always makes the district more interesting, like what District 16 had with Plant, Jesuit and Berkeley a few years ago.”
2 – Steinbrenner
Steinbrenner stumbled a bit in 2018, but they may fare better in the off season compared to Sickles and Wiregrass due to their younger team not graduating as many players. This is always a well-coached squad that finds a way to put players on the field who can make things happen. As with Wiregrass, we won’t be surprised if the Warriors make a run at the top seed either.
3 – Wiregrass
Wiregrass did very well in 2018, but like Sickles, they’ve lost some of their better starters. The Bulls graduated 2 leading scorers on attack, 2 starting middies, and 2 starting defenders. The TLR staff discussed this district at length and feel that nearly any team in our top 4 here could make a run at the top spot. District 15 may even give district 16 a run for tightest district in the area in 2019. Look to this district for some great matchups in 2019, including the March 1 district matchup between #1 Sickles and #3 Wiregrass.
4 – Sunlake
This team surprised a lot of people (and teams!) at the Tampa Winter Jam in January. If they can keep that level of play throughout the season, we feel they can continue to surprise. Sickles visits on April 3 for what may end up being a very important game deciding district seeding.
