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For the first time in 24 years — and only the fourth time ever — Copper Mountain will host World Cup ski racing this November, just nine weeks before the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
Four days of racing will begin on Thanksgiving Day. The women will race slalom and giant slalom, which happen to be the best events for Colorado native Mikaela Shiffrin, the winningest World Cup racer in history. The men will race giant slalom and super-G.
Copper Mountain has hosted World Cup racing only three times. In 1976, the men and women raced slalom and giant slalom three weeks after the Innsbruck Winter Olympics, where Germany’s Rosi Mittermaier won three medals. Mittermaier then won both women’s races at Copper, which subsequently named the slope where she competed “Rosi’s Run,” a name it still holds.
On two other occasions, Copper Mountain stepped in to host November women’s slalom and giant slalom World Cup races after resorts that had been scheduled to host those races lacked suitable snow conditions for racing. In 1999, Copper took races that had been scheduled for Park City, Utah. Two years later, it stepped in for Aspen.
The week following the Copper Mountain races, the men will race at Beaver Creek, which has been a regular stop for men’s downhill, super-G and giant slalom since 1997.
It’s rare for the World Cup to schedule men’s and women’s races over four days at the same venue. Women’s giant slalom and slalom races normally are held Thanksgiving weekend in Killington, Vt., but that resort is replacing a lift that serves the race venue. The races are expected to return to Killington in 2026, a two-hour drive from Burke Mountain Academy, where Shiffrin went to high school.
“Although I’ll miss racing at Killington this Thanksgiving, I am so excited that World Cup ski racing is coming to Copper Mountain for men and women,” Shiffrin said in a news release. “Athletes from all around the globe come to Copper early in the season especially, and in springtime, to get the best training in the world and best preparation for World Cup racing. It’s so exciting to see Copper as a true World Cup race venue, and I’m particularly excited because it’s so close to home. I can sleep in my own bed, and my community can come and experience it.”
While World Cup racing is rare for Copper Mountain, many elite racers are very familiar with the venue. Since 2011, Copper Mountain has partnered with the U.S. Ski Team to provide preseason race training at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center when most resorts around the world don’t have temperatures and snowmaking equipment capable of providing full-on downhill tracks. Some other nations also train at that venue before the downhill season starts.
Copper also hosts the U.S. Grand Prix for elite halfpipe competitors annually.
“Hosting an alpine World Cup event at Copper is a natural fit for us,” said Dustin Lyman, Copper Mountain president and general manager. “We are recognized as ‘the athlete’s mountain,’ in part because the world’s elite snow sports athletes train and compete on our venues. Now, we’re excited to showcase our exceptional racing venue on the world stage.”
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https://www.denverpost.com/2025/02/18/copper-mountain-world-cup-racing-thanksgiving-weekend/

Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Robert Jones went from undrafted rookie fighting his way onto an active roster to an established veteran who started every game last season, all in four years with the same organization.
Now, an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career, he wants to stay with the Dolphins.
“Hopefully, I’m back here in Miami,” Jones said in a phone interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, “but I’m just taking it a day at a time. Just focusing on me training right now, enjoying the offseason with my family and not thinking too much. And when the time comes, just got to make the best decision for myself.”
But staying with the Dolphins would be his No. 1 choice.
“Most definitely,” said Jones, who has 30 career starts under his belt after manning left guard for all 17 games in 2024. “I’d love to be back in Miami.”
But while Jones was a full-time starter for the first time, the Dolphins’ offensive line was still widely criticized over various stretches of the past season.
Center Aaron Brewer’s first year with the team was a success. When healthy, tackles Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson were solid. So that leaves the two guards — Jones and Liam Eichenberg, before Isaiah Wynn platooned with Eichenberg late in the season — as areas where many say the Miami offensive line needs an upgrade. All three are free agents this offseason.
If Jones gets his wish and is brought back to the Dolphins, he knows it could come with some new blood in the way of him starting in the form of a veteran free agent guard or rookie additions among a 10-pick draft class.
He’s got the right mindset to compete to reclaim the job if it comes down to it.
“I understand they bring competition. It’s the NFL,” Jones said.” You should never feel like you’re obligated to be the guy. Competition, you know, I’m an undrafted guy and I fought my way for four years. So competition, I’ve never been afraid of competition. But I just want to be able to play. That’s all — have an opportunity to play.”
An unrestricted free agent last offseason, Jones made the jump to making just under $3 million in 2024 after his previous season high of earnings was $940,000 in 2023, according to spotrac.com. Jones approaches free agency without any financial goals in mind as his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, will take control.
