Prep boys lacrosse: Connor Doyle scores four goals for Gulf Coast to win District 19 title

The Gulf Coast High School boys lacrosse team got off to a bit of a slow start against a physical Immokalee squad early on in the District 19 championship game Wednesday night, but the Sharks proved almost impossible to stop once they got rolling.

Junior Connor Doyle scored four goals, with freshman Trace Davidson and junior Chase Schroeder each adding hat tricks as the Sharks cruised to a 17-4 win.

“Once that steamroller gets going, that momentum, it really pushes you,” Doyle said. “You get a goal, you want another one. That’s how it works.”

The Sharks (18-3) advance to the regional quarterfinal round, where they will meet the winner of Thursday’s District 20 championship game between Barron Collier and Naples.

The Sharks topped Naples twice during the regular season, 9-6 on Feb. 20 and 16-6 on April 12. Gulf Coast fell 10-9 to Barron Collier on March 8. The Sharks have never beaten Barron Collier.

“We’re so excited. We’re ready to get that win if it happens to be Barron,” Doyle said. “We know we can beat either one if we try, so we’re going to get it.”

Prep lacrosse: Cougars boys blow out Sharks in 2nd half

Immokalee coach Scott Rickard felt the Indians could have stayed in the game longer if they played a bit smarter.

“We just didn’t play very smart,” Rickard said. “Some of our guys, who were trying to make a play, went across and we ended up offsides a bunch of times. As coaches, we came up with a code word before and we were yelling it and the officials were quick enough to catch it. Gulf Coast is a good team. We knew we had to play well, and unfortunately this wasn’t one of our best games.”

The loss marked the final game in an outstanding career for Immokalee's Ariel Perez. The powerful senior scored the game's first goal and later broke a 7-0 Sharks run with a goal late in the second for the 7-2 halftime deficit.

"I think he's the best player in Southwest Florida," Rickard said. "I think he should be nominated for Player of the Year. He takes the punishment. We call him Shaq because like (Shaquille O'Neal) never got the calls. People bounce off of him and he never gets the calls and he never complains. He's a true grinder."

Naples boys lacrosse team making history in '18

Gulf Coast coach Brett Queener gave the Indians (10-9) credit for making his team work, especially in the first half where the Sharks led just 3-1 after one period and 7-2 at halftime.

“I expected a hard-fought game and we got that,” Queener said. “Immokalee is a great team, they compete extremely hard and it was a physical ground ball battle in the first half. That’s what we expected. We had a couple drop in and had the better of them later in the second quarter and in the second half.”

BOYS LACROSSE

District 19

Monday

at Palmetto Ridge

Game 1 -- (2) Immokalee 21, (3) Golden Gate 0; Game 2 -- (1) Gulf Coast 15, (4) Palmetto Ridge 0

Wednesday

Championship,  (1) Gulf Coast 17, (2) Immokalee 4

District 20

at Barron Collier

Tuesday

Game 1 -- (2) Barron Collier 14, (3) Community School 0; Game 2 -- (1) Naples 24, (4) Lely 4

Thursday

Championship, (2) Barron Collier vs. (1) Naples, 7 p.m.