BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2029 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

Objectively true. Futures is without question both A. a regional "all star" team (several players from NJ, MD, DE and even NC) and B. better than any team in MD.

However, outside of Futures, the only other competitive philly team is Dukes who is essentially on-par with most MD "elite" teams.

Comparatively, of the 8 teams that Maryland fields in the HOCO elite division, at least 5 are as good or better than Dukes. Without a doubt, if those 6 teams (Hawks, ML, NL, Crabs, FCA, TC) put together an all star team, it would not be a surprise to see them beat Futures.

Credit to philly lax for fielding one of the top 29 teams in the country but claiming that equates to philly dominating maryland is a leap too far.

What do you mean......we have SHUCKERS?? (LOL...what a joke!)

So you are putting DCE in??? Who ya taken out? True NOVA also chirping to get in, maybe HOCO adds a 4A division this year??

What about FCA? Surely they are in the mix now. New coach. Some new offensive talent.

Its not too early to start thinking that way. We sent our son in 6th and 7th grade and got him on the radar for financial aid early. Obviously, it helps if you play well at the prospect day.

DCE is NOT joining elite. They beat a bunch of AA and AAA teams and lost to Preds "B" team. If they were in elite, it would be like the old days of 91 where games would be 18-0. Same with True NOVA. Quality club but not ready for the big league.

Hahaha... what quality, top players are team-less this time of year and just waiting for that phone call from DCE, 91 or Preds?!?!

- 91 hasn't added any difference makers. Some of their existing kids are developing/growing and that is making them a better team but they didn't add anyone material.

- Preds "found" some talent on their 2028 team and brought a couple of reclass kids down. But they also lost a couple of kids to expect more of the same. My guess is this is the last year Preds stays together before the few "good" kids on the roster throw in the towel and try to jump on with TC, Crabs, FCA or Hawks.

- DCE is a AAA level team. I actually think Preds would beat them at this stage.

Whoever has the most holdbacks will win it. We know there are plenty of those to go around in Hoco

The interesting thing will be is how many re-class kids can not play in hoco. . Anyone else have players that can not play.

Hilarious, While Philly has some good players occasionally , Philly is a wanna be in lacrosse. Baltimore and Long Island are the Kings and all the rest are subjects of them.

Preds will be the team to beat this year. They have picked up some players that fit in well. Probably top 1-3 team.

Philly is the king of lacrosse. Look at the New Balance All American games recently. Philly has been winning them consistently, especially when they have all the top players playing. Haverford and Malvern are consistently some of the top teams in the nation, often only losing to boarding schools / national teams that pull players from all over the nation like Lawrenceville or other national powers.

HA! Your 1-4-1 record this fall says otherwise, but you always will be “the talk of the town”

Preds Dad is back! We missed you. That 1-4-1 fall record has the Talk of Baltimore on their way to the top!

I agree, definitely top 3 in AAA after you lose to True NoVA in Elite play in game. We are coming for your spot in Elite!

I agree Preds will be a top 1-3 team in the AAA division. They are all talented players.

DCE almost always ends up farming a good team in HS. Just look at the 28s. A bunch of ML kids left to start it and randoms from other places joined. Took a while though, but they would stomp the life blood out of ML and NL now. DCE 27s are week, and I'm not sure why, but 26s and 25s were very good.

I suspect many ML and NL kids leave for a 2nd shot at DCE and then they cobble together something solid. A lot of talented 29s. I'd argue, on the whole, more solid than the 28 class. They will want to shine if they aren't getting a lot of playing time elsewhere. Just the way it works.

-Dad of Four Kids

Yup, we’re all up here losing sleep over True NoVA. Do you have any perspective on these teams?

0-7 (-48 goal differential). Play TrueNoVa and demonstrate you deserve that spot. That is all the perspective I need.

From the information that I have collected, the Predators have collected some reclasses but not showed much improvement since last year. True NoVA is a team that has been showing skill but not enough skill to defeat any of these elite teams. Though they went undefeated last year in AAA they had some close games to some not so good teams. They beat Carroll Manor in OT! I personally believe that if True NoVA keeps working on their teamwork and skills they can eventually compete with some better teams. For now though, they are an OK team. However I think the "Talk of the town" is 91. They lost in OT to ATL Thunder who also beat NL. This guy said they made no new additions but from what I've heard they added a new defensemen, attackmen, and d-middie. We'll see where all these teams end up after this spring.

