By Kyle Coppola
The Villages Xavier Walton Is Our Defensive Player of the Week
Xavier Walton, a standout senior for The Villages High School, played a pivotal role in last week’s 36-24 victory over South Lake, showcasing his skills on both sides of the ball. Walton’s exceptional performance included two game-changing interceptions and a crucial touchdown which helped The Villages maintain momentum.
Walton is a 6’2 170lb defensive back. He has been involved with many big plays this season but his two interecptions last week against South Lake truly turned the game around for The Villages. Down 10-0 early, Walton intercepted South Lake quarterback Tre Kelly which The Villages turned into points. Walton had a second interception later in the game that also resulted in South Lake’s momentum being stopped.
Walton has had assistance from Mikeen Harrison and Cole Logan who have anchored the defense. Harrison leads the team in tackles. For Walton, he comes into his senior year looking better than he ever has at defensive back. We love how hard this young man plays the game and what a performance this past week! Congratulations Xavier.
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.
