Winter Park Wildcats dominate volleyball playoffs

It came down to the final drive of the game, but the Winter Park Wildcats edged out a berth into the regional football semifinals with a 38-35 nail-biter over West Orange on Friday night.

Less than 15 seconds were left on the clock with the Wildcats driving toward the end zone behind by four points. A field goal wouldn’t be enough to even the score. They needed a touchdown. On a fourth down play with time nearly expired, quarterback J.P. Colton heaved a pass into double coverage in the end zone, finding receiver Gabe McClary on the other end.

The win gave the Wildcats an avenue into the semis against an Apopka team that’s the reigning state champion in Class 8A.

By the numbers the game appears to be by far the toughest challenge the Wildcats will face. Last season Apopka defeated University in the first round of the playoffs 45-35. This season they did it by a 77-21 blowout – one of the biggest blowouts in a decade in class 8A.

The Blue Darters (11-1) haven’t lost to a team from this state this season, winning their 11 games by an average margin of 39 points, including four shutouts where they scored six touchdowns or more.

The Wildcats haven’t played Apopka since 2008, when they lost 27-14. The Wildcats would go on to finish 6-5 that season. The Blue Darters finished 10-3 that year en route to a regional championship runner up spot.

The Wildcats will have to travel to Apopka for this one, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22. If the Wildcats can manage an upset, they’ll be in to the regional championship round.

Volleyball

The Winter Park girls volleyball team won a four-game thriller against Lake Mary to punctuate their rise in the big-school division over the past few years.

In 2010 they didn’t even make the playoffs. In 2011 they bowed out in the regional championship in a five-game heartbreaker against East Lake. In 2012 they made it all the way to the state championship match before falling in yet another five-game heartbreaker, that time to Boca Raton.

Not this year. In a stacked bracket the Wildcats had three of their five playoff matchups go to four games or more. The final game nearly pushed their last matchup to five, but they squeaked out a win, going 25-22, 17-25, 25-12, 25-20.