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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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Winter Park-East Ridge's turning point?

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Written by Joe Williams   

The turning point in the Winter Park-Clermont East Ridge game may have come in the first six minutes of the game.

Friday night's opening round Class 6A playoff game between Winter Park and East Ridge was pretty one-sided, but you have to wonder whether East Ridge's 23-7 victory might have been a little tougher if not for an illegal motion penalty that nullified a touchdown by the Wildcats with 8:39 remaining in the first quarter and then a holding penalty three plays later further sealed the Wildcats' fate.

 

East Ridge (10-1), which won its 10th consecutive game, opened the game by scoring on a 35-yard run by Jeremy Wright with 9:59 remaining in the first quarter, putting the Knights up 7-0.

But Winter Park (6-5) rallied right back -- or it appeared to.

With Zee Ware doing the damage on the ground on three of the first four plays in the drive, Winter Park quarterback Sam Richardson then connected with Terrell Foy for a 33-yard touchdown pass with 8:39 remaining. But the scoring play was nullified by a penalty, moving the ball to the 38. Again Ware broke free for an 18-yard gain -- his second longest run of the night -- to get the ball to the 20. Later, Richardson hit Ryan Callanan for a 12-yarder, giving Winter Park a first-and-goal from the 7. On first down, Ware lost 2 yards and a holding penalty from the 9 moved the ball back to the 19. Three plays later, East Ridge linebacker Anthony Ornes intercepted a Richardson pass with 6:03 left in the first quarter and returned it 39 yards, giving East Ridge the ball at the Wildcats' 42.

Wright scored later in the ensung series on a 28-yard run to make it 14-0 and East Ridge clearly had taken control.

East Ridge's defense stiffened after the Wildcats' first drive, allowing only 84 yards of total offense in the first two quarters. It got even tougher in the second half.

Winter Park actually only ran seven plays in the third quarter, losing 10 yards and a fumble. The Wildcats' offensive woes continued into the fourth quarter, where they once again had minus 1-yard of offense until their last series of the game against East Ridge back-ups. Winter Park finished the game with only 123 yards of offense and 45 of those yards came on their last two plays of the game -- a 30-yard run by Ware and a 15-yard scramble for a touchdown by Richardson with 19 seconds left.

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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