April 3, 2023
Lake County BCC Honors East Ridge High School Soccer Team For 2023 State Championship
By Kyle Coppola
Lake County BCC Honors East Ridge High School Soccer Team For 2023 State Championship
This past week the East Ridge High School Knights were still riding high after their 2023 State Championship win. The win was the first soccer state championship for a Lake County Soccer team. This was a year unlike any other in the history of our county. The East Ridge Knights led by coach John Quirk was ranked 16th nationally this year! That is the highest ranking a Lake County team has ever attained.
This team will be remembered for a long time. The Knights were led by the foot of Rafael Enriquez who literally has a cannon for a leg. The Senior produced an incredible 15 goals this season while tacking on 32 points. Junior Amir Taylor and Senior Gabriel Perez combined for 54 points on the season and a combined 25 goals together. These are just some of the players who ended up being the reason why The Knights were so dominant.
(A document signed by The Lake County Board of County Commissioners. They issued a proclamation for East Ridge High School’s State Championship Victory.)
However the Knights also had one of the best goaltenders in the United States. Junior Nicholas Aquilino was absolutely terrific this year. Aquilino made 96 saves and only allowed 11 goals the entire season. The defense was one of the best that we have ever seen a Lake County team produce. It was just an incredible year and the Knights deserve all the accolades that have come their way.
Coach Quirk shows no signs of letting up for the 2023-2024 season. The Knights will once again be a force to be reckoned with. But for now they will continue to soak up the victory as being the one and only Lake County Soccer team to ever win a State Championship! Congratulations to the Knights!
(Coach Quirk talks to the Lake County Board of County Commissioners about the season and what it means being the first Lake County team ever to win a State Soccer Championship.)
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.
