- April 19, 2024
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Overcoming adversity is something that the West Orange Warriors have had to deal with all season.
After watching their starting quarterback Julian Calvez leave the game with an injury in the first quarter, they managed to come back and beat the Lake Mary Rams 20-19.
“First thing, I’m praying for Julian right now,” said West Orange Head Coach Mike McGlynn. “I’m going to get off the field and make sure I head to wherever he’s at and make sure he’s doing ok. It’s a tough thing to see one of our brothers go down like that.
“I’m so proud of the way our guys fought through and won it — (we) bonded together as a brotherhood and as a family,” he said. “I’m very proud of our team tonight.”
Down 10-6 at halftime, the Warriors (4-2, 2-0) took the lead on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Huff to Jaylon Carlies to give West Orange its first lead of the game with 9:25 left in the third quarter.
Later in the same quarter, Huff connected with Jayden Gibson for a 33-yard touchdown to give West Orange a 20-10 lead.
“Slowing down with Tyler Huff at quarterback and getting his confidence,“ McGlynn said of the team’s adjustments on offense in the third quarter. “Coming into halftime, making the adjustments, some things that he’s comfortable doing and I think we did that very well in the second half.”
With three seconds left in the third quarter, Lake Mary’s Will Jennings ran for a 9-yard touchdown to cut the Warriors’ lead to 20-17.
After both teams struggled to get anything going on offense, Lake Mary (2-3, 1-1) drove down the field and were deep in West Orange territory with under a minute to go. On 4th-and-10 the Warriors broke up the pass to force a turnover on downs with 36 seconds to go.
On fourth down with 15 seconds left in the game, Matthew McDoom ran around in the end zone and was able to run the clock down to three seconds before taking a safety. Time expired on the ensuing kickoff as the Warriors held on for a 20-19 win.
Huff had two touchdowns through the air and one on the ground, as he ran for a 71-yard touchdown in the 2nd quarter.
McDoom had a huge interception when the Rams were forcing their way into West Orange territory. The Warriors’ defense also forced two turnovers in the second half.
With the win, West Orange has won three-straight games and are tied with the Apopka Blue Darters for first place in Class 8A, District 4.
The Warriors will now go into a bye week before having to go on the road to take on the Blue Darters Friday, Oct. 11.
“Three wins in a row going into a bye week — (we) got some injuries to recover from,“ McGlynn said. “We’re going to use this week productively to get healthy and get ready for our next opponent.”
