By Kyle Coppola
Local High School Football Teams Begin Quest for State Championships
While the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is in the final week of the regular season, multiple Sunshine State Athletic Association (SSAA) teams are beginning their quest for the SSAA state championship.
This Friday night, four local high school teams will go to battle in the first round of the SSAA 11-man and SSAA 8-man football playoffs. Below is a look at the teams and what’s at stake.
No. 8 Eagle’s View at No. 1 Mount Dora Christian Academy — Oct. 31, 7 p.m.
Mount Dora Christian Academy finished the season with nine wins and just one loss. The Bulldogs are the No. 1 seed heading into the SSAA 11-man playoffs. They will play an Eagle’s View team they just defeated last week, 30-0.
If MDCA wins, they will play the winner of Aucilla Christian (No. 4 seed) and Central Florida Christian (No. 5 seed).
MDCA has been dominant all year, led by standout sophomore offensive star Isaac Farling. Isaac finished the regular season with 1,037 rushing yards and 24 offensive touchdowns, 18 of them on the ground.
T.J. McCormick has been equally productive with more than 1,000 all-purpose yards and 14 offensive touchdowns. Noah Slegers has also contributed with 647 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, Roberto Castillo has been one of the top middle linebackers in the Sunshine State. Roberto has 89 tackles this year. Brixton House is another standout with seven sacks, 35 tackles and 12.5 tackles for loss.
Senior Blake Banks leads the team with six interceptions. Overall, MDCA is favored to win. Coach Kolby Tackett has done an incredible job with this program this season, and it shows.
No. 5 Lake Weir at No. 4 Umatilla High — Oct. 31, 7 p.m.
For the second year in a row, Umatilla High will host a home playoff game. Before last year, it had been more than a decade since the Bulldogs last hosted.
Last season gave fans a glimpse of what this team could do, but a 10-0 undefeated regular season has drawn plenty of attention to what they are capable of.
Senior quarterback Ray Jenkins has led the Bulldogs this year with 1,689 passing yards and 34 touchdowns. He also has two rushing scores for a total of 36 touchdowns.
Ray has had help from junior wide receiver Bryce Norflee, who has 850 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns, plus six on the ground — an impressive 23 total touchdowns for a non-quarterback.
(Umatilla High fans have had a lot to cheer about this season including an undefeated regular season with the Dogs finishing 10-0.)
Simon Hawkins and Micah Lambert have combined for nearly 1,000 yards of offense.
Defensively, it has been nearly impossible to run against junior Isaiah Brown, who leads the team with 100 tackles and 23 tackles for loss.
Kellen Hatcher also has 68 tackles and a team-leading 32 tackles for loss. Jenkins and Norflee each have five interceptions.
Coach Eric Samuels and his staff have done an amazing job turning around this football program.
If Umatilla wins, the Bulldogs will face either No. 1 seed West Nassau or No. 8 seed Stanton College Prep.
No. 15 SLAM! Tampa at No. 2 Real Life Christian Academy (Clermont) — Oct. 31, 7 p.m.
Real Life Christian Academy has shocked everyone — except themselves. The Raptors believed they had the talent to be great this year, and they proved it, finishing the regular season 9-0 for the first time in school history.
RLCA is led by Caleb Burden, who has thrown for more than 1,124 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. He also has 15 rushing touchdowns, capping a fantastic year.
Senior Johnny Olson has contributed in the run game with 709 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.
Since taking over as head coach, Daniel Sousa has excelled with this program. RLCA continues to develop and now finds itself in the championship picture.
Defensively, Noah Durkee leads the team with 88 tackles and seven interceptions. He’s been aided by Dash Fields, who has 60 tackles.
If RLCA wins, it will play either No. 7 seed Foundation Christian or No. 10 seed Bell Creek next week.
No. 12 First Academy-Leesburg at No. 5 Hernando Christian
First Academy-Leesburg has its hands full in this first-round matchup. The Eagles have a winning record, and quarterback Henry Purvis has done an outstanding job, throwing for 1,455 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Rayce Teate has been his primary target, hauling in nine touchdowns. Logan Stalvey has added 477 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
Defensively, Stalvey leads the team with 110 tackles and 10 tackles for loss.
The Eagles will need their best game of the year to advance against a very tough Hernando Christian team that’s sure to give FA-Leesburg all it can handle.
The FHSAA playoffs begin next week. Many teams are still fighting for a chance to get in. Keep an eye on our playoff roundup next week. Best of luck to the SSAA teams this weekend.
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.
