Everything about Maximus Schalit is fast, from the way the Ponte Vedra (Fla.) senior defenseman roams around the field to the way his lacrosse career took off.

Entering eighth grade, Schalit was a football player and a wrestler who had never played organized lacrosse. Two years later after his freshman season at Matanzas, where he spent the first two years of high school, he committed to play lacrosse at Notre Dame.

Even Schalit was surprised how quickly it happened.

Now at the end of a stellar high school career, he leaves Ponte Vedra as a state champion.

The Sharks finished 24-1 to earn their first FHSAA title, and Schalit played a key role in that run. He caused 71 turnovers to lead a defense that yielded just 4.8 goals per game, and he wreaked enough havoc to be named Florida’s Mr. Lacrosse, earn All-American status, and now, be recognized as the Warrior/US Lacrosse South Boys’ Player of the Year.

“He’s going to go 1,000 miles an hour and he’s going to play his hardest and that’s the way he’s wired, so we tried to figure out a way that played into his strengths and also helped us defensively and it really worked well for us,” Sharks coach Tom West said. “We had another guy that was kind of the on-the-ball guy and that we put on the best player, and then we just let Max go and we’d say, ‘Create chaos.’”

Schalit’s last five years have flown by like a summer thriller, an action-packed novel where every chapter brings a sharp plot twist and the pages fly by.

“It does [go] way too fast, but I’m ready for the next chapter,” Schalit said.

Having played football since he was 4 and beginning wrestling shortly thereafter, Schalit didn’t take much of an interest in lacrosse at first. Ranked second in the state as a wrestler, Schalit figured his future lay on the mat.

His older brother, Storm, went on to play a year of lacrosse at Ohio Wesleyan and had tried to get Max into the sport as a kid. But Schalit entered eighth grade having only tossed a ball around with him and never actually joining a team. Finally, he decided to give it a try.

“I thought it was more of, I don’t know, not [a] very physical sport, and I was very much wrong,” Schalit said. “I went out and then I noticed that I could fly around, hit people, kind of have a crazy mentality out there as well as play.”

It wasn’t long before Schalit “fell in love” with lacrosse and was dominating summer ball. When SweetLax came to Florida, Schalit said the program took his game to another level, and soon enough, he was committed to Notre Dame.

His journey was just beginning.

Midway through high school, Schalit moved 45 miles from Matanzas to Ponte Vedra, a big change in every way. Academically, he went from straight As to a couple of Bs and even a C a quarter into attending Ponte Vedra. Normally, one average grade wouldn’t make much of an impact, but not if you’re going to Notre Dame.

“The first quarter, I had one C, and the coaches were like, ‘Oh my God, you have a C. Don’t get a C again.’ And I brought it up to an A,” Schalit said. “It kind of gave me a wakeup call that I needed to focus on schoolwork, because Notre Dame is going to kick my [butt] if I come in like that.”
 

 
WARRIOR/US LACROSSE
SOUTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR
MAXIMUS SCHALIT

School: Ponte Vedra (Fla.)
Year: Senior
Position: Defender
Stats: 71 caused turnovers, 43 ground balls
Coach Tom West: “Max was the glue that kind of kept it all together. … You know if Max tells you to do something, you’re doing it. He has a really good way of leading by example and keeping everyone united.”

Change carried over to the lacrosse field, and Ponte Vedra was the beneficiary.

“We just thought it was kind of like a game-changer,” West said. “He provides something that many can’t do, just getting the ball on the ground, being just a good defenseman. His checks are unbelievable, and the amount of pressure he can bring when he plays defense and then his offensive ability and then how versatile he is.

“We were like, ‘Wow, this is one of those guys you’re getting that’s pretty unique and special.’ I’ve coached lacrosse for a long time, and I haven’t really had anyone like him before.”

But Schalit was raw. 

That’s where Sharks defensive coordinator Chris Polanski got to work.

“Chris really polished him up and said, ‘Hey, this is how you play team defense. You trust each other, you know you’re part of this whole team, this whole machine and you’re a super important part of it,’” West said. “Chris just did a really good job of teaching what he had to do to be a really good, successful defenseman at the next level.”

There was one last change remaining.

As a junior, Schalit marked the opposing team’s best attacker. As a senior, Davis Smith took over that role, with the goal of forcing a pass, and then Schalit would pounce.

“I don’t really question my coaches. I trust them so much, and for a reason,” Schalit said. “When they told me that, I said, ‘OK,’ and I trust the other pole that played the best player, Davis Smith. I had nothing but trust in him.”

And West had nothing but trust in Schalit.

“You have to be a phenomenal athlete,” West said. “Like you have to be able to go, go, go, go, go, and then you have to be able to run the ball up the field on offense and then go back on defense again. And then you may have just played defense for three minutes, and then you have to go take a faceoff. You know we put him on the wing for the faceoff.

“It’s tiring. It’s exhausting, and he didn’t really get tired that much. He would again just do it. He’s such a physical specimen.”