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It was a historic season for the Pleasantville boys lacrosse program in 2015.

The Panthers not only won the Section 1 (NY) title for the first time in its 14-year varsity history but beat four-time Class C sectional champ and defending state champ Bronxville 9-7 in the title game in doing so.

Bronxville had beaten Pleasantville in the sectional finals in 2013′ and ’14. The Panthers also beat Bronxville by two goals during the regular season — 10-8 on April 15. It was Bronxville’s only loss against a Section 1 opponent in 2015.

For a first look at Pleasantville in 2015, we turn to Jack Drillock.

The aggressive, athletic senior is one of the top defenders in New York state. Drillock, who has signed with Siena College, joined 2015 grad and midfielder Josh Della Puca as the first All-Americans in program history last spring.

Drillock, a lockdown, takeaway defender, triggered a Panthers unit that allowed an average of just 4.95 goals per game in 2015 — the lowest in Section 1, which includes Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess and Rockland counties.

In addition, Drillock was just named a Golden Dozen honoree by the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Westchester chapter. The award recognizes senior football players for both academic and athletic excellence.

Now, here are Jack’s perspectives on the upcoming season.

What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
Throughout the fall and early winter, many members of the team took advantage of the warm weather and went out on to the turf to work on their skills.

We did things such as one-on-one situations, shooting, and of course wall ball, among other things.

Now that it has gotten colder, we have started speed and strength training in order to be a more dynamic team come this spring.

How does your schedule look, what games are you looking forward to most, and who are some of your scrimmages against?
I believe we have a very tough schedule this year.  We play a lot of elite programs in Section 1, including John Jay under the lights at their field.

One game I am really looking forward to is St. Joe’s-Trumbull.  Everyone is looking forward to giving them a better game this year and coming out with an out-of-state win.

Additionally, we are going to Rye to scrimmage Rye and Fordham Prep, which should be a nice challenge to get us ready for the season.

What players on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
Many members of our team should have breakout seasons this year.  There are several young players that were role players last year who will need to fill the shoes of the people who graduated.

Some of these players include Declan McDermott, Jack Howe, and Cullen Dell.  Although these players are still young, they are more than ready to have breakout seasons and turn some heads.

What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
Overall, I think we are a well-balanced team.  We have a lot of experience on the defensive side of the ball with several returning defenseman, including Greg Driscoll, Cullen Dell, and myself.  Additionally, our faceoff middie, Mike Hammond, who got hurt midseason last year, is poised to make a strong comeback and be a significant force at the faceoffs.

How do you view the race in your league and who do you think some of the contending teams will be?
We believe everyone in our league wants to beat us since we had such a successful season last year.  We still need to get better because everyone else is too.  Two teams in particular that will be very tough competition in Class C are obviously Bronxville and a talented Hen Hud team.

We hope to defend our section title and go even further in states than last year.

* Preseason player perspective archive

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