With wind gusts reported at over 25 miles per hour at times, Lake Mary was forced to take the title with a team-score of more than 20 strokes their typical effort on the season.

Lake Brantley finished second at 325 followed by Winter Springs and Hagerty, who each shot 341.

The Rams were led by a tournament-best score of 75 from Tyler Calderone. Brian Ross of Winter Springs shot a 77 while 78’s were turned in by Lake Brantley’s Reed Berry and Hagerty’s Daniel Wieck.

Rounding out the card for Lake Mary, the 2009 FHSAA Class 2A state champs, were Calvin Rosser (80), Sebastian Ostos (82), Billy Herring (85) and Nick Spencer (86).

Rosser finished in a three-way tie with Blake Edwards of Winter Springs and Preston Gillion of Lake Brantley to round out the top seven spots.

Lake Mary went unbeaten in conference play in eight matches and carries an 11-3 record as the district tournament approaches Oct. 18-19.

The Rams suffered 18-hole losses to Spruce Creek (311) and Olympia (319) while shooting a season-best 298 during the opening day (and a 305 on day two) of the Qdoba Tournament of Champions, which was won by Cardinal Newman.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –

Follow along to the high school football season at Bright House Sports Network, Varsity Sports and WFTV Channel 9.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –

– Photos by Randy Settle –

Follow along to the high school football season at Bright House Sports Network, Varsity Sports and WFTV Channel 9.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –

– Photos by Randy Settle –

That is if they can escape Edgewater High School with a win on Tuesday night after recently dropping the District 4 title game there 73-71 in overtime to the Eagles.

No. 5 Edgewater (26-3) opened regional play with a 64-45 win in the quarterfinals over Lake Brantley last Thursday while Winter Park (24-5) – ranked No. 1 in the state – dominated No. 2 Winter Springs (25-4), 83-60.

Among the top Class 6A teams in the state (according to the final Associated Press poll) still alive this week in postseason play are No. 3 Dr. Phillips (hosting Vero Beach), No. 6 Coral Gables (at No. 8 Miami Dr. Krop), No. 7 Wharton (at St. Petersburg), No. 9 First Coast (hosting Mainland) and No. 10 Boyd Anderson (at Santaluces).

No. 4 Kissimmee Osceola had its season come to an end in the opening round of Class 5A play while No. 6 Oak Ridge is on the road this week in Class 4A against No. 4 Gainesville Eastside.

– Winter Park over Winter Springs –

The matchup between the Wildcats and Winter Springs proved to be more hype than was anticipated as Winter Park broke open a close game after the first period and coasted to the win.

They did it with relative ease in front of a packed house that witnessed Winter Park junior guard Austin Rivers drop 41 points on the night, including seven 3-pointers. He entered the game averaging 23.7 points per outing.

Nobody could guard him. Not Mike McCloskey. Not Brian Holmes. Not Daniel Kuhl. Not Kerwin Hogue. Each of them had up-close views of the ball as it left the hands of Rivers from beyond the arc at some point while one-on-one with him in the game.

Rivers played with a look of determination after coming off of that district championship loss. It didn’t hurt either to have Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski in attendance.

The Bears got off to a solid start early in the first period behind rebounds from Spencer Mitchell and multiple buckets from Kuhl and Jacabo. But following a timeout, while trailing 7-2, the Wildcats returned to the floor as the aggressors as Rivers went to draining three’s at will en route to scoring 11 of his team’s 17 points in the period to take a one-point lead.

It wouldn’t get this close the rest of the way.

By the end of the first half Rivers had already posted 20 points and drained six 3-pointers in helping Winter Park take a 40-21 lead into the break.

When Rivers wasn’t launching the long-ball, John David Swanson was connecting on them in the second quarter.

And though it is necessary to point out that very little the Bears threw up managed to find the cylinder – no matter how many times Winter Springs tried from the outside – the all-around play of the Wildcats is what won this game.

Robert Lovaglio, Adam Jones and Brett Comer were blocking shots, grabbing rebounds and making steals in the opening periods to help maintain momentum for the Wildcats.

