February 17, 2023
Lake & Sumter County Boys Basketball 1st Round Regional Tournament Results
By Kyle Coppola
Lake & Sumter County Boys Basketball 1st Round Regional Tournament Results
High School Basketball Madness Is Here!
Which Lake & Sumter High School Basketball Programs are moving on? Find out below!
District 1A
#4 Vanguard 44
#1 Wildwood | 88
Big win for the Wildcats. Following the success of the Lady Wildcats who are in the State Final Four the Boys team is on their way to a potential berth in the Final Four as well. The Cats dominated against a stout Vanguard team who had a terrific season. Wildwood moves to 20-7 on the season. The Wildcats must next prepare for a tough matchup against the always difficult Williston/Cheifland who will give Wildwood a run for their money. If the Wildcats win they will get to the state final four once again. The dominance of the boys and girls programs in recent years have been outstanding.
District 2A
#5 Faith Christian 41
#4 Mount Dora Christian 66
This was a great win for MDCA. The team has taken advantage of a rather weak schedule this season but even though they came in as a 4 seed they were able to beat Faith Christian to make it to the Regional Semifinals on Tuesday. The game on Tuesday will be the biggest challenge of the season for The Bulldogs as they face Orlando Christian Prep who are ranked number 1. MDCA comes into that matchup 22-6 on the season and will likely be on the road the rest of the year as they are a 4 seed. The Dogs will need to give it everything they have against OCP if they want to extend their season.
District 4A Region 2
# 7 Bishop Moore 49
# 2 The Villages 73
#6 Umatilla High 37
#3 North Marion 74
Tough loss for the Bulldogs. This was an extremely close contest but North Marion ended up with the victory. Both teams came into the game with 41 wins total between the two. It was a toss up as to who would come out on top but North Marion prevailed. North Marion now goes on to face The Villages/Bishop Moore which should be a great contest.
District 5A Region 2
5 Leesburg High 62
#4 Blake (Tampa) 55
The only way Leesburg was getting into the playoffs this year was with a district championship. They did just that but the 12-12 record relegated them to a 5th seed. The Yellow Jackets did not act like a 5 seed on this particular night. They came out and played like Yellow Jacket teams of old. Blake tried to find answers but The Yellow Jackets would not be denied. Leesburg grabbed a massive upset win but now has to travel to Jones High in Orlando to take on the number one seed in the Region 2 Bracket.
District 6A Region 2
#6 Lake Minneola High 69
#3 Edgewater 87
The season has unfortunatly come to an end for Lake Minneola as they lost to Edgewater for the second time in two weeks. The Hawks did their best to keep pace against a quick striking Edgewater offense but they had no answers. The Hawks finish the season 16-11 on the season. Lake Minneola lost the District Championship against Edgewater and now the Eagles have finished Lake Minneola for good. Lake Minneola had a very respectable season. They end the year with a winning record and much to build on for the 23/24 season.
Photos Provided By –
The Villages High School
Wildwood High School
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.
