The Ponte Vedra boys lacrosse team closed out its season in unforgettable fashion.
The Sharks held off St. Thomas Aquinas in a 9-8 thriller to win the Class 2A state championship in Naples on Saturday. It’s just the second time an area boys team has brought home a title. Ponte Vedra also won in 2019.
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This time, it was head coach Chris Polanski leading Ponte Vedra to a title. They’d been close before. The Sharks were runners-up in 2022 (13-12 loss to Aquinas) and again last year (13-4 loss to Aquinas).
The Sharks found themselves in a 5-all game going into the final quarter before going up 7-5, and then watching Aquinas rally to knot things at 7-all before Ponte Vedra muscled up. The Sharks scored with 2:51 to go to take an 8-7 lead, then had JP Dolan put one into an empty net with 61 seconds remaining. That Dolan goal was huge.
Aquinas found the net with 26.8 seconds left and then had a hard-charging possession on the Sharks’ side of the field as time finally ran out. Will Cavanaugh had three goals for Ponte Vedra. Jack Larkin, Dolan, Luke Greco, Matthias Schultz, Hudson Hauseman and Carson Gunnell added goals for Ponte Vedra.