The highlight of the first half came during a two-on-one fast break with 20 seconds remaining as Comer dished a behind-the-back pass in the paint to James Ferrell for the easy lay-in.

That capped a 23-5 second quarter for the Wildcats and perhaps said all there was to say.

Rivers went on to score seven points, record a steal, assist on a bucket by Jones and grab three rebounds in the third period. Despite eight points from Austin Keel for Winter Springs, including his 69th 3-pointer of the season (along with five points from Jacabo) the Bears trailed 54-39 after three.

And although Winter Springs kept knocking on the door as they attempted to make a close game out of it, Winter Park continued to turn them away in the fourth with Rivers, Jones and Ferrell answering scores from Holmes and Jacabo down the stretch.

Jacabo fouled out midway through the fourth with a team-high 18 points. He will play college basketball at Stetson next season. Holmes has committed to North Florida.

Jones scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Winter Park.

The loss was the first at home for Winter Springs this season and was the fifth win in the series over the past six meetings for the Wildcats.

Winter Park previously defeated Winter Springs on their home floor earlier in the season en route to winning the Winter Park Rotary Tip-Off title, 59-32, on Dec. 5, 2009.

Shelby Guenthardt (Photo by Scott McCall)

With less than nine minutes to go in the first half, Shelby Guenthardt went one-on-one with TCHS goalkeeper Shelby Kesic to net what proved to be the game-winning goal.

Once Kesic rushed out to make a save on the initial shot attempt, Guenthart followed up on the loose ball by placing it in the far corner of the net to give the Bears a 2-1 advantage.

“That’s her style of play, she’s very aggressive and will do anything to get the ball into the net,” said Winter Springs Coach Kurt Oettl of the senior. “And we talked about that. We wanted to follow every shot up and put pressure on their goalkeeper.”

Timber Creek had trouble on the defensive end all night and could not slow down the visiting team or even relieve much of the pressure for Kesic, a Rollins College signee.

Winter Springs Samantha Murphy and Timber Creek's Rachel Montenegro (Photo by Scott McCall)

Winter Springs added a goal on a corner kick by Samantha Murphy in the final six minutes of the first half, then extended the lead yet again in the opening seconds of the second half on a goal from Vanessa Aponte to essentially shut the door on any hope of a rally by the Wolves.

Aponte had two assists and added another goal nearly 10 minutes later, following an own-goal by the Wolves.

Despite the lopsided final score, the match started off rather competitive before the Bears managed to execute a possession-based game that got the ball up to their forwards, just as they hoped to accomplish before going in.

“We were a little worried after we went down a goal early because we knew they were a strong team, especially in the second half, so we had to make some changes,” said Oettl.

The two teams traded scores early on when TCHS junior Karen Homs, the teams leading scorer, dribbled off a defender with her back toward the goal and delivered an arching shot over the head of Winter Springs keeper Shelby Savolainen from the top of the box.

Vanessa Aponte (Photo by Scott McCall)

Then Winter Springs responded less than a minute later with a header from Christina Samper to knot the game at 1-all.

Savolainen finished with nine saves in the win to help turn away Timber Creek, who won its fourth district title and were playing in the state tournament for the sixth time.

“We’ve been good about doing that all year with responding and coming back quickly,” said Oettl.

They’ll hope to respond once more on Tuesday as Winter Springs goes on the road for a rematch of the District 3 title game against Oviedo, which they lost at Hagerty, in the regional semifinals.

– More Local Girls Soccer –

Winter Springs over Timber Creek at Orlando Sentinel

Oviedo over Freedom at Orlando Sentinel

Regional preview at Orlando Sentinel

In both games, the winning teams controlled the tempo for most of the way even as Winter Springs needed a little extra time to settle things in overtime.

“Our girls stepped up and played as hard as they could to get [that last goal] when they needed to,” said head coach Kurt Oettl.

Oviedo, on the other hand, is right back where it was a year ago and hope to make the most of the position they’re in once again.

