Sentinel Varsity home page<\/a> for news on all high school sports. Games listed are scheduled for 7 p.m. unless noted otherwise.<\/p>\nRankings in bold are from this week\u2019s Sentinel Super 16 coaches poll. Teams are listed with win-loss records in parentheses. Asterisks denote district games. District records are included for teams that have played previous district games<\/p>\n
Week 8 matchups
\nLake Wales defeated No. 3 Jones, 28-6 (Thursday)<\/p>\n
Coverage by Chris Hays<\/p>\n
A constant downpour of rain that hit the downtown Orlando area in late afternoon, met these two state-ranked teams upon arrival at Jones High on Thursday night. It did not let up until midway through the final quarter. By that time, Lake Wales had already built a 28-6 lead on the homesteading Tigers and it was too late to make much of a comeback attempt.<\/p>\n
Jones, 4-2 overall and 1-1 in Class 4A District 7, did not handle the treacherous field conditions and slippery ball, as the Tigers put the ball on the ground eight times, with Lake Wales (6-1, 3-0) coming up with it on six different occasions.<\/p>\n
The Highlanders took full advantage of those turnovers, scoring four touchdowns on its way to clinching the district title.<\/p>\n
Lake Wales receiver Kaneilius Purdy, who is committed to UCF, found his footing early in the game and made the Tigers pay. He scored three touchdowns, the final one a screen pass from quarterback Kingston Loydd that he took 38 yards to the end zone. That slammed the door on Jones.<\/p>\n
Jones came into the contest ranked No. 5 in 4A, with Lake Wales sitting at No. 8. The Tigers will now be looking for an at-large berth to the postseason party.<\/p>\n
The Tigers never got on track and managed less than 20 total yards on offense, thanks to a number of negative-yardage plays. A bad snap in the second quarter that sent the ball into the end, resulting in a safety. Lake Wales led 14-6 at halftime.<\/p>\n
Jones got on the board just before halftime when defensive back Sharad Haire stepped in front of a Loydd pass at the 50-yard line and nearly returned it for a touchdown, getting dragged down at the 4-yard line. Damir Williams, who had 116 yards against Ocoee last week, punched in the touchdown from five yards out, thanks to some big-time blocking by defensive tackle Dajur Webb, inserted into the game at fullback.<\/p>\n
Webb was one the few Jones players who seemed to acclimate himself to the weather conditions. He said the sloppy elements were perfect for his playing style.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m from Pittsburgh, so we always got rain, snow, so I\u2019m pretty used to this,\u201d Webb said. \u201cI\u2019m playing for my brothers out here, so that was my main goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
PRE-GAME NOTES:<\/p>\n
The winner of this game has a lock on the Class 4A District 6 title.<\/p>\n
Lake Wales, a 15-0 state champ in 2022 and final four team in 2019 and 2023, lost to Jones twice last year \u2014 48-22 in the regular season and 24-10 in a playoff rematch.<\/p>\n
Friday games\u00a0
\nNo. 7 West Orange (5-1, 0-1) at No. 13 Dr Phillips (4-2, 1-0)<\/p>\n
Coverage by Chris Hays<\/p>\n
Edgewater is in the 6A District 6 driver\u2019s season after spanking West Orange last week \u2014 but both of those teams are on track to reach the eight-team 6A Region 2 playoff bracket, and Dr. Phillips would also make it stands now.<\/p>\n
West Orange won 28-19 last year and is 3-2 in the \u201cBattle for the Ole Orange Crate\u201d rivalry since they didn\u2019t play during the 2020 Covid-shortened season.<\/p>\n
Lake Mary (1-5, 0-1) at No. 4 Seminole (6-0, 1-0)<\/p>\n
Coverage by Chris Martucci<\/p>\n
Seminole is tied with Lake Brantley (3-3, 1-0) for first in 6A District 3 but won\u2019t look past struggling rival Lake Mary in this fierce rivalry game.<\/p>\n
The series is tied 4-4 since the teams were placed back into the same district in 2021. But the Rams have won the past three meetings, including two wins in 2024.<\/p>\n
South Lake (2-4, 1-0) at No. 10 Evans (3-3, 1-0)<\/p>\n
Coverage by Jean Racine<\/p>\n
Teams tied for the Class 5A District 4 lead meet for the first time since 2012. Evans is 2-0 vs. the Eagles.<\/p>\n
The Trojans have alternated wins and losses and want to finally have a winning streak after crushing Lake Minneola in their district debut, 46-0.<\/p>\n
