West Orange delivers 2OT upset over Apopka
Successful 2-point conversion proves to be the difference
West Orange scored its third consecutive victory and dealt highly-touted Apopka its second consecutive loss with a 15-14 overtime win at home Friday night.
The game was tied 7-7 at the end of regulation. Both teams scored touchdowns in overtime and the Sentinel Super 16 No. 15 Warriors (3-1) won on a successful two-point conversion.
Matthew McDoom scored the West Orange regulation TD on a 51-yard pass from Tyler Huff.
Apopka was ranked No. 1 in the Super 16 area rankings before losing 22-21 to Jones last week.
West Orange is 5-4 against Apopka in the past nine meetings.
No. 4 Seminole stayed undefeated with a 39-3 homefield win over Flagler Palm Coast (2-3).
Quarterback Timmy McClain continued his hot season with two touchdown passes, each from 26 yards out, as Seminole improved to 5-0. The highlight of the night came as McClain threw a jump ball to receiver Lawrence Jones Jr. who out-leaped a defender to make it 19-0 in the second quarter.
The ’Noles defense has only allowed 30 points in five games. On Friday it forced two interceptions including a pick six from Johnny Harris in the fourth for the final tally.
Jalen Thompson turned two short passes into two touchdowns, and Gerald Grenes excelled on defense as No. 5 Dr Phillips pounded previously unbeaten Olympia 41-9.
Grenes sacked Olympia quarterbacks three times and forced an interception as the Panthers (4-1) delivered victory No. 100 for head coach Rodney Wells. The former DP and Syracuse linebacker has a 100-24 record over 10 seasons since being promoted from assistant to head coach at age 32 in 2011.
Backup quarterback Brandon Moreno was 6 for his first 7 pass attempts in the start, feasting mostly on quick- outs. Thompson turned two of those into 19and 25-yard scores that put the Panthers up 14-0.
Amir Johnson ran for 55 yards on six carries, including a 33-yard touchdown run to put the Panthers up 21-3.
Grenes and the Panthers’ defense bent but held Olympia (3-1) to only a first
half 28-yard Jose Colunga field goal.
The Titans threatened just before halftime and tried a trick play, handing off to Rommarrus Hinton, who was looking to pass back to quarterback Charles Brooks. But Greens hit Hinton as he threw, and Jaelen Jackson picked off the pass to erase Olympia’s opportunity.
Dr. Phillips has beaten rival Olympia 18 consecutive times since losing to the Titans in 2004.
Winter Park running back Ayron Rodriguez rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns as the No. 12 Wildcats rolled to a 49-10 win against visiting Oviedo.
Jaden Machules, a junior who was one of Oviedo’s quarterbacks a year ago, opened the scoring with a 12-yard TD keeper for the Wildcats (4-1).
Sophomore Amaris Shaw added 92 yards rushing and a TD. Defensively for Winter Park Jalen Moore had two interceptions and Riley Simpson had one pick. Oviedo dropped to 3-2. Lake Brantley’s defense and special teams led the way as the Patriots scored a 35-19 upset win at No. 9 Ocoee.
Ocoee took a 19-7 lead in the second quarter, but the tide turned when a punt was blocked by Lake Brantley (2-3) sophomore Andrew Harris and returned 25 yards for a touchdown by junior Jacob Darroch. The Knights (2-2) didn’t score
for the rest of the night.
Lake Highland Prep improved to 2-1 with a 37-22 afternoon win at Windermere Prep (1-2) on Friday afternoon. The Highlanders drove 83-yards for a touchdown to up their lead to 24-7 in the final minute of the third quarter.
In a Thursday night game Orangewood Christian (3-3) senior Kaderris Roberts scored four TDs and the Rams won 48-26 vs. visiting West Oaks Academy (1-5).
Before Friday’s games kicked off good news rolled out with Orange County Public Schools announcing that only one positive test came back in what it termed as its third round of COVID-19 testing for high school football teams.
The district said the lone positive came out of a total of 996 players, coaches and athletic trainers screened from 13 of its high schools. Seven of the 20 OCPS teams were not tested this week.
OCPS hasn’t announced a cancelation since last week and its announcement suggests that next week might be the first since testing began in September where all games involving OCPS teams kick off as scheduled.
The district has canceled nine games, including a Week 3 opener because Olympia High School was shut down due to COVID-19 cases in the general student body.
Since then eight
scheduled games have been scratched due to positive tests among football programs at Evans, Edgewater and Freedom.
That list includes two games for Celebration, which went into quarantine mode after learning of the positive tests for Freedom, which it played on Oct. 2.