All-Area boys lacrosse: Josh Stauffer, Benjamin

Saturday, June 04, 2011
by Bobcallovi

Despite racking up 62 goals and 52 assists as a junior, Benjamin Josh Stauffer felt he still needed to prove himself this season.

Stauffer wanted to show his success in 2010 wasn't just because he was playing with a loaded senior class.

"One of my goals this season was to prove I could do it without (the seniors from last year)," Stauffer said.

Stauffer did just that, recording 54 goals and 78 assists to lead Benjamin in points and to an undefeated season and a second consecutive Interscholastic Association state championship.

Despite all that, Stauffer believes he still has more to prove.

"I really want to play Division I lacrosse, and I'm going to keep working until I get to that point," he said.

Stauffer will go to Lawrenceville Prep, a New Jersey boarding school, for a post-graduate year to give Division I lacrosse coaches another year to look at him.

With a 3.9 GPA and 2,220 out of 2,400 on his SAT, he is hoping that he will get a chance to play at Dartmouth, Harvard or Penn after a year of competing in the Northeast, which is considered the hotbed for the sport.

Attending Lawrenceville is something Stauffer likely would have avoided if not for a concussion he suffered the summer before his junior season. The injury prevented him from attending important recruiting camps.

"It set me back because I wasn't able to get on the radar for Division I coaches, and that's when they either start the process or end the recruiting process," Stauffer said. "Most kids are fully recruited by their junior years."

Despite the setback, Stauffer is excited to continue proving that he has the talent and desire to compete at the top college level.

~bobby_callovi@pbpost.com

FIRST TEAM

Rafi Castillo, St. Andrew's, Sr.

Greg Norton, St. Andrew's, Sr.

Sean Grady, Boca Raton, Sr.

Scott Weigel, St. Andrew's, Sr.

Denver Sherman, Boca Raton, Soph.

Hunter Smith, Boca Raton, Sr.

Alec Greenberg, St. Andrew's, Sr.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Kurt Predmore

St. Andrew's

In first year at St. Andrew's, he led the Scots to an undefeated record and another state championship. "We knew we had a good team coming in," Predmore said, noting that the team had only one senior last year. "The biggest obstacle was to keep them focused."

HONORABLE MENTION

Boca Raton – William Bathurst, Shawn Mowry, Nemanja Zgonjanin, Jason McCormick, Chase Koplow; St. Andrew's – Quin Cassidy, Jonathan Larsen, Adam Weigel; Suncoast – Nick Vanders, Dan Marquez, Billy Paxton, Steven Horgan.