About Joe Williams

Joe Williams is the dean of sports in Lake County. In November, he’ll celebrate his 30th anniversary at the paper, and all those years were spent writing about athletes, coaches and sports in Lake. A native of Long Island, N.Y., Williams delivered papers as a boy for Newsday and the Long Island Press. He moved the New Port Richey, where he became a sports writer at the New Port Richey Press the summer he graduated from high school. In his prime, Williams was a feared (and beloved) softball player. Today he’s a proud father of four and still breaking stories for us.

Sponsor

Find Team Schedules, Stats

Who Are Central Florida's Best?

 Who are the top players in Central Florida? Check out our new player statistics page. New stats are posted each week on VarsityGridiron.

Sponsor

Sponsor

Today's Poll

Now that the season is over, who should be Player of the Year?
 

Watch Our TV Show


Watch your highlights on our TV show -- shown two times every Sunday

  • Sundays at noon on WDRQ-Ch. 27 (Bright House Channel 10)
  • Sundays at midnight on WFTV-Ch. 9 (Bright House Channel 7)

Where's the Wildman?

the wildman

Each week, our Asher Wildman -- aka "The Wildman" -- visits a different game, searching for the best high school football fans in Central Florida? Do you think you have what it takes? Do you want to be on TV and show off your fan spirit? If so, email wildman@varsitygridiron.com. Watch Orlando Sentinel Varsity Sports every Sunday at noon (WRDQ-Ch. 27) and midnight (WFTV-Ch. 9) to see where the Wildman is this week.

Sponsor

Sponsor

Mount Dora's Ozerities, Eustis' Gaines have big nights

Print E-mail
Written by Joe Williams   

Mount Dora junior wide receiver Jordan Ozerities had a big night for the Hurricanes, even though they lost to Eustis in the season finale Friday night.

Hurricanes quarterback Jason Davis completed complete nine passes on the night -- six of those went to Ozerities for 106 yards and a 28-yard touchdown pass.

 

While Ozerities was having success, Mount Dora's star running back Micha Howard probably had his lowest output of the season. The night started great for Howard when he returned the opening kickoff 71 yards to the Eustis 16, but a holding penalty cost Mount Dora 27 yards on the return.

The Hurricanes, though they would later score on the series with Ozerities' reception, never seemed to fully recover from the setback.

Howard finished the game with only 40 yards rushing, including an 18-yard loss he had on Mount Dora's second possession when he tried to reverse his field and was tackled by Eustis linebacker Nick Sellers.

Eustis' Tyson Gaines, another senior, had the best game among running backs, busting loose for the go-ahead touchdown an 85-yard run on just the second play of the second half -- then scored on the 2-point conversion -- to give Eustis a 22-14 lead. Gaines finished with 121 yards and two TDs on 14 carries.

Eustis' Donnie Flowers also had an electrifying run in the game's final 2 minutes when he busted loss for an 84-yard gain.

Comments (0)Add Comment

Write comment
You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

busy
< Prev   Next >
 

Buddy's Breaking News 

Buddy Collings is a senior sports writer for the Orlando Sentinel. He has covered high school sports since the 1970s, when you had to get fouled to manage a 3-point play in basketball. Collings graduated from Melbourne High and the University of Florida, then worked for the Gainesville Sun for 12 years before coming to the Sentinel in 1998. In college he began tracking Florida high school sports record and later  published record books. For more than 20 years he has been a clearing house for state records. He is married with three children. You can e-mail Buddy by clicking here.

The Lyon's Den

Austin Lyon began covering high school sports at the age of 15 as a correspondent for the Orlando Sentinel. He has also worked in radio and television, including handling play-by-play for numerous football and basketball state championship broadcasts. He was teh play-by-play voice for Friday Night Football, a weekly high school game of the week in Central Florida. He has lived in Orlando since he was 8 and is a graduate of Bishop Moore and UCF.

Cup of Joe

Joe Williams is the dean of sports in Lake County. In November, he’ll celebrate his 30th anniversary at the paper, and all those years were spent writing about athletes, coaches and sports in Lake. A native of Long Island, N.Y., Williams delivered papers as a boy for Newsday and the Long Island Press. He moved the New Port Richey, where he became a sports writer at the New Port Richey Press the summer he graduated from high school. In his prime, Williams was a feared softball player. He’s a proud father of four and still breaking stories for us. You can e-mail Joe by clicking here.

Gridiron Guru

Ty Ensor hasn't been a football coach all his life. It just seems that way. Ensor, a former football and baseball player at Baker High School (Class of '91), was a high school football coach in Central Florida from 1999-2007. Most of his experience is on the offensive side of the ball, and he served as a position coach Cypress Creek and Apopka, as co-offensive coordinator at Dr. Phillips, as offensive coordinator and Osceola. He was also Apopka's head coach from 2003-05. He is married with twin sons.

The Stat King

Charles King is the producer of the weekly Orlando Sentinel Varsity Sports television show. Before that, he created and ran his own high school football Web site, FridayNightFootball.net, from 2002-07. He also developed, produced and co-hosted Friday Night Football, a radio show that broadcast a high school game every week and followed up with a post-game show. The show broadcast more than 90 games, including six state championships. In 2004 he created and produced FNF-TV, a half-hour weekly TV show dedicated to high school football in Central Florida. You can e-mail Charles by clicking here.

Chip's Recruiting Tips

Chip Humble has more than 15 years of experience connecting athletes with coaches and colleges. He is director of scouting for Collegiate Sports of America PrepStar and co-founder of Next Level, a non-profit group that assists athletes in securing scholarships to college. He is also chairman of the Central Florida All-Star Game. Humble was born in Ohio, is a graduate of Florida Southern and lives in Lake Mary. He can be reached at chumble@csaprepstar.com