You will be eating those words by end of Spring. Lets hope you have enough ,,,,, to come back here with your tail between legs after Preds take Baltimore by storm. Talk of Balt for a reason !!

They help. I never saw any coaches at HoCo games when my son played for a good team in HoCo AAA level. Also a good way to make sure your kid isn't going to play for a maniac for 4 years.

How many teams in the Elite HOCO division has True Nova played and, if any what were the results?

They also barely beat Mesa by a goal. Mesa... the team that's probably not even good enough to play AAA Hoco.

Credit to the 91 coaches for sticking with their roster of 30 and developing their players but outside of the Preds matchup, 91 isn't winning any games this spring. When people say a team didn't add anybody, it means they didn't add any difference makers.

Have any of the 2025 Elite bubble teams (Preds,Nove,DCE)
heard anything official from Rickey?

Have "play in games" been used historically to break ties between teams with similar profiles?

How often is the AAA champion elevated to Elite?

I was not able to find anything in Hocos bylaws addressing Promotion/Relegation between divisions.

Has anyone been through or know how this should play out?

You’re ignoring the question. Who has True NOVA played? Just give a few examples.

DCE did not have a 29 team last year. The year before True NOVA, True Baltimore was 7-0 in AAA to provide some context about how much that means. If you’re going after Preds or 91 for their HOCO records in the Elite division, show some receipts justifying a replacement instead of touting a soft record.

Why would you include DCE in this statement? No chance!!

Two years ago FCA went undefeated and won AAA tourney and moved up because BLC dropped to AA. More recently Preds finished second and won AAA Tournament and moved to Elite when VLC disbanded. In both cases there was an opening. I don’t know of any precedent in 2029 to make a team win a playoff to stay in Elite, but it was done in AAA last year.


Other grad years have had play ins at Elite level so there is precedent but it probably depends how much pull Preds have since 91 stunk for years at various grad years but don’t ever seem to be subjected to play ins.

Historically the team that wins AAA can move up to Elite and the team that loses Elite drops to AAA. That said, I think Mark Millon broke that model by throwing a fit every year when HOCO wanted to move his 0-7 teams out of Elite.

My guess is it will be a play in game between True VA and Preds. I don't see how DCE can demand a shot at Elite with both an unimpressive record and not having competed in HOCO yet. Honestly, they would be well positioned in AAA.

Ironically, Preds should happily accept that play in game as it's likely the only game they win all spring.

Don't forget VLC. Ranked higher than all three of the teams mentioned. Been there before and are back in elite this year. Thanks King Crab!

They aren't moving anyone down from elite unless a team specifically requests to move down. So 91 won't be moving anywhere. They play in elite, whether they win or not. They are the only team stubborn enough to do this.

Otherwise, teams regularly drop down. Usually if they got their doors blown off thenprwvious year or if there is a big shakeup in a program or a mass exodus.

If that happens they will likely reach out to the AAA champion and regular season finalists to see if there is interest in moving up. But you usually have to back it up with a strong fall to show you belong.

True played hawks twice in same tourney, got smoked both times

It's sort of a black box, but coaches will express preferences on divisions but ultimately the league will make the call. Past performance figures into that, but I don't think they've ever had anything as objective as play-in games.

They absolutely have had play in games

while i appreciate the productive conversations about actual lacrosse and AAA vs elite. NONE of the AAA teams want their 8th grade hoco year to end the way it will in elite. 0-8 with some real beat down 10+ goal losses. being able to say your kid plays elite isn’t worth that. Tryouts for a top team was the time to accomplish that.

MM knows what he is doing. Top Coach in Baltimore. His teams play elite for a reason, they are elite and compete

Nailed it. If you want to see where you kids club measures up against top competition, go ahead and enter Naptown, NLF or NAL this summer.

Outside of the two teams that his kids were on and where he recruited an all star cast to support them, Team 91 Maryland is anything but elite.

Here is how the 3 middle school teams ended their rankings last year:

2028- 50
2029- 65
2030- 64

The 29 team specifically is like 2-19 in the last 3 years in Elite division of HOCO.

None of this changes the fact that Preds haven’t demonstrated why they belong there either, so give someone a chance if they want it. Having a play in game hurts no one.

Make sure to bring your 15 yr olds.