“A district tournament can help set you up for later and get you on a roll,” said Oviedo coach Scott Waisanen.

– No. 2 Winter Springs (14-5-3) over No. 3 Lake Mary (10-6-2)

In a matchup featuring two of Seminole County’s best goalkeepers – Shelby Savolainen of Winter Springs and Megan Lynch of Lake Mary – the real story was how the Bears nearly squandered away the game before coming out on top 2-1 in overtime.

Winter Springs controlled possession of the ball for much of the night, to the point where Lake Mary was unable to get as much as a shot on goal until nearly 10 minutes had passed in the second half.

The Bears were aggressive on the offensive end of the field as senior forwards Vanessa Aponte and Shelby Guenthardt, and junior midfielder Taylor Hoch forced Lynch into a busy night in the net.

Aponte scored the games first goal, her 26th of the season, when she drilled a free kick from just outside the box that landed into the lower left corner of the net a little more than eight minutes into the game.

The 1-0 lead held up most of the way, until Lake Mary junior defender Rachel Buffalo bounced a soft header past a defender as Savolainen was caught out of position to tie the game with less than nine minutes to play. It was just the fourth legitimate opportunity the Rams could muster on goal.

The overtime period didn’t last long, though. Aponte had two shots on goal saved by Lynch, the last of which was a spectacular diving effort that set up the game-winning corner kick. Once the kick sailed to the far post it bounced back toward the front of the goal off of the foot of a Winter Springs player and was promptly tapped in by junior midfielder Meredith Ciocca to end the game.

Lynch finished with nine saves in the loss but saw plenty more shots sail off the mark from the likes of senior midfielders Samantha Murphy and Michelle Samper.

– No. 1 Oviedo (17-4-1) over No. 5 Lake Brantley (8-9-3)

Oviedo has carried the torch as Central Florida’s top girls soccer team for much of the season, routinely bringing the best out of their opponents after advancing to the state semifinals a year ago.

It took some time to settle down on Wednesday during a 3-0 win over the Patriots, but the slow start did nothing to take away from a dominant effort.

Led by the aggressive play of junior midfielders Katie O’Kennedy and Morgan Campbell, the Lions continued to apply the pressure until Lake Brantley eventually broke down the stretch.

Despite missing its mark on a barrage of shots, Oviedo took an early 1-0 lead when a throw-in from April Asby slipped through the hands of keeper Lilian Valle for the first score of the night.

In typical fashion, the Lions moved the ball through a multitude of positions and had no less than 10 different players take a shot in the direction of Lake Mary’s goal.

Late in the game, Erin Phillips punched in a goal on a deflected save following a long attempt from a teammate and O’Kennedy added another goal less than three minutes later.

– More Local Girls Soccer Coverage –

Game recap at Orlando Sentinel

Game photos by Stephen M. Dowell

It’s the kind of opportunity the 2005 Winter Springs graduate had always envisioned, but has yet to fully realize.

“It’s always in the back of my head mind that the world is watching,” said Morring earlier this week.

Terrance Morring (Photo by Mount Union College/Fred Cockrill)

After missing the entire 2008 college football season with multiple knee injuries, the senior running back at Mount Union leads the tradition-rich Purple Raiders into the Stagg Bowl, the Division III championship game, on Saturday at 11 a.m. in front of a national audience on ESPN2.

Morring has had a bit of a breakout season by leading an unbeaten team in rushing through 14 games with 1,091 yards and 15 touchdowns on 223 carries.

“I actually got to show some people that have doubted me for a long time, saying I couldn’t do it, that I could play at this level,” said Morring.

If indeed there were doubts, it’d be hard to call them unwarranted.

As a quiet contributor at Winter Springs, the self-proclaimed student of the game took little issue with lining up wherever the Bears needed him while in high school. Whether blocking, rushing, or catching passes out of the backfield he continued to up his football IQ as he shared the spotlight. Yet he never gave up on the idea that he’d have his moment in the sun.

