Laughable that anyone would say Preds isn't filled with holdbacks. My son, who plays for Prime Time, has a bunch of friends on Preds - same year - every single one of them is a holdback at Brunswick. One of them is literally the oldest kid in the grade at Brunswick which is saying something. Anyone can say anything on this forum I guess, but it doesn't make it true.
This thread started with Ytown demise and ran into holdbacks at Brunswick. That is truly the main issue facing the Westchester lacrosse scene: the rise of preps. Every single public HS coach keeps fingers crossed his best players stay in his program but the formula of players transferring to a holdback prep year dominates the lax recruiting landscape right now. 95% of top recruits are holdbacks according to Inside Lacrosse's own lists.
Whichever clubs have the most preps will have the most holdbacks (2Way leads by far). I think PT and Preds still have way more public HS players than private. Compared to MD or Mass clubs where Id guess the vast, vast majority of players are holdbacks, Westchester still plays it straight.
Ytown and JJ were always more immune from the prep invasion than schools like Rye, New Canaan, Greenwich or Mamaroneck. I think the decline in spotlight talent for upper Westchester is tied to weaker youth programs and local preps getting more attention. If those rich lower Westchester towns didn't lose so many to preps each year, the balance of power would have flipped years ago.
