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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.

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Thompson proud of his Wildcats

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Written by Joe Williams   

Wildwood's field house had emptied of its players. All that remained were a few Wildcat coaches still reflecting on their team's victory 42-35 victory over The Villages to give Wildwood the district championship.

It has been quite a season.

 

Matt Thompson, in his first year as Wildwood's head coach, has just guided the Wildcats through their district schedule unbeaten (4-0 against Class 2B, District 5 competition). Wildwood's only loss this season entering a regular season finale against Kissimmee Gateway was to South Sumter, which finished its regular season Friday night with a 9-1 record after a victory over Class 6A Oviedo. Wildwood can also reach a 9-1 regular season record if it beats Gateway next week.

But, Thompson also knew that if one or two plays went a different way, Friday's outcome could have been dramatically different.

"I have a newfound respect for The Villages and their program," Thompson said. "The two teams were swapping big blows.

"I'll say one thing about our team, though. This may not be the most talented team that Wildwood ever has had, but I oubt if any Wildwood team has worked as hard as this group has. I think this game showed the kind of character we have. When I came here, I think a lot of people had labelled this group as a bunch of quitters. They weren't quitters tonight. I think it is good for them to put the naysayers to rest."

The phrase that neither team deserved to lose gets thrown around a lot, but in this case it was true. Each team should be proud of what they accomplished.

"We won the game everywhere except on the scoreboard," said Richard Pettus, The Villages' coach.

Said Thompson: "Like our offensive corrdinator told our guys after the game, 'I was never worried.' Even when they came back and tied it up [at 35 with 3:18 left], I knew our kids had some more fight left in them."

 

 

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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.

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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.

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