Best of Sports 2013

Local sports teams really hit it out of the park this year, from back-to-back basketball state champs, to UCF’s most successful football season ever. Now its time to look back at the highlight reel for our 2013 Year in Review.

Back-to-back state champions

The game was tied in overtime as Edgewater’s Nyala Shuler stared up at the basket from the free throw line with one shot left and zero seconds remaining. Miss it and the game would march forward into the uncertainty of another grueling overtime period. Make it and the championship belongs to the Eagles. Swish, repeat.

The Edgewater boys and girls basketball teams were on the court the same day Feb. 23 fighting for a shot at a title, but those games would end with dramatically different outcomes. For the Eagles’ girls basketball team, a second straight state championship win would be theirs on the tail end of a wild 50-49 overtime win in Lakeland. For the boys, they came just short of winning the regional championship.

Read all about their winning seasons in our full story online at bit.ly/IVHW5Z

Champions at last

The Winter Park High School girls’ volleyball team won it all on the Florida stage in November after defeating Lake Mary High School in the state finals at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee – redeeming themselves from a heartbreaking defeat in the finals the previous season. It had been a long road back after their narrow loss at the top of high school volleyball, but they clawed their way back, through multiple four and five game victories before edging Lake Mary and finally celebrating.

Visit bit.ly/1bdKOl0 to read all about the volleyball team’s state-winning season.

Knights go to Fiesta Bowl

The Knights have waited 34 years for a shot at a BCS bowl game, the top tier of NCAA Division 1 football. Now they have it, as they play No. 6 Baylor in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl after the greatest season in UCF history. Led by quarterback Blake Bortles, the Knights stormed to an 11-1 record, undefeated in a tough American Athletic Conference that included Louisville, Cincinnati and Houston. The Knights set multiple records in their heart attack-inducing season that included six wins by less than a touchdown. Can they do it again? We’ll find out on Jan. 1 at the Fiesta Bowl. Find the full story about the conclusion to the Knight’s history-making season at bit.ly/18za7Da

Soccer scholar shatters records

Only 37 students are on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America team, and Jordan Stewart is one of them. He only had to re-break his school’s scoring records and score a 4.42 GPA in the classroom to get on the squad, which only found one player in the entire state that fit its lofty criteria. The Geneva School athlete isn’t on the radar for many awards because of his small stage, but he’s set many records in the process en route to college. Read all about the soccer star’s story on and off the field at bit.ly/J5SDlV