September 22, 2025
South Lake High Football Improves to 4-1 With Big Win Against Mount Dora
By Kyle Coppola
South Lake High Football Improves to 4-1 With Big Win Against Mount Dora
The Eagles’ defense shut down the Mount Dora offense for most of the night, limiting them to 10 points this past Friday. The defense set the tone for the game. The Eagle offense also had a big night, but a couple of costly turnovers kept Mount Dora close and cost the Eagles points on the board.
Defensively, Chase Coella and Tyson Williams had double-digit tackles. Rome McKinnond blocked a punt and a field goal, which set up an Eagle score and kept Mt. Dora from scoring late in the game. Jesse Barker, Murphy Connelly, Ramond Carter, and Isaiah Desir raised havoc in the Mt. Dora backfield. Julian White and Ahvioume Scott had interceptions in the secondary, and McKinnond had some big tackles.
(Jayson Vasquez for South Lake High – Photo Credit: Andrea Rush Photography.)
Offensively, Tre Kelly threw for 214 yards and 1 touchdown. Malik Holman rushed for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Keydrick Powell had 6 catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. Isaiah Pina, Cody Mason, and Tyrese Thompson also had some outstanding catches. Landon Coning, Andrew Carter, Christian Taylor, Blayton Rush, Dylan Prinzel, Mark Elder, and Isaiah Desir turned in solid performances blocking up front, giving Kelly time and creating strong running lanes for Holman.
“Our offense needs to finish when we are in the red zone,” says head coach Brad Lord. “We can’t leave points off the board, and we did that tonight on two drives. We have to clean it up before we go to Ocala Forest for District Game #2.”
Photo Credit – Andrea Rush Photography
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.
