Of course there will be loses in the future because you bump your kids down to play younger kids- that would only be logical! Better hope those kids can win big all the time or that makes them look silly losing or only being competitive against younger kids. I'd be a bit worried if my older kids were only able to pull out a one goal win in OT. Of course you also won't be able to play in any age guided events in the future, but you won't want to as you know what may happen then.
My son is an age compliant 2020 from a non hotbed area that played at Brine. It was impressive to watch the Long Island team win easily despite being smaller and slower than a lot of their opponents. I don't think the Long Island team was smaller and slower because of holdbacks as most of them were smaller than my 13 year old.
The reality is that teams from other areas close the gap with the Long Island teams as the boys age because the Long Island teams at the younger ages have exceptional lacrosse players but not exceptional athletes. Once the kids from the areas start playing year around the skill gap closes and size and speed takes over.