“I’m letting Drew handle all that,” he said. “I’m excited for the opportunity. Feel like I had a good year. I’m going to wait, to wait till the time comes. See what happens.”
If Jones does have to go elsewhere, he feels he can fit a variety of blocking schemes. He spent the past three seasons in coach Mike McDaniel’s outside-zone blocking scheme, and that was after first making the Dolphins roster in a 2021 season when George Godsey was co-offensive coordinator with Eric Studesville, who has since been running backs coach under McDaniel.
“It wasn’t a big adjustment. For me, personally, I was a raw talent,” said Jones, who first started playing football late in high school. “I didn’t start playing O-line until I went to (junior college). I was still learning so much about the game, and I’m still learning so much about the game.”
In his first three seasons, Jones was a serviceable backup whenever a starting guard went down. He even started a game at right tackle as a rookie in 2021. After Robert Hunt left in free agency last year and Wynn was injured to start the past season, that opened up the starting holes Jones and Eichenberg filled.
Jones’ assessment of his 2024 season as a full-time starter?
“For me, personally, I feel like I had some ups and downs,” he said. “I feel like I did a lot of good things, stuff to improve on. It’s the NFL. Everybody gets paid on both sides of the ball, so that’s one thing I really can’t dwell on, the little things. Definitely, going into the offseason, I know what I need to improve on, and it’s all about staying consistent and just being able to keep playing no matter what.”
As for what the offensive line as a whole can do better: “Just playing together. That’s all it is. As the O-line, we did a lot of good things. It just comes down to consistency overall and being able to play together. The camaraderie that we had this year, it’s being able to keep that going and being able to execute when we need to.”
Jones reflects on his first four seasons with the Dolphins with gratitude, making strides to this point in his career when nothing was guaranteed when he first entered the league undrafted out of Middle Tennessee State.
“It’s everything I dreamed of,” he said. “Once I came out and knew I was undrafted, I knew it was going to be a battle. This story could’ve gone so many different ways. I could’ve been a guy just sitting on my couch after my first year, and I always knew what type of player I was. I always had the grit. I never let anyone outwork me. I never let anyone outplay me. No matter what, I knew I was going to give it my all each and every day, and that’s what I did these past four years.
“It’s just been a dream come true, coming from an undrafted guy, keep building on my confidence, keep developing as a player — because I started playing football so late in my life — being the player that I am today, it’s just been amazing.”
Jones has been traveling in the month-plus since Miami’s season ended. He has also spent time in Tampa training at former NFL wide receiver Yo Murphy’s House of Athlete as he hopes to remain strong and nimble going into organized team activities later in the offseason.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/18/dolphins-rob-jones-would-like-to-stay-in-miami-as-he-enters-free-agency/

Dear Eric: I will turn 65 in a few months and have announced my plans to retire. I have a long list of things I want to do, and after 50 years of employment and saving, I am well situated for these next years. At least, that is what my financial adviser and balance sheets tell me.
I really yearn for more discretionary time and my physical health tells me I need to get out from under a desk. My problem is that I am getting cold feet about leaving a paycheck behind.
After a lifetime of saving, how do I let myself relax into just spending?
I know this is a good problem to have on the surface, but it really is torturing me. I need some words of wisdom to help me get to the other side. Can you help me?
— Undecided Plans
Dear Plans: There’s a version of yourself in the past who started on this journey of saving and planning with the hope that he would one day be in your shoes. And every time you/he struggled to get through a work week, perhaps you thought of this moment. So, congratulations, to you in the past and in the present. You did something incredible.
You know how sometimes you go on vacation but you’re not in the mood to vacation for a day or two? Unfortunately, we don’t have a relaxation switch. So, don’t try to force yourself to suddenly be in retirement mode if you’re not. Make a plan for your days and your goals that’s realistic. You have time to get used to this new phase.
You’ve trusted your financial adviser thus far; when you start to feel anxious about leaving a check behind, reach out. “Remind me that I’m fine.” People do this with financial advisers all the time. It’s perfectly normal to need reassurance.
This is a transition, a big one. While it might seem like a phase of life that one would leap into happily, it’s right to acknowledge the complicated feelings around it, too. You’re shifting the way that you live and breaking routines that you’ve had for decades. This is going to take some adjustment. Give yourself space and time to feel that and the freedom to change course whenever you want.
Dear Eric: My sister is going through a divorce after 40 years of marriage. It has been a long time coming during which time I have seen her often berate her husband in front of family and friends for doing things the rest of us could not recognize. I’ve also seen her rage at my elderly mother who has breast cancer.