The obstacles were plenty following his senior season, though. Despite being a good student, his SAT score was not high enough to field the full-ride scholarship offered up by Mississippi Valley State. After contemplating the idea of enrolling at a junior college in California he ended up in the cooler climate of Ohio, at a program that has won six national titles this past decade.

Terrance Morring (Photo by Lynne Browske)

Saturday will be the fifth-straight meeting in the title game between Mount Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater. Morring played a minor role in the 2005 win and started at fullback – all 5-foot-10, 205 pounds of him – when they won again in 2006.

But in 2007 the toll of playing with a cracked left kneecap during the season caught up with him as he then suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee. Mount Union lost in the title game that year and Morring was forced to watch from the sideline a year ago as his teammates reclaimed their spot atop Division III.

Morring said he “put it all in God’s hands” and worked diligently in rehab to stake claim to the leading role out of the backfield this season, which he let slip away his freshman year when one fumble opened up the door for a teammate to take over the reigns.

Once Mount Union Coach Larry Kehres gave Morring the opportunity that once upon a time eluded him early in his career, he literally ran with it.

“He knew what type of player he had in me,” said Morring, who eclipsed 100 yards in a game six times this season.

And apparently there’s much more to him than just playing football. Morring graduated this month with a bachelor degree in criminal justice and a minor in health and will return home to Central Florida following Saturday’s game in Salem, Virginia.

But first, there’s one more thing on the to-do list before he hangs up his Mount Union colors for good.

“It’s time to shine,” he said. “Time to show the world what Terrance Morring is all about.”

– More on Morring –

- Jeffrey Zupanic at The Review

- Matt Florjancic at D3Sports

Among the tournament standouts since its inception in 1976 have been Daytona Beach Mainland’s George McCloud, Mike Polite and Vince Carter, Bishop Moore’s Owen Busch, Tony Atkins of Jones, Damien Wilkens of Dr. Phillips, Darius Washington from Edgewater and Nick Calathes of Lake Howell, to name a few.

Austin Rivers (Photo by Jim Redman)

Add Austin Rivers of Winter Park to that list. Just be sure not to leave out his teammates in the process.

The Wildcats won the Tip-Off Classic for only the third time behind 20 points and five rebounds from the nationally sought after junior. Winter Park was convincing in its 59-32 win over Winter Springs.

After entering the halftime break up 22-18, the Wildcats raced past the Bears in the third quarter to put the game out of reach early in the second half. Rivers and senior Robert Lovaglio led the charge by combining for 11 points during the team’s 17-3 run in the period.

“In the first half they got a lot of second chance opportunities because they do such a great job at getting the offensive rebound,” said Winter Park Coach David Bailey. “In the third quarter we did a nice job at keeping them out of the lane and did a great job of boxing them out.”

And they turned those defensive efforts into buckets on the other end of the floor.

Lovaglio capitalized on being given the open look by finishing with 13 points and six rebounds in the championship game. He was among several other Winter Park players that came up big in the win. Junior Brett Comer scored six points and dished out four assists while senior Adam Jones recorded a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.

“In the second half we just wanted to come out and focus mainly on defense because we knew our defense would help dictate our offense,” said Jones afterwards. “This is the best defense we’ve played so far this year.”

After watching his team score just once from the field in the third quarter, Winter Springs Coach Travis Jones could only agree.

“Their defense is deceptively good,” he said of the Wildcats. “They really don’t let you get into your offense very well. We struggled with that.”

Winter Springs got 15 points from Brian Holmes and eight points from Luis Jacabo.

The tournament loss marked the third-straight in the title game for the Bears. They finished as runners-up to Winter Park in 2007 (led by Kyle McClanahan) and Orlando Christian Prep in 2008 (led by Tyshawn Patterson). Both losses came by one point each.

Winter Park escaped a tough challenge by Oak Ridge in the semifinals one night earlier to advance to the Tip-Off Classic finals for the eighth time.

“It’s a testament to the young guys, to how hard they work and how much they value winning and representing their school,” said Bailey.

