- April 26, 2024
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Senior Jordan Gales with his family. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Senior Brandon Calidonio with his parents. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC senior Brandon Duncan (4) with his family, including brother Jayden Duncan (12), a sophomore on the team. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Kevin Beatty was honored on senior night. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Senior Trenton Ellis with his parents. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Senior Will Fafel with his family. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Dominick King picks up a ground ball. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jordan Gales (5) looks to shoot. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Trenton Ellis (8) is sandwiched after he reaches for a ground ball. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Trenton Ellis (8) and a Mandarin player go down after fighting for a ground ball. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Trenton Ellis (8) looks to pass. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Dominick King falls after contact. Photo by Brent Woronoff
After scoring two quick goals, Jordan Gales told coach Matt Massey that he was going to ease up. That was the game plan for Flagler Palm Coast’s boys lacrosse team on senior night.
“I told the coach I was going to settle down, because if I scored too soon, it’d be a running clock and I just wanted to let everybody else enjoy the moment,” Gales said.
Gales ended the game with three goals and three assists. And four other seniors — Trenton Ellis, Brandon Calidonio, Will Fafel and Brandon Duncan — also scored for the Bulldogs in their 14-1 victory against Jacksonville Mandarin on March 15.
Before the game, the Bulldogs honored their six seniors — Gales, Ellis, Calidonio, Fafel, Duncan and defender Kevin Beatty, who had two takeaways in the game
“We were trying to get everyone involved, and I think that was Jordan’s main goal tonight, and that just shows you his selflessness,” Massey said. “So I think that speaks volumes about him as a person and as a player.”
Gales leads the team and the district with 20 goals, and he is also third in the district in assists with 13. On senior night, he was just one of eight Bulldogs to put the ball between the pipes. Ellis also scored three goals, Calidonio and Fafel scored two apiece and Duncan, Grant Winkler, Dominick King and Carsen Ellis each scored one goal.
Duncan, a defensive middie, and Fafel, playing in his third game, scored their first goals of the season.
The whole team played tonight, so it was a big team effort to try to get the seniors to have a great night.”
— MATT MASSEY, FPC boys lacrosse coach
“We were trying to get each one of our seniors a goal or something that they can be proud of tonight,” Massey said. “We got most of them a goal. The whole team played tonight, so it was a big team effort to try to get the seniors to have a great night.”
Since their season-opening loss to Matanzas, FPC has had nothing but good nights. They have won five in a row and have held their opponents to two or fewer goals three times.
“After Matanzas, it left like a sour taste in our mouth, so we just had to get that out quick, and now we're 5-1,” Gales said.
Sophomore goalie Aiden Commendatore ranks seventh in the nation in save percentage (79.7%), according to MaxPreps listings. Calidonio ranks 11th in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (82.1%).
“There are a lot of new players, but everyone's picking it up pretty quick with Brandon facing off and Aiden in goal,” Gales said. “Aiden moved from Pennsylvania, and he’s been amazing.”
After the game, the Bulldogs carried Commendatore off the field.
“He's just a phenomenal goalie and a blessing to our team,” Massey said. “To me, he’s like a brick wall.”
Massey is in his first season as FPC’s coach and he was hired late, so he and his assistant coach — his father Steve Massey — were still working out the kinks when they lost their season-opener 8-5 at Matanzas.
“I think that game lit a little fire under us,” Matt Massey said. “I think that could have been the best thing for us to lose that first game. I told the boys, let's harness that loss and let's start to use that to our advantage, and I think that we've done that moving forward. I couldn’t be happier about the team rallying around each other and coming along so far after that first loss.”
Gales, who has almost matched his 2023 scoring total of 23 goals, has been a big part of the Bulldogs' success.
“I told Jordan when we started the season that I was going to put a lot of weight on his shoulders,” Matt Massey said. “I wanted him to be the glue of this team and hold everything together and run everything basically through him. He's a great scorer, but he's a better team player. He's always trying to get guys involved, and he's trying to help the team grow. So, as a coach, I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
