April 9, 2025
South Lake High Football Eyes Continued Growth Under Coach Brad Lord in 2025
By Kyle Coppola
South Lake High Football Eyes Continued Growth Under Coach Brad Lord in 2025
GROVELAND, Fla. — Entering his third year at the helm, South Lake High School head football coach Brad Lord is optimistic about the program’s direction as the Eagles prepare for their 2025 spring game against regional powerhouse South Sumter on May 16.
After posting a 7-4 record in 2024 and sweeping District 6A-2 with a perfect 4-0 mark, the Eagles return a strong group on both sides of the ball. South Lake brings back eight starters on offense and nine on defense, along with both its kicker and punter.
“The spring is about learning,” Lord said. “We look for our veterans to bring along our younger players and some of our new-to-football players. If we tackle, block, execute, and are disciplined, we believe we can compete with a very strong South Sumter team.”
(Tre Kelly will be among the top quarterbacks in Lake County in 2025. He has improved vastly the last few years.)
Offensively, the Eagles are led by rising sophomore quarterback Tre Kelly (2027), who threw for over 1,200 yards and six touchdowns while adding 300 yards and seven scores on the ground. He’ll have plenty of weapons at his disposal for his upcoming junior year including 1,100-yard rusher Malik Holman (2026) and standout wide receiver Keydrick Powell (2026). Additional returning offensive starters include WR Tyger Darden, TE Isaiah Desir, and linemen Dylan Prinzel, Christian Taylor, and Blayton Rush—all from the Class of 2026.
Defensively, South Lake boasts a loaded returning unit. Senior linemen Jesse Barker Jr. and Murphy Connelly anchor the front, while linebackers Tyson Williams and Jayson Vasquez are back after strong 2024 campaigns. In the secondary, junior Rome McKinnond, sophomores Joseph Robinson and Julian White, and two-way playmaker Tyger Darden give the Eagles a versatile and aggressive look.
(South Lake High School has come a long way in just a few years. Coach Brad Lord has revived the program and turned it around.)
“We return the majority of our starters, and we’ve been really pleased with the growth in the defensive backfield,” Lord said.
Special teams remain a bright spot, with kicker Chris McKenna—who has one of the strongest legs in Central Florida—and punter Zaide Nance both returning.
As they head into the spring, Lord says the emphasis will be on discipline, execution, and developing depth.
“Football IQ and building depth at all positions will be a major focus this spring,” he said. “We need to be more diversified on offense and find ways to get the ball to our playmakers in space.”
“We expect to contend for a district championship this year and be a State Championship caliber program.” says coach Lord.
Kickoff for South Lake’s spring showdown against South Sumter is set for 7:30 p.m. on May 16.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