South Lake has won twice since an 0-4 start.<\/p>\n
The Evans duo of senior quarterback Will Jackson (1,752 yards and 12 TDs on 70% passing) and junior wideout Brian Dillard (32 catches for 731 yards) is lethal. Jackson committed to Maryland.<\/p>\n
Trinity Prep (4-2) at Geneva School (4-2), 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Coverage by Philip Rossman-Reich<\/p>\n
Big game for small-school teams seeking playoff berths in the new FHSAA Independent League.<\/p>\n
Trinity Prep sophomore Kyle He has run for 726 yards and 14 touchdowns while also playing linebacker.<\/p>\n
The Saints hosted last year\u2019s game and won 41-20 in Geneva\u2019s first year of 11-man football.<\/p>\n
Knights head coach Dave Langdon was Trinity Prep\u2019s athletic director for 11 years (2012-2023) before taking the Geneva football job.<\/p>\n
Other Super 16 games<\/p>\n
University (Orange City) (1-5, 0-1) at No. 1 DeLand (5-1, 1-0)<\/p>\n
Area No. 1 Bulldogs are averaging 42.5 points.<\/p>\n
Archbishop McCarthy (3-3) at No. 2 The First Academy (5-1)<\/p>\n
MaxPreps ranks Class 2A TFA is ranked No. 6 for all classifications.<\/p>\n
Winter Springs (3-3, 0-1) at No. 5 Bishop Moore (4-2, 2-0)<\/p>\n
Hornets, with four wins in a row, is all alone atop Class 4A District 6.<\/p>\n
No. 6 Edgewater defeated Olympia, 34-0 (Wednesday)<\/p>\n
The two coaches decided in the third quarter, after Edgewater had taken a 21-0 halftime lead with weather conditions not getting any better, to play the game with a running clock the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Sophomores Bryce Jackson and Luke Ferenac each scored two touchdowns, and senior Jaelyn Powell added another.<\/p>\n
The Eagles went without talented sophomore running back Jahmari Hammonds for the fourth straight game due to a high-ankle sprain.<\/p>\n
No. 7 West Orange (5-1, 0-1) at No. 13 Dr. Phillips (4-2, 1-0)<\/p>\n
Two Class 6A playoff contenders in District 6 matchup.<\/p>\n
DP leads Battle for the Ole Orange Crate rivalry 19-15. Warriors won 28-19 last season.<\/p>\n
No. 8 Lake Nona (5-1, 1-0) at Harmony (1-5, 0-2)<\/p>\n
Lake Nona shares Class 6A District 5 lead with Tohopekaliga.<\/p>\n
No. 9 Oviedo (4-2, 2-0) at Viera (3-3, 1-1)<\/p>\n
Lions share Class 5A District 5 lead with Lake Howell (4-2, 2-0).<\/p>\n
Celebration (1-5, 0-1) at No. 11 Ocoee (3-3, 1-0)<\/p>\n
Ocoee is tied with East Ridge for the lead in Class 6A District 7.<\/p>\n
Horizon (2-5, 0-1) at No. 12 East Ridge (5-2, 1-0)<\/p>\n
East Ridge looks to set up its Oct. 23 trip to Ocoee as the district title game.<\/p>\n
Boone (3-3, 0-1) at No. 13 Hagerty (4-1, 1-0)<\/p>\n
Hagerty shares the Class 6A District 4 lead with Timber Creek (4-2, 1-0), which plays at home vs. Winter Park (2-4, 0-1) in another key game.<\/p>\n
No. 15 Lake Howell (4-2, 2-0) at Melbourne (4-2, 1-1)<\/p>\n
If the Silverhawks win on the road it sets up 5A District 5 showdown with Oviedo, Oct. 23, at home.<\/p>\n
No. 16 (tie) Lake Brantley (3-3, 1-0) at Apopka (2-4, 0-1)<\/p>\n
Patriots are 0-8 against Apopka since winning in 2011.<\/p>\n
This is a Class 6A District 3 game, where Brantley and Seminole are the 1-0 teams<\/p>\n
No. 16 (tie) Innovation (6-0) at Colonial (3-3)<\/p>\n
Innovation has the second-best MaxPreps ranking among teams in the new FHSAA Independent League.<\/p>\n
More games of note<\/p>\n
Tohopekaliga (4-2, 1-0) at Gateway (5-1, 1-1)<\/p>\n
This is the first regular-season meeting between the schools, who are less than 15 minutes apart. They\u2019ve met in two spring games and a 2025 bowl game, all won by the Tigers.<\/p>\n
Winter Park (2-4) at Timber Creek (4-2)<\/p>\n
Wolves look to snap a four-game losing streak against Winter Park to stay<\/p>\n
Windermere (4-2) at St. Cloud (4-2)<\/p>\n
These teams went 1-1 against each other in 2017-18 games.<\/p>\n
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long before Hurricane Isaias hovered over the game plans for schools near the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s panhandle beaches,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1745,3745,139,141,140,76046,76642,110],"class_list":["post-422963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-high-school-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-social-varsity-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}