Wildcats on 2-game slide; Eagles fall to Oviedo

The Winter Park Wildcats are in a tailspin after a second straight loss last week. Winter Park (3-4, 1-1) now looks to regroup against Colonial (2-5, 0-2), which started the season with two wins and hasn’t had a win since.

The Wildcats entered Friday’s game against East River with an untarnished district record but left having given the Falcons a foot in the door to the district championship, losing 17-7.

Offensive miscues dominated the Wildcats’ effort, with only one touchdown in the game coming thanks to Asiantii Woulard’s arm and D’vario Montgomery’s legs, connecting on a 28-yard touchdown play.

Winter Park hits the road again this week against Colonial, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28.

Eagles downed

Edgewater was fresh off one of its biggest upset wins in recent memory over Dr. Phillips when it faced Oviedo (5-2) on the Lions’ home turf. But the Eagles (4-2) had to contend with a team that had held teams to less than three touchdowns per game. Oviedo won 24-14.

The Eagles brought the firepower with quarterback J.B. Woodman and rushers John Altman and rusher/receiver Alton Howard, who helped contribute the bulk of the Eagles’ 454 total yards in the game. Altman alone would pick up 147 yards on the ground, averaging more than seven yards per run. Alton Howard averaged nearly eight yards per carry en route to 55 yards on the ground.

But that massive amount of offensive yardage fell short of the goal line on multiple drives, leaving the Eagles frustrated as the Lions walked away with a lead that would grow until a stagnant fourth quarter, when both teams had trouble finding the end zone.

The Eagles hit the road again this week, playing Thursday night at Apopka (5-3). The Blue Darters started the season with three straight losses and have answered with five straight wins, including a 53-22 blowout over West Orange last week.

JV blanks East River

The Winter Park JV football team (4-2) relied on a rock-solid defense and a strong running game to shut out the East River Falcons 24-0. It was the Wildcats third shutout.

“Our defense was very impressive. We didn’t punt once and never allowed East River to cross midfield,” Coach Scott Hillman said. “Jacob Gregory, Tommy Witted, Johnny Evans and Daniel Tommey made tackles all night long, Rollin LeMand pinned them back on kickoffs, and Cameron Gergley picked off a pass with four minutes left and we ran out the clock to ensure the shutout.”

The Wildcats were equally impressive on offense with more than 300 yards on the ground. Running back Elliot Hammond had another 100-plus yards rushing that included a 5-yard touchdown scamper, sophomore running back Dominique Peterson had touchdown runs of 5 and 3 yards, and freshman running back Travis Jones broke two long runs of 40 and 50 yards. Ari Ben-Zeev booted a 30-yard field goal and one extra point, and LeMand added a pair of PATs to cap the scoring.

The Wildcats next host the Colonial Grenadiers at Showalter Field on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m.