What was 16 teams is now eight remaining as the Florida High School Athletic Association lacrosse state tournament draws to a close on Saturday with Class 1A and 2A title matches.

Palm Beach County sent three teams to the state semifinals, and two remain, with both set to play their final match of the season on Saturday afternoon.

Girls state final

No. 1 American Heritage-Delray vs. No. 2 Lake Highland Prep

Time: Noon

American Heritage-Delray girls took care of business in their state semifinal victory over Episcopal School of Jacksonville, riding a 12-1 halftime lead to a cruise-control 17-3 victory, setting up Saturday's early afternoon matchup against Lake Highland Prep.

Head coach John McClain will be the first to tell you how difficult it is to play a team multiple times in a season, but after besting St. Andrew's three times, the Stallions have gotten their fair share of practice in repeat matchups.

En route to playing some of the toughest opponents across the nation, Lake Highland Prep, Saturday's opponent, made the cut for a February regular-season game.

In that game, which occurred at home just two weeks into the season, Heritage-Delray eased past in a 14-5 victory.

In that game, leading scorer Brooke Goldstein tallied five goals, while freshman Emma Switter contributed two goals and three assists.

McClain's words of appraisal still ring true from before the semifinals matchup.

"They're all dominant," he said. "My attackers are scoring machines. My midfielders control in between the 30s. My defense has been phenomenal, and Ashley in cage has been just exquisite."

They'll have to be that dominant, that controlling, that phenomenal, and that exquisite for just one more game.

Boys state final

No. 2 Benjamin vs. No. 4 Community School of Naples

Time: 5 p.m.

After scheduled opponent Community School of Naples posted the upset of the tournament, taking down St. Andrew's in the semifinals, Benjamin will face the tournament newcomer in the state final.

On the bus ride back to Palm Beach Gardens, head coach Peter Cordrey and his team watched in fascination as the Seahawks' Cal Wyatt picked quite the match for a career game, scoring eight goals against the Scots' oppressive zone defense.

"They had some really great individual performances," Cordrey said. "Their one attackman with eight goals, how often do you see that? You saw it with Jayden [Vega], but you don't see that very often in games, especially big-time games."

Though he plans on keeping the details of his plans "under the sneakers," Wyatt's performance certainly warrants a plan for the Benjamin defense, though the Bucs' combination of man, zone and junk defensive schemes serves them well from the standpoint of versatility.

"We have a plan," Cordrey said. "We're well aware of his talent."

Resilience was the name of the game for Benjamin in Thursday's semifinal victory, as the Bucs withstood mounting heat unlike anything they've seen this season, while turning a 5-2 first-quarter deficit into 14-2 run.

"I said to them at halftime, 'We couldn't have made worse mistakes in the first half, and we're up 8-6. We did some dumb things in the first half as individuals and as a team.' And we go back with a mentality that it's 0-0, and we fight from there. The upside, the laws of probability, is that we're not going to make that many mistakes again."

Ultimately, Saturday will be a game of youth when Benjamin and the Community School of Naples face off.

Benjamin has just two seniors on the roster, while the opposing Eagles have just one.

While the Bucs lack one or two stud threats that carry the squad, they make up for that with an effective team approach to the game, and that starts with an offense run by assistant coach and offensive coordinator Duncan Clancy.

On Saturday, they'll find out if that's enough to win the first FHSAA-sanctioned state title in school history.

"There is a belief in us, and each other as a team," Cordrey said.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: State lacrosse: Benjamin boys, Heritage-Delray girls prepare for state title games