Now she has separated and set up her own place in another state from her husband. I went to visit her and tried to be supportive of her new life.
Over the holidays, I visited my brother-in-law because it is on the way to where we were going to spend the holidays. He introduced us to his new girlfriend.
I had told my sister we would be stopping there but when she found out I met the girlfriend, she became enraged at me saying I wasn’t supportive and should have told her ex that I was uncomfortable with meeting his girlfriend, which I was not.
She has been texting me since saying how disloyal I am and that she can’t talk to me, but I am so angry I just want to tell her to stop contacting me. However, we still have to talk regarding our mom, and I feel guilty knowing she is hurting, and I can’t help her out. I can’t figure out how to go forward. I plan on giving her time but also am so angry I want to break contact with her. Really ruined Christmas and not a great start to a new year.
— Tired of Being Yelled At
Dear Tired: From your telling, your sister’s frustrations in life seem to often boil over into tirades. This is something she can work on in therapy or perhaps with medication. This may not be the ideal moment to bring that up but keep it in your arsenal. She could probably use some help.
For now, acknowledge that her anger is real and that your anger is also real. You don’t need to stay in contact through this, though. Tell her you’re sorry that she was hurt by you meeting the girlfriend and that you’re going to give her some space, but that it’s important that you’re both able to talk through matters with your mom. This puts everything on the table. It communicates with her that you two need to stop talking about the situation with her ex while also setting a clear boundary around what you can and will be talking about.
(Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.)
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/18/asking-eric-retirement-is-looming-now-come-the-cold-feet/

By Andrew Carter
The News & Observer
RALEIGH, N.C. — Upon the discomforting speculation that the ACC might only send three teams to the NCAA tournament, one of the league’s coaches had this to say:
“People may think I’m crazy, but there’s just so many games left. It’s not out of the question that a team could catch fire or two teams catch fire. I just think it’s incomprehensible that anybody could suggest with any kind of merit that there would only be three teams.”
This is not a quote from this week or last week or even this year. It’s not a quote from this century, actually. It’s from then-Wake Forest coach Dave Odom, in a February 1999 story in the Winston-Salem Journal. Then, like now, the ACC’s postseason prospects seemed a little dim.
The main difference, in case you’d tuned out some of the major events surrounding college athletics over the past quarter-century: the ACC back then was but a small, quaint, geographically-contained nine-team conference. It just so happens to be twice as large now yet still finds itself at risk of similarly meager (and much worse, proportionally) postseason representation.
The then-and-now, though, underscores just how far the ACC has fallen in its flagship sport. With apologies and respect to the Big East of the 1980s, the ACC remained the nation’s premier men’s basketball conference for decades.
Everett Case and those early league tournaments in Reynolds Coliseum built it. North Carolina’s undefeated 1957 national championship season expanded the popularity. Then came Dean Smith and David Thompson and Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Valvano and, by the 1980s and 90s, no other conference came all that close to the ACC’s sustained legacy of basketball excellence.
That is why Odom in 1999 really did find it “incomprehensible” that the conference might only receive three NCAA tournament bids. But that’s ultimately what transpired: Duke, Maryland and UNC were the league’s only representatives. It happened that same exact way the next season, too, with those same three schools.
Consecutive three-bid seasons in 1999 and 2000 signaled a basketball crisis, for its time. It was fair to wonder what happened to ACC basketball, given that only 33% of its teams were good enough to make the tournament. And yet if we only knew. A little more than 25 years later, the ACC is twice as large — and it’d be kind (and wrong) to suggest it’s only twice as bad in men’s basketball. The reality is the league is immeasurably worse. Unfathomably worse.
In the first academic year of this 18-school coast-to-coast Frankensteinian concoction of a conference, it’s not only conceivable that only three ACC teams will make the NCAA tournament, but that possibility is growing more and more likely all the time. And unlike 1999 and 2000, when Duke and Maryland were consistent top-10 teams, Duke is the only ACC team in that class now.
The Blue Devils are almost assured of earning a top seed in the NCAA tournament next month. Clemson and Louisville are safely in, but neither is projected to be a top-5 seed. And as for the rest of the league? Well, Wake Forest can still play itself onto the right side of the bubble — but don’t count on it happening after the Demon Deacons’ debacle of a recent defeat against Florida State. UNC and Pittsburgh, meanwhile, both have a lot of work to do.
And, um, who knows — maybe somebody else can pull off what N.C. State did last year and come out of nowhere to win the ACC tournament. Just don’t expect it to be N.C. State, which stands a good chance of missing the league tournament in the first year of its new format (and hey, you can’t be dethroned if you don’t actually lose a tournament game, right? Right!?).
