High school sports 2023 in review: Hitting the highlights of the county's top performers

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?

"Auld Lang Syne" sounded from the rooftops on New Year's Eve as 2024 arrived. Yet, 2023 was undoubtedly one worthy of being remembered for Palm Beach County's high school sports scene.

Below, revisit 16 of the area's biggest moments from the court to the field, the track, and more this year.

A year in Palm Beach County high school sports

King's Academy girls hoop their way back to final four

Back-to-back district champs. Back-to-back region champs. A 13-game winning streak carried the Lions back to the 3A state championship in Lakeland back in February after making their inaugural appearance in 2022.

Led by a sophomore Jade Jones, along with the team's seniors Janessa Williams and Jordan Race — now dominating the next level at Long Island University and Southern Wesleyan, respectively — King's finished the season 23-5, falling in the state semifinal to postseason foe Cardinal Mooney.

Three Palm Beach County girls soccer teams reach state finals

Three may be a crowd, but not when it comes to making the cut for state championships.

Class 7A power Boca Raton reached the final four only to meet No. 1 in the nation Palm Harbor University, and Benjamin snapped a 17-game winning streak for Edgewood to make the final four in Class 3A. But American Heritage-Delray was the last local team standing, reaching DeLand to face ultimate 4A state title winner Bishop Moore, which won 1-0.

Dwyer boys basketball wins 6A state championship

Dwyer boys basketball head coach Fred Ross, The Post's coach of the year, led the Panthers to state titles in 2004, 2005 and 2011. In 2023, against the odds amid a string of injuries for star guards Mason Brown and Kyle McNeal, he picked up his fourth.

At the top of the season, a blown ankle for McNeal fogged a clear road to state, but a promise made with teammate Blake Wilson, his partner in crime since fifth grade, was what pushed him off the bench. The college-bound seniors vowed to not leave Dwyer without a ring.

Had the Panthers not taken a loss to 7A squad Lake Worth in a sold-out show, it would've been a perfect 30-0 season.

Nationally ranked American Heritage-Delray squads dominate spring sports

It was quite the productive spring for not one but two nationally ranked teams at American Heritage-Delray.

Compiling each player's Universal Tennis rating, MaxPreps had the Stallions' boys tennis team ranked No. 1 in the country. The proof was in the pudding served at 2A state championships in April, where Heritage-Delray swept three crews without dropping a set. One-half of the team's top-tier Ekstrand twins, Markus, a first-year team member and University of Miami commit, also took home crowns in singles and doubles, won alongside No. 3 George Kesseifi, for an incredibly rare state tournament feat.

Just a couple of weeks later, Heritage-Delray's girls lacrosse team made what's become an annual trip to the 1A state championships. A rain-soaked matchup saw the Division I-stacked squad, coached from club to varsity by The Post's Coach of the Year John McClain, rout reigning champ Lake Highland Prep 11-4 after a 10-8 upset in the finale of the 2022 season.

The girls sat atop the Florida High School Athletic Association's state rankings at No. 1 throughout the year, ending as No. 12 in the nation per USA Lacrosse Magazine with a record of 22-1.

St. Andrew's boys tennis four-peats and boys lacrosse three-peats as state champions

Heritage-Delray wasn't the only south county school that bred champions in 2023. St. Andrew's did it for the fourth season straight in boys tennis and the third straight in boys lacrosse.

A six-year dynasty ended for the Scots' girls tennis team, but the boys kept the winning tradition alive with a fourth consecutive tournament win in 1A, forged by singles players Rafael Bote, Julian Fente and Nico Snyder.

Yet, St. Andrew's' most heartwarming story came out of Naples.

Senior goalie Ryan Kaplan stepped up at the net for longtime starter and All-American Gunnar Schwarz, now at Navy, and made the championship-winning save to upset Bolles. Kaplan played in honor of his cousin who died just weeks before the Scots went to state in May.

