By Kyle Coppola
South Lake High Picks Up Huge District Win Against Forest High
The Eagles came home with a big district win by defeating Ocala Forest 30-25 this past Friday night in Ocala. Chris McKenna hit a 30-yard field goal to start the scoring, and Tre Kelly scored on a QB read to give the Eagles a 10-0 lead at the half.
To open the second half, senior standout Keydrick Powell returned a kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown, giving the Eagles a 17-0 lead. The defense stood strong, blocking a punt to give the offense a short field. Senior Tyrese Thompson, who rushed for 138 yards, then scored on a 16-yard run to extend the lead to 24-0.
Forest scored on the next possession, narrowing the score to 24-6 after Tyger Darden blocked the extra point. The Eagle offense was forced to punt on the next possession, and the Wildcats scored to end the third quarter, but missed the two-point conversion. The Eagles entered the fourth quarter leading 24-12.
Tre Kelly scored his second rushing touchdown to build the lead to 30-12, though the Eagles failed on the two-point attempt. The Wildcat offense heated up, answering quickly with a scoring strike of their own to cut the score to 30-19 with nine minutes left.
The Eagle offense stalled again and was forced to punt, giving Forest the ball with six minutes left. The Wildcats struck quickly on a long pass, but missed the two-point conversion, keeping the score at 30-25. The Eagles were forced to punt once more, but the defense stepped up. Jesse Barker Jr. recorded multiple sacks, and the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs with 3:50 remaining in the 4th.
The offensive line paved the way for sophomore Ahvioume Scott to rush for a key first down, and the Eagles sealed the victory by running out the clock. Defensively, Jesse Barker Jr., Tyson Williams, Chase Coello, Ahvioume Scott, and Julian White all made big plays at key times.
“We could have put this team away early but let them hang around,” says head coach Brad Lord. “When that happens in high school football, games get interesting. We need to clean it up this week at practice. Players have to embrace the process.”
South Lake has a bye this week.
They will face Horizon High School on October 10th as part of South Lake High’s Homecoming.
Photos provided by Andrea Rush Photography
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.