We can talk about the ACC’s recent NCAA tournament performance, which has gone a long way toward atoning for its mediocre (or worse) regular seasons the past few years. And it’s true: The conference has remained formidable in March. But it’s also true that this has been a terrible regular season for a once-proud league, and that this poor season comes after a stretch of not-very-good seasons. This one is so bad, though, that it’s arguably the ACC’s worst regular season ever.
How could the conference find itself free-falling into such a basketball abyss?
Some reasons and ruminations:
1. It’s the departed coaches.
The 2018-19 season is probably the most recent one in which the ACC was what it was since, well, pretty much forever. It remains the last truly great ACC men’s basketball season. Virginia won the national championship and, like Duke and UNC that year, was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Florida State and Virginia Tech were both No. 4 seeds.
Louisville made the tournament. Syracuse made the tournament.
Clemson and N.C. State could’ve and probably should’ve made the tournament — with then-State athletics director Debbie Yow memorably reminding the college basketball public how “We. Beat. Auburn,” upon UNC’s loss to that same team in the Sweet 16.
Ah, yes. The good old days.
But compared to now, they really were the good old days. The ACC was still arguably the best conference in the country, though ranked third — and not far behind the Big 12 and Big Ten — according to kenpom.com. The league’s basketball dominance, showcased in an epic ACC tournament semifinal game between Zion Williamson-led Duke and a deep and talented UNC team, appeared in little danger.
And why? Well, look at who was coaching in the conference back then:
Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Roy Williams at UNC. Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. Virginia Tech still had Buzz Williams. Virginia still had Tony Bennett. Even the league’s non-tournament teams that season still had proven coaching talent — notably Mike Brey at Notre Dame and Jim Larrañaga at Miami. And at Georgia Tech, Josh Pastner was at least eternally entertaining.
By the end of the 2019 season, the ACC was home to four coaches who’d won a combined 10 national championships (with K and Ol’ Roy responsible for eight of those). Bennett looked like he’d be at Virginia for a long time. The league had plenty of leadership depth.
And since then? Well …
Roy Williams retired. Coach K retired. Boeheim retired. Buzz Williams left for Texas A&M. Mike Brey got out of college coaching. Bennett retired before this season. Larrañaga retired during this season. Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton announced he’d be retiring after this season. And not even a pandemic-era ACC tournament championship — replete with the comically ineffective plastic facemask he wore during his postgame presser on Zoom — could save Pastner.
The ACC has, very literally, lost all of its most proven and successful head coaches in recent years. And a few of them just so happened to be among the best coaches in college basketball history. The result of all that turnover is what we’re now seeing. The simplest and most concise explanation behind the ACC’s basketball woes can be distilled to two words: coaching exodus.
But also …
2. The new hires haven’t exactly overwhelmed.
Here’s the complete list of current non-retiring ACC coaches who’ve won the conference tournament: Mike Young, Jon Scheyer and Kevin Keatts. That’s it. The list of current non-retiring ACC coaches who’ve led their teams to a Final Four is similarly short. It includes Keatts, whose goodwill from the Wolfpack’s miracle run of last March didn’t even last one full season, and Hubert Davis, who’s attempting to navigate his own crisis at UNC.
Scheyer, in his third season at Duke, might just be the ACC’s best coach — but it’s difficult to make that argument so early into his tenure. He’s certainly embraced the modern realities of a changing sport and positioned the Blue Devils for continued long-term success in a turbulent and unpredictable environment. His hiring in 2022 of Rachel Baker, who was the first general manager in college basketball, looks especially prescient in hindsight.
Outside of him, though, who’s in the conversation for best coach in the ACC? Brad Brownell, who has been at Clemson since 2010, is poised to be the league’s longest-tenured coach and he’s done an admirable job at a place where success hasn’t come easily. Still, the list of major accomplishments is lacking. Keatts not long ago led State to its highest basketball high in 40 years, but the lows there have been far more plentiful, and the Wolfpack is in the midst of one of its worst seasons in school history.
Davis’ UNC teams have been consistently inconsistent, and a legion of spoiled fans is in full-on tantrum mode. And nobody else has either A) been around long enough to get a sense of the possibilities, or B) arrived in their positions with a proven record of success elsewhere.
It’s the second of those that’s most concerning. Head coaching jobs in the ACC used to be destination gigs. It was the conference everyone wanted to get to. It was the league where every coach wanted a chance to prove himself. Outside of Scheyer and Davis — two keep-it-inside-the-family hires, more or less appointed by their Hall of Fame predecessors — the jobs that have actually been open in recent years haven’t exactly attracted star power.
