BY DARREN SANDS
Hey y'all.
Gearing up for our lacrosse season previews, I asked every coach in Nassau's Class A about the five players that impressed them the most.
Nearly every one of them mentioned Mike DeNapoli of Lynbrook.
DeNapoli apparently took over and helped lift Lynbrook over a very good Farmingdale squad with four goals, three assists -- not to mention that he won 9 of his 14 faceoffs.
I was in the press box covering Hofstra's win over Towson and even heard his name come up then! Yes, for a whole week, I couldn't stop hearing about how good Mike DeNapoli is and I haven't so much as laid eyes on him.
That's probably going to change real soon. Congrats to Lynbrook.
Meanwhile, Farmingdale coach Bob Hartranft is still three wins away from victory No. 600. We'll be keeping a close watch on that story for sure.
I spent Tuesday afternoon at Chaminade, as they held off Massapequa for an 11-5 non-league win. Check out the game story in the Wednesday edition of Newsday. I was as impressed with Chaminade's Matt Gibson as I've been with anyone in the young season. He's quick, unselfish and is loads of fun to watch. It becomes clear rather soon, however, that it's not so much fun for the kid(s) that have to stick him. Massapequa coach Steve Mollot said as much.
"It's tough to defend a kid that's that good, unless you have a defenseman that's that good," he said. "We think we have some pretty good defenseman, but he is clearly a Division I kid, and our [defensemen] are question marks."
Next up? I'm going to see Massapequa play again, this time in a non-league game against West Islip on Friday. Another tough one for the Chiefs. Are they up to the challenge? How is West Islip going to look this year? I'll have a first look and I'm looking forward to it.