By Kyle Coppola
Lake & Sumter County Boys Basketball Playoff Results 02-22-2023
Only 1 Lake & Sumter County Team Survived! Who was it?
District 1A Regional Final
#2 Williston 66
#1 Wildwood 63
This was a tough loss for Wildwood. That makes it three times in just one year of basketball that they lost to Williston. The Devils obviously had the Wildcats number this season and they were not going to be denied a shot at a trip to Lakeland and the final four on the line. The gym at Wildwood was packed! The fans and families all wanted to see their team go to the finals. This was a great battle between two incredible teams that came down to the wire.
When the dust settled it was Williston who had the edge and now find themselves headed to the final four in Lakeland on Friday night. For Wildwood it has been one stellar ride this season. Adyn Corbin finished the season with close to 15 points per game while Jamari Dickets and Zach Poyser each contributed offensively and defensively respectively. Ben Bellamy finishes with a season high 7.5 average rebounds per game. Although the season comes to an end for Wildwood they gave us an amazing season to remember!
District 2A Regional Semifinal
#1 Orlando Christian 66
#4 Mount Dora Christian 33
Talk about a blowout! The Warriors are showing exactly why they are the potential favorite to win it all this season. A 33 point victory against a very good MDCA team is just what Orlando needed as they now head to the Regional Championship game. It was never a really close contest as OCP controlled the game from the start.
For the Bulldogs this ends the season and with it the career of Kycen Pruett who heads to Marshall later this year. The star basketball player was a force to be reckoned with out on the court this season. While he only played briefly at MDCA his impact was felt. Pruett became the leader on the court and he will be a difficult player to replace next season. Congratulations to the Bulldogs for making it this far in the season though! Hopefully next year they can go even further!
District 4A Regional Semifinal
# 2 The Villages 54
# 3 North Marion 53
District 5A Regional Semifinal
#1 Jones High 51
#5 Leesburg High 49
Leesburg almost pulled off an incredible upset last night and it came down to the wire. Jones High was able to come up with the win and keep the season alive. For Leesburg, they were the Cinderella story in this tournament but that came to an end last night. What a run it was for Leesburg. No one even gave them a shot this year but they proved everyone wrong. The Yellow Jackets went far deeper into the Playoffs than anyone ever thought they could. Leesburg should come back next season even better. Congratulations to The Yellow Jackets for a well put together 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.