The Wildcats are courting a team of seven seniors and five juniors who were dismantled in the state semifinals last season by Olympia. They opened the new season with a close loss to East Ridge.

Winning the Rotary Tip-Off Classic, at home in such a dominant fashion, should help set the tone from here on out.

“We had to go in hard because everybody knows Winter Springs is our rival,” said Rivers. “Going in we knew if we didn’t play hard we were going to lose and that was our mindset going into the night.”

– More Rotary Tip-Off Classic –

Zack McCann at Orlando Sentinel

Finals recap at Orlando Sentinel

Photos at Orlando Sentinel

Kevin Fritz history lesson at Central Florida Lifestyle

Cameron Smith eyes the end zone Thursday night. (Photo by Scott McCall)

Thursday’s 17-0 non-district win at home over an emotionally spent Winter Springs program should do wonders for the Wolves (3-3 overall, 0-1 Class 6A-4) as they look ahead to two must-win district games against both Colonial (1-5, 0-1) and University (2-5, 0-1).

Although it was the usual dose of solid defense that did it for the Wolves, the points came on a 36-yard field goal by Jason Feeney and two rushing touchdowns from designated red zone ballcarrier Cameron Smith. Also a major player in the defensive secondary, Smith is hoping to extend his senior season as deep as he can into the postseason.

“I’m just trying to make them count, trying to win and go far in the playoffs,” said Smith of getting those carries near the goal line.

Cameron Smith stretches for the goal line. (Photo by Scott McCall)

Suffering the sort of losses Timber Creek has so early in the season can affect the long-term outlook of any team, yet Smith has bought into the coaching – of playing hard, trusting teammates and playing as if each game is your last game.

“That loss to Winter Park really dropped us low but we’ve regained our confidence,” Smith said.

But the early goings in this matchup had the makings of yet another disaster in waiting. And judging by the atmosphere at Timber Creek’s home stadium, which lacked any resemblance of what made the high school football environment there one to bare witness each week, fans seem to share those lowered expectations.

The reality is that the Wolves had to overcome themselves to shutout the Bears, a team 2-4 overall and 2-0 in Class 5A-Distrct 3 that has played with heavy hearts since losing former head coach Jeff Wenstrom to cancer several weeks ago.

In the first half Timber Creek amassed seven penalties and dropped too many passes that proved costly in stalling drives, one of which resulted in a long field goal attempt that sailed wide-left in the second quarter.

Yet despite those lingering inconsistencies the defense continued to do its part.

Jalil Byrd attempts to shake off a defender Thursday night. (Photo by Scott McCall)

After two failed drives on offense to start the game Jacob Wainwright forced a fumble near the end of the first quarter that was recovered by teammate Colin Brown. That put the Wolves 14 yards from the end zone. Then a loss of eight yards on a sack, by linebacker Jamie Butler, and a dropped pass followed before Feeney was called upon to post the first points of the night.

It wasn’t until the end of the first half that the Wolves looked to be firmly on track. As the defense continued to force punts, TCHS quarterback Tyler Marincov continued to put his team in position to score.

During a 12-play drive in the final minutes before intermission six different players touched the football, including wide receiver Jalil Byrd who pulled in passes of 25 and 29 yards despite taking some tough hits in the process.

Before Smith was put in position to score from a yard out, to put Timber Creek up 10-0, Kyle Plaugher caught a pass for 14 yards and Isiah Bolden caught another for 12 yards while Corey Russo and Blake Gwizdalski were also in on the action.

“He’s always been the leader of this team, pushing us in practice and putting the ball where it needs to be,” said Byrd of Marincov afterwards. “We’ve just got to have his back and make plays for him.”

Jalil Byrd falls just short of the goal line after making a big catch. (Photo by Scott McCall)

That’s what they continued to do, for the most part, in the second half despite a bit of bad luck for both teams in the third quarter.

