Late Rams TD makes for a Whitty ending
Senior Sam Whitty caught two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the last a 14-yard end-zone grab with 3.3 seconds on the clock, to lift Lake Mary to a 36-29 victory over rival Lake Brantley in Monday night football.
Whitty caught a 12-yard TD pass from quarterback Brandon Brown with two minutes and 43 seconds to go to put the visiting Rams up 29-22. Brantley answered with Devin Frater’s 46-yard TD run for a 29-29 tie with 1:23 left.
Brown, who passed for three TDs and ran for two, engineered a 59-yard gamewinning drive. He had two 14-yard keepers on the march and found 6-foot-5 Whitty in the back of the end zone for the win.
Lake Mary improved to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in Class 8A, District 2 with its second league victory in five nights. The Rams won big at Oviedo last Thursday.
The Patriots (1-5, 0-3) had three 100-yard rushers. Frater ran for 171 yards on 15 carries. Tramell Johnson carried 10 times for 116 and quarterback Brett Haecker had 101 on 18 carries.
Lake Mary jumped out to a 22-0 second quarter lead but the suspense was far from over in a rivalry that has produced fireworks in recent meetings.
The Rams beat Brantley 45-44 on a late TD and twopoint conversion last year. Lake Mary won 45-41 in 2014 and Brantley prevailed 56-49 in 2015.
Lake Mary still must play the other district frontrunners. The Rams will host Winter Springs (0-5, 0-2) and be home vs. Orange City University (2-1, 2-0), on Oct. 20 before traveling to Seminole (3-0, 1-0), Oct. 27.
The Florida High School Athletic Association announced Monday that it will hold this year’s girls volleyball state championship matches, Nov. 16-18, at the 5,800-seat University of North Florida Arena in Jacksonville.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Oviedo coach Jen Darty, who recently watched a college match at UNF. “It’s a phenomenal facility with a big [video scoreboard] over the court.
“It gives you that big feel without being too huge. It’s definitely a venue that the kids will enjoy playing in.”
The agreement was announced as a one-year deal.
“We are thrilled to have our volleyball championships take place in a venue worthy of a state championship,” FHSAA executive director George Tomyn said in a press release.
The volleyball championships were held in an arena setting in Central Florida for 17 consecutive seasons (1999-2015) before going to West Port High School of Ocala a year ago.
The semifinals and finals were played at Disney’s Wide World of Sports from 1999-2001; The Lakeland Center from 2002-10; and Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee from 2011-14. The 2015 state finals were played at UCF.
As in the past two years, only the 2017 state finals will be held at the neutral site at UNF — a change many coaches do not like.
State semifinal matches will be played on Saturday, Nov. 11, and will be hosted by one of the two schools involved.
Oviedo (15-2), fresh off a five-day trip to Phoenix for the girls volleyball Nike Tournament of Champions, hosts rival Winter Springs tonight at 7.
“We played seven matches in two days [going 5-2 Friday and Saturday] and I could see in school today the girls are still dragging a little bit,” Darty said. “It’s an experience I don’t think they’ll ever forget.
“To see how excited they got for one another, that was truly special and something I know I’ll never forget.”
Also tonight, undefeated West Orange (17-0) hosts Port Orange Spruce Creek (12-5).
Four girls shot 69 or better at par-72 Victoria Hills in Saturday’s loaded Central Florida Tournament of Champions. Lake Mary’s
carded a 68 to win. Reigning
state champ of Lake Nona shot 69, as did The First Academy teammates and TFA topped Lake Mary 282 to 286 for the team title.
shot a 33 as Circle Christian dealt TFA (17-1) its first loss with a 147 to 148 victory on Tuesday.
who was fired as Oak Ridge boys basketball coach after a region runner-up season, has landed a graduate assistant job at NCAA D-II Salem International University of West Virginia, where former UCF assistant
is head coach.