There’s been a ton of coaching turnover in the ACC, and the new class of coaches is full of those who are unproven at this level. Some of them may indeed turn out to be fantastic. Scheyer, for one, is well-equipped for these times and has a team capable of winning the national championship this season. At Louisville, Pat Kelsey has worked wonders in his first season.
But look around the ACC. Among its head coaches, there’s a lot of “to-be-determined” going on — and that’s in the best case, for some of them.
Of course, attracting and hiring the best talent often comes down to …
3. Money, money, money.
No, the ACC isn’t as wealthy as the Big Ten or SEC. Yes, the relative lack of money matters — especially as it relates to NIL compensation directed toward players. The SEC, especially, has taken advantage of its riches and gone all out to enhance its profile everywhere. That league has come a long, long way in men’s basketball, and the progress has come quickly.
There’s no denying that money matters more than ever in major college athletics, and that the gap is widening between the wealthiest schools and leagues and everybody else. The richest of the rich can afford the most sought-after coaches, and can enhance their staffs with all manner of analysts and support personnel. The most well-off NIL collectives are in a strong position to buy the best players — or at least those who are most inclined to be driven by the pursuit of money.
These are just facts. It pays to be rich, more than ever.
The ACC in the 1990s was, on a per-school basis, the wealthiest league in the country. It remained pretty much even with the Big Ten and SEC through most of the 2000s, too. What’s happened since has been well-documented: football became more and more important in terms of television ratings, and the value of that sport increased exponentially. The Big Ten started its own TV network. The SEC followed. Those leagues began separating themselves, financially.
And here we are. Make no mistake: The ACC is far from impoverished. To the contrary, the league continues to set revenue records, almost every year. It’s just no longer as rich as its two primary conference rivals. We’re starting to see the effects of a widening divide. The SEC’s investment in basketball in recent seasons is clearly paying off. The Big Ten has remained strong (despite not having won a national championship since Michigan State in 2000).
Would the ACC be in a better position in men’s basketball if the league were wealthier? Maybe. Probably. Even so, does not having as much as the Big Ten or SEC explain the ACC’s demise?
It’s difficult to make that argument, for a couple of reasons. For one, look at the Big 12. That conference isn’t as well off as the ACC, financially, and yet it hasn’t precluded the Big 12 from maintaining its place as a basketball power in recent seasons. Kansas is Kansas, yes, and Arizona, a Pac-12 refugee, has been among the nation’s elite for decades.
But is there any reason why the likes of Houston, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Baylor have much stronger men’s basketball programs than pretty much any ACC school outside of Duke? What do those schools have that ACC schools don’t? Are you going to make the argument that Iowa State and Baylor have more advantages than, say, N.C. State or Georgia Tech?
And this says nothing of ACC schools that have, at times, been among the very best of the best but are now struggling to recapture the glory. We’re looking at you, UNC and Syracuse and N.C. State and even Wake Forest and Georgia Tech and Virginia and Notre Dame. Carolina, especially, should never be looking up to the likes of Iowa State or Texas Tech. But the Tar Heels are, for now.
The second clear example of why the money excuse is overused and overblown: Connecticut.
The Huskies have managed to win consecutive national championships despite their home in the revamped risen-from-the-ashes Big East — you know, the league that the ACC raided, twice, and nearly put out of business. Indeed, the ACC is much better off than the Big East, in terms of money. But that hasn’t stopped UConn from becoming college basketball’s most successful program over the past 25 years.
If UConn can maintain its place as a national power and if the Big 12 can prove its might year after year, then there can really be no excuses for the ACC. It’s true that the league is not as wealthy as the two wealthiest conferences. But it’s also true that there’s still plenty of money for ACC schools to be a lot better than they’ve been. And yet in a league built on a tradition of basketball excellence, one of the main reasons for the decline in that sport is the sad reality that …
4. What mattered for a long time matters a lot less.
And there’s layers to that reality, too. In the micro specific-to-basketball sense, the college version of the sport has become more and more niche. Not coincidentally, it has become more transient, too. Rosters turn over year after year. The very best and most talented players are gone after one season. Long gone are the days of watching teams take shape over a span of years.
Now they have a few months. The season, itself, is something that happens between recruiting the transfer portal. The good news is that teams are only ever a good transfer (or incoming freshman) class away from competitiveness. Look at Louisville this season, for instance. The bad news is that it’s difficult to define what a program really is anymore, given the constant turnover.
In the ACC, Duke has blended the past and present to an enviable degree. It has learned to play the game as it has to be played, if tradition-rich schools