After a fumble recovery by Timber Creek’s Todd Heisman set the Wolves up with just 20 yards to go they were soon forced into a field goal attempt that was snuffed out by the Bears A.J. Matthews. Winter Springs then began their best drive of the night, while starting at their own 10, behind the power of junior running back Ryan Petro and senior quarterback Quentin Avery. But 12 plays and a missed field goal later the ball was back in the hands of Marincov and the Wolves, who marched 80 yards behind multiple runs by Russo, Bolden, Matt McCrary and a 16-yard catch by Plaugher, before Smith punched in the final score of the game from five yards out at the start of the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t always pretty out there for the Wolves. But after some of the finishes they’ve let slip by them thus far, you take them anyway you can get them at this point and keep moving on.

– More Winter Springs at Timber Creek coverage –

Video footage at WFTV

Video footage from Todd Grasley at High School Playbook

From the start, the home team did nothing to get the crowd involved in the game. Much less forget about the dismal season that took place a year ago. The Knights actually trailing 7-0 until the final minute of the first half, when with a new quarterback in the huddle they pieced together a drive that helped them enter the break with some dignity intact.

The fireworks finally got started though at the beginning of the third quarter. UCF and Samford came out from the halftime break tied at 7-7 and proceeded to battle it out like two school kids in a back alley following the final class of the day.

Local product Quincy McDuffie, a freshman out of Edgewater, took the opening kick of the half 95 yards for a score to give the Knights their first lead of the night. But then the point-after failed. And UCF was thrown back against the ropes just a few plays later once Samford replied, almost immediately, with a trick-play touchdown pass that went for 66 yards.

Senior UCF quarterback Brett Hodges (Photo by Scott McCall)

That put the Bulldogs up 14-13. Samford would build on that lead soon after when fifth-year senior Brett Hodges, a transfer from Wake Forrest who put together an impressive prep career at Winter Springs, threw an easy interception which was taken back 41 yards the other way. Just like that, the Knights trailed 21-13 less than two minutes into the second half.

“That was a big mental error on my part,” said Hodges of the errant pass. “But luckily we were able to come back on the next drive and score.”

Hodges put the mishap behind him by engineering an 11-play drive over 71 yards that marched UCF into the red zone on the ensuing possession. The drive culminated in a 1-yard plunge over the goal line by Brynn Harvey, who then caught a screen pass on the 2-point conversion attempt to tie the game at 21-21 with still plenty of time to play.

And still, the Knights would have to reply yet again early in the fourth quarter in order to secure the win.

Throughout the second half it seemed as if despite the beating UCF was taking that they kept getting up for more. That’s a bright spot in a cloud of a dim reality against a Division I-AA opponent that had never beaten a team in college football’s highest division.

“We didn’t give up,” said defensive lineman Torrell Troup, more relieved than proud. “We should have played a lot better but it’s the first week and we have a lot of time to improve.”

That’s an obvious point head coach George O’Leary touched on afterwards. That, and the reality that too many points were left on the field in the form of turnovers and missed field goals. The Knights also needed their defensive unit to provide better pressure on Samford’s quarterback. But the mental errors and mistakes on both sides of the ball piled up the longer the night wore on.

With a chance to take over on offense following a failed field goal attempt by Samford, the Knights were flagged on the play. The Bulldogs made the most of their second chance and took the lead, 24-21, with a couple minutes left in the third quarter.

One of two missed field goals on the night by the Knights followed. As did another punt by Samford. Then it finally happened. UCF took the lead for good when Hodges found Jamar Newsome for a 9-yard touchdown just one play after a pass was dropped in the end zone. Less than 11 minutes remained in the game.

The end result proved to be a far cry from the expectations placed on a team that did so poorly a year ago. But depending upon how the rest of the season shapes up, should the Knights get their ship righted in conference play, nobody will care to remember how this one truly went down years from now.

– More UCF vs. Samford coverage:

Photos from the game at UCF Sports

Coverage and comments at Central Florida Future

Coverage and comments at Bleacher Report

Coverage and comments at Orlando Sentinel

George Diaz provides commentary at Orlando Sentinel