Park Vista baseball makes sixth trip to Class 7A final four

It was the "biggest game" of 2024 prospect Ethan Mattison's life.

The Park Vista pitcher — now a Florida Gulf Coast commit — pitched a complete game against three-time state champion Jupiter to earn the Cobras' sixth region title and ticket to state.

With a top speed of 89, Mattison allowed the Warriors just one run and three hits. May's 3-1 win was a major milestone for Mattison, who injured his pitching hand as a freshman and once thought he might not have a future in baseball, let alone a varsity career.

At 7A states in Fort Myers, the Cobras looked destined for the title matchup, up 4-2 over Plant, but a 30-minute weather delay struck Vista's hopes for some historic hardware, losing by a single run. Plant went on to endure a 10-0 shutout from nearby state champion Stoneman Douglas as Vista ended the year 22-4-1.

Benjamin boys track goes back-to-back

Six individual state champions for Chaminade-Madonna weren't enough to overpower the balanced crew belonging to well-decorated coach Barrett Saunders at this year's 1A track and field state championships in May. Before the Bucs' repeat state titles — the most recent won by a 14.5 point advantage and highlighted by individual medals in shot put and discus for Jackson Hamilton — their best finish was sixth in 1993.

Spanish River softball's underdog run to historic state title

The Sharks came into the postseason ranked No. 7 in the region and 94th overall in Florida. Neither first in Class 7A and state No. 3 Lake Brantley, nor the division's No. 2 and state No. 5 Plant believed that Spanish River, The Post's team of the year, would do the unthinkable.

Leave it to then-sophomore pitcher Giselle Portanova, who allowed just five hits, to survive loaded bases in the bottom of the sixth for a clean seventh inning to preserve a one-run advantage over Plant. Not to mention a historic state championship for the program led by The Post's Coach of the Year Ashley Byrd.

Locals rack up at Palm Beach County High School Sports Awards

Thirty student-athletes took home Player of the Year honors from The Palm Beach Post at this year's Palm Beach County High School Sports Awards, held in June. Rows and rows of nominees, along with their coaches, friends and families piled into the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach to see local kids, teams and coaches be honored for their accomplishments during the 2022-23 school year.

Nominees for the 2024 High School Sports Awards have already started trickling in. Check them out at http://tinyurl.com/kwrphzrs.

Four-star Chauncey Bowens flips from Florida

Who's that coming down the track? A mean machine (to be) in Red and Black.

But first, Georgia signee and Benjamin four-star running back Chauncey Bowens was destined for the University of Florida.

Months after a January helicopter visit from coach Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs successfully flipped the All-American Bowl selection away from Florida coach Billy Napier in June after Bowens' visit to Athens. He had initially committed to UF in September 2022.

The great finale of former Pahokee quarterback Austin Simmons

Bowens wasn't the only Palm Beach County commit that the Swamp lost. When quarterback Austin Simmons transferred from Pahokee High to nearby Moore Haven in April, the four-star was committed to the University of Florida.

Two months later, on June 16, after On3 misreported that the two-sport athlete reclassified to the 2023 recruiting class from the class of 2025 and enrolled early at the University of Florida, Simmons' family refuted the national recruiting service's claims in an interview with The Post.

The following day, Simmons officially reclassified, jumping two cycles ahead thanks to a GPA as wicked as his arm, but shared with the world that he would be taking his talents to Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin rather than Napier and the Gators.

Jupiter football stuns Dwyer to start season to remember

2023 is almost over, but north county high school football fans have yet to quit talking about how Jupiter downed Dwyer in August for the first time in over 20 years. The 24-11 victory in the Military Trail rivalry was just a taste of what the Warriors would offer in the months to come, including but not limited to their first district championship since 2004 and a 9-2 record.

Thank you, Douglas brothers and friends.

This year, the Warriors' only losses were by just 10 points to Martin County in the regular season and a 48-41 heartbreaker to Boca Raton in a battle of the underdogs.

