West Orange football tops Lake Buena Vista, 35-7

The West Orange Warriors move to 4-0 on the season after winning at fellow area football team, the Vipers of Lake Buena Vista High, 35-7. This marks the best start to a West Orange season since 2014.

Led by its stout defense and balanced offensive attack, the Warriors made it difficult on the Vipers offense and attacked the LBV defense on the ground and in the air. Backup quarterback AJ Chung threw two touchdowns on the night, one to receiver Ryne Brown and the other to tight end Luke Wills, while starting QB Brian Dillard found Edison Delgado for a long pitch-and-catch TD. In the run game, Nehemiah Burgess broke a long run that set up a short scamper for his touchdown while fellow running back Jaydon Ammons pulled off one of the most impressive plays of the night, turning a fumble in the backfield into the first touchdown of the night. 

Still, Warriors coach Geno Thompson felt his team didn't play up to its potential. 

"I'm happy we were able to get a lot of our young kids reps, but I thought we looked very sloppy, though," he said. "It's hard to motivate yourself when you underestimate someone and I think that's what we did tonight. Hats off to Lake Buena Vista, it's a great program. We did not take them seriously and that was on us. So we need to make sure we go back and kind of evaluate the way we practice."

Next up for the Warriors will be a big Class 7A, District 5 matchup against Apopka High. 

For the Vipers (1-2), their lone score on the night came on a short run from QB Stoly Cenemat at the end of the third quarter. LBV coach Brant Peddy knew that this was going to be a tough game for his team but he liked the fight his players showed.

"When we were down a half, 27-0, we could have quit, but we didn't," Peddy said. "We kept fighting against a really, really good West Orange team that has great coaches over there. Ultimately, we made a lot of mistakes. I think we got overwhelmed by the West Orange name, the brand and that's part of being a young team, you know. We're in year number four and we're still learning how to be mentally tough but the guys fought tonight."

The Vipers will travel to Windermere High for its Week Six matchup.