By Kyle Coppola
Liberty Christian Prep Football Wins Championship Game
The Lions of Liberty Christian Prep have gone out as champions! Coach Christopher Likely and his boys were one of the best stories of the year. At the start of the year most kids on the roster had never played organized tackle football before. Now that same team just won the SSAC AAAA State Championship against Geneva Christian Academy.
Quarterback Luke Watts was a huge reason for all of the success all season long. Watts carried the team on his back including a 6 touchdown effort in the semi-finals for LCP to even get to the championship game. He once again put on a clinic and was able to will his team to victory.
This was a total team effort on the offensive side and defensive side of the ball. The first ever season was marked by 60+ point losses at one point. We were not sure how the season was going to play out over the early months but midway through the year the team began to show some great promise.
The team had many firsts, the first points scored, first win, first playoff game and first ever championship game. Now they graduate their first ever group of seniors including Luke Watts who played in his first championship football game and it will go down as his last championship football game.
Other contributors include Noah Frerking and Caden Elrod. This team will forever be remembered for being the first team to ever do it. They became the 14th high school in Lake & Sumter County to have a tackle football program. It was not easy, but they have set the bar for what the future of LCP football can and should look like.
Congratulations to all the parents, coaches, fans, alumni of LCP and volunteers who helped this team succeed this year. This is just the beginning as well. 11-man football may be well off in the distance but if this team continues to grow and have success, perhaps this 8-man program can grow into something more down the road. It sure makes you think about the potential this program has.
One thing is for certain, we will look back at this team one day and reminisce about the first ever LCP season. We wish all the seniors the best of luck with the rest of their season and we look forward to what season 2 has in store for LCP.
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.
