By Kyle Coppola
South Sumter High Football Team Announces 2025 Schedule
BUSHNELL, Fla. — South Sumter High School has unveiled its 2025 football schedule, featuring a mix of tough road tests, home showdowns, and key district matchups as the Raiders aim to get back to the FHSAA Playoffs after missing out on them last season.
The Raiders will kick off their campaign with a spring game against South Lake on May 16. That will be a fun one. Brad Lord and the South Lake High Eagles impressed last season and even returned to the FHSAA Playoffs after an 0-10 season just three years ago. Both teams will look to come out of the gate hot and then prepare for the three month layoff before the regular season begins in August. Starting things off in August will be the Fall Classic against Wildwood on Aug. 15. The regular season officially begins on Aug. 22 with a road trip to Haines City.
(The early part of the schedule has some big games including Bradford from Starke and Wiregrass Ranch.)
Key matchups include a home game against Zephyrhills on Oct. 17 for Homecoming and a Senior Night showdown against Calvary Christian on Oct. 31. South Sumter will also face Starke Bradford (Sept. 5), Wiregrass Ranch (Sept. 12), and Dunnellon (Oct. 24) in pivotal contests especially the game against Dunnellon that could shape their postseason hopes.
(The second part of the schedule is just as daunting with games against Eastside, Zephyrhills and Dunnellon among others.)
The Raiders will take bye weeks on Oct. 3 and Nov. 7 before gearing up for potential playoff action. South Sumter finished last season ranked as at top ten team in their classification but missed the FHSAA Playoffs. They will look to rebound in 2025 with a schedule about as daunting as it was last year with some familiar teams that the Raiders will look to win against this upcoming season.
(Despite a tough schedule South Sumter will once again be among the top teams to look out for in 2025.)
I respect the heck out of head coach Ty Lawrence and his amazing staff. They have proven time after time why South Sumter is one of the top programs in Sumter and Lake County. They are coming back with another very competitive slate of games for 2025. This is going to be an awesome season that you won’t want to miss!
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.
