US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NEW JERSEY LACROSSE NEW JERSEY FORUM High School Boys Lacrosse - New Jersey

The landscape of the Non-Publics is certainly changing and this is a direct result of what has happened on the club level in my opinion. Delbarton is a good example. The head coach transition inevitably meant the disruption of the club pipeline the team benefitted from for so many years, of course I'm talking about Patriot lacrosse. By playing for the Patriot youth teams, top players were given early exposure to the school through Ruebling and the other Delbarton assistants, alums, parents etc. who were associated with Patriot. This ensured by the time it came to choosing a high school, these players knew the Delbarton coaches but more importantly, the coaches knew who they were and could then advocate on their behalf during admissions decisions. Then once in high school, having the majority of each class concentrated in the same club allowed the players to develop additional chemistry in the offseason, an especially important factor for a private school where kids did not play together growing up. Then when it came to recruiting, the process was streamlined through Ruebling since he served the role of both varsity coach and club director. Therefore the concurrent success of Delbarton both on the field and on the recruiting trail was very much intertwined with the success of Patriot. The numbers speak for themselves; according to their alumni database from 2006-2022 over 100 Patriot players who attended Delbarton played collegiately. Thus far STEPS has been unable to replicate Patriot in this regard, instead it seems Leading Edge has become the new preferred club destination for the top players at Delbarton. It seems the days of Delbarton producing 10+ D1 recruits a year are over regardless of the club situation. The fact is the sport has grown on a state and national level so more players from more clubs are competing for the same number or even fewer roster spots due to covid. Delbarton's athletic priorities have definitely shifted away from lacrosse in recent years as well, I never thought I would see Delbarton beat Don Bosco in football and lose in lacrosse in the same year. It is no secret that Delbarton is investing big time in the football team, just look at the new field house they're building. The culmination of all these factors was a disastrous 10-7 season in 2021 with the only silver lining being the surprise upset of SHP in the semis. For reference the team had only lost 7 games over the previous four seasons combined. As for the 2022 season I expect the team will be better, but they will need big contributions from mostly unproven underclassmen in order to compete with the other top teams in NPA. SHP and DBP both return very strong and experienced senior classes but I would give the early edge to DBP to repeat. SHP's coach on the other hand is trying to turn Tri-State into his own version of Patriot and seems to be doing a decent job. Whether or not the Tri-State connection will ultimately translate into a championship for the pirates remains to be seen, however they are clearly bringing in the necessary talent level to compete each year so I expect they'll eventually break through. If last year is any indication, the door is wide open for teams not wearing green and white next year.