Edgewater falls to Boone, soars to regionals

Even after one of their most successful seasons in a decade, it was hard for the Edgewater Eagles to escape the pressure of a rivalry game for the ages.

The Eagles fell 24-14 to Boone, losing the Spirit Barrel for the third straight year. It was a role reversal the Eagles had to endure, shut out completely in the second half after scoring a combined 101 points in their last two games.

In the process Boone players snagged three interceptions to keep the Eagles from the end zone. The Braves’ Tommy Townsend, who snagged two of them, helped his team to its unprecedented third straight victory in the rivalry.

“This is for sure going to go down as one of the top memories of my life,” Townsend told the Orlando Sentinel after the game. “I’ll never forget this.”

Boone QB Logan Smith would pull off some big pass plays, one of them in heavy traffic, to connect for two of the Braves’ touchdowns, with running back Darnell Burton adding the bulk of the rushing yards and a touchdown of his own.

For the Eagles, who blasted their way into the playoffs with a 7-3 overall record and 3-0 in the district, Seabreeze awaits in the first round of regionals. That game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Edgewater.

Winter Park

An electrifying blowout win over Cypress Creek on Halloween night was followed by a 28-17 loss to Dr. Phillips last Friday, and with that, Winter Park’s roller-coaster football season hit the brakes.

The Wildcats had opened 2014 with four straight wins and an affirming victory over their first district rival. Not yet three full weeks into September, the Wildcats had already earned all but one of the victories they would secure all season.

The fall saw the soaring team come crashing down. A 16-13 loss to Boone on Sept. 26 reversed their trend of winning all the close games. Then a 28-21 loss to Timber Creek the next week stole the security of their district lead. By the time they lost to Hagerty on Oct. 17, their season was all but finished, and there were still three games to go.

The brutal blowout win over Cypress Creek gave the Wildcats their second biggest margin of victory all season, taking them back to week three when, two wins deep into the season, they walked all over Ocoee in a 49-0 blowout. But with four losses in the five games spanning those two big wins, the Wildcats watched their season slip away.