By Kyle Coppola
Lake & Sumter County High School Football Scores 10.28.22
Chaos has ensued in Lake & Sumter County!
A crazy turn of events has lead to a potential 3 way tie for the playoffs! South Sumter remains perfect and MDCA pulls a huge playoff upset!
Wow this has changed everything! All Mount Dora had to do was win this game and they were going to the playoffs for the first time since 2014 now they could be on the outside looking in. Eustis is now in control of its own destiny. This has shaken this division up! Not only can Eustis now make the playoffs with a win The Villages Charter School is still Mathmatically alive and could leapfrog both teams if they beat Eustis on Tuesday!!!
We really feel for the Hurricanes they’ve been such a good story this season and we aren’t counting this team out yet but the only way they now seem able to get into the playoffs is if The Villages beats Eustis. Then it comes down to math and points and we believe if all three teams are tied at 2-1 in the division that Mount Dora may just get the nod over Eustis and The Villages. However if The Villages beats Eustis and wins out things get super challenging.
The Panthers new this was a do or die game for them and they rose to the occasion and saved their season. All Eustis has to do on Tuesday is win against The Villages and they are assured a playoff birth being 3-0. Mount Dora will be rooting hard for The Buffalo to win but only by a hair. Mount Dora does own a tiebreaker over The Villages so there’s that to consider too.
Massive win for The Buffalo. Their season was on life support and it still is but they are mathematically alive and still in the hunt for a playoff spot. It all depends now on the game Tuesday night against District Rival Eustis. It’s simple. If Eustis wins they are going to the playoffs. If The Villages loses they are likely out of the playoffs. Essentially this was a great tune up game for Tuesday Night.
The Buffalo got their first win since late December and now have 2 home games to finish the season. For Umatilla they are already eliminated from Playoff contention so the loss stung. Hopefully next week they can go out riding on top as they face Bronson on Senior Night.
South Sumter stays perfect on the season! The Raiders are 1 win away from the perfect regular season! The win secured a playoff birth for The Raiders although even with a loss the Raiders likely still would have been in. Senior Eian Finkley and RB Jamare Dorsey had amazing nights.
This team may have won big in this contest but they won’t have it easy next week. They face a Newberry team that comes in at 6-2 on the season. Next Friday is senior night at South Sumter and Newberry would love nothing more than to ruin South Sumter perfect season. Overall a fantastic night and year to be a Raider fan!
This one was never close. Belleview lead from the start and never looked back. Tavares struggled offensively and the defense had no answers. The season has been a difficult one for Tavares. They remain winless on the season and have one last game next week against East Ridge on Senior Night. Let’s hope Tavares can at least give East Ridge a game as the Seniors look to go out with a win.
South Lake had a win slip through their fingers late in this game. South Lake had the lead 21-20 with time winding down in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately they turned the ball over to East Ridge in their own red zone. The Knights took advantage and scored a late touchdown to take the lead 26-21. South Lake got one final chance but couldn’t make anything happen and once again turned the ball over. That’s all she wrote and unfortunately The Eagles now sit at 0-9 on the season. They’ve been so close to that first victory this year. Close games against Mount Dora and today against East Ridge leave this team salivating at the thought of a win.
For South Lake they end the season on the road at Olympia in Orlando Florida. That will be difficult for this team to go out and secure a win but South Lake has been playing at least fairly competitively the later part of this year. We can only wish The Eagles the best of luck as they look to go out with a win.
SSAC Playoffs First Round
We all knew MDCA was capable of winning this game. And they won the grudge match. Both these teams played earlier this season with Masters beating the Bulldogs 28-21 in a close one. This one was a tight battle as well and came down to the wire. MDCA somehow pulled this victory off and has now moved on to the SSAC state Semi-Finals where they will face off against a team that hasn’t lost this season the 8-0 Central Florida Christian Academy Eagles next Friday night in Ocoee, Florida.
There’s going to be a lot to unpack this weekend. We will have a full breakdown on Monday and a preview of the special Tuesday night game when Eustis visits The Villages in a postponed game as a result of Hurricane Ian! That’s right this is the final game in Lake & Sumter County that was impacted by the storm. That game could change a lot of things so be on the lookout for who wins. For many teams next Friday night will be their last game of the season. For many others it’s just the beginning of the toughest part of the season. The Playoffs.
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.