Cardinal Newman proves Florida football is king against Massachusetts powerhouse

September offered a historic victory for Cardinal Newman as the Crusaders played their first out-of-state opponent in program history. Catholic Memorial out of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, had a long bus ride home after a 35-2 slashing courtesy of Newman's Power Five-caliber secondary.

The reigning champions of the Bay State hadn't lost a game since 2019.

Dr. Joaquin Garcia goes the distance in inaugural season

In the first year, Dr. Joaquin Garcia already has its first district champion — and state champion.

October saw former Park Vista coach Erica Green's girls volleyball team clinch the Bulldogs' inaugural district championship, swiping the title from then-reigning title-holder Suncoast in a five-set thriller.

The girls made a first-round exit in their first-ever appearance in the 5A state tournament, ending with a record of 16-10.

On the lanes, a shaky start opened a historic state win Jayden Brown clinched in November, but the freshman bowled a near-perfect game in the second of three with a score of 660.3 in the first match and 716 in the second.

Boca Raton Christian paves way back to 2A state trophy matchup and Jupiter volleyball returns to 7A semifinal

Palm Beach County volleyball teams made their way back to Winter Haven vying to come back with state championships in tow. It was Boca Raton Christian's second straight trip, while it was Jupiter's first final appearance since a pandemic-modified postseason tournament in 2020.

While neither came back with the wins they'd fought for all season long — in part due to misjudged calls by officials — 2A Boca Christian and 7A Jupiter made Palm Beach County proud as they forced their respective opponents, Seacrest Country Day and Winter Park, to five sets.

Palm Beach County golfers sweep at 1A state tournament

Charlie Woods, the son of Tiger Woods, hitting the varsity fairways was the buzz of the 2023 golf season, but it was a successful year for more than just "C-Dub."

There were several impressive finishes for Palm Beach County golfers among all classifications, but local teams swept the 1A division thanks to winning scorecards from the boys at the Benjamin School and the girls of FAU High.

The Bucs turned in a team scorecard of 602, led by a scorecard of 148 for Jake Valentine, who tied for eighth, and the Owls took home the program's first championship with a 137 from Kayla Bryan, who finished second.

Boca Raton football earns first district title since 2001

Boca Raton is no stranger to the playoff, reaching 7A region semifinals before a 34-28 loss to Palm Beach Central, but winning a district tournament hasn't been easy to come by. After all, the Bobcats are the southernmost team to Florida's thickest competition in Broward and Miami-Dade.

Before Metro-Suburban classifications were introduced, the Bobcats were typically left disappointed at the forces of Deerfield Beach. After the Metro-Suburban realignment, Boca learned it would no longer run into Deerfield but, instead, Santaluces, a program that was being built into a winning one by Hector Clavijo II, a two-time 2A state champion during his time at Champagnat Catholic.

Under first-year head coach Alex Savakinas, Boca Raton avenged 2022's 21-20 loss to the Chiefs with a late rally for a monumental 24-21 win in 2023.

Although Metro-Suburban now has been scrapped for an eight-division classification system, as of the FHSAA's latest board meeting, it looks like Boca may be able to keep its champion status based on the competition listed in the new districts released by the organization in December.

First-time playoff contender West Boca upsets top-ranked Atlantic

Trailing a top-ranked Atlantic squad 22-16 with seconds to the horn, it seemed as though a historic playoff run for West Boca would come to an early end. Then came the "Hail Mallory" heard from county line to county line.

Sophomore receiver Kyle Andrews made the game-winning catch on a Hail Mary from fellow sophomore quarterback Mason Mallory, leaving not only a 9-1 Atlantic stunned but the area as a whole.

The Bulls were just a touchdown away from forcing overtime against Coconut Creek in the second round and advancing to the 6A region championship, where they would have met 2023 state champ St. Thomas Aquinas.

Emilee Smarr is a sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: High school sports 2023 in review: Highlights from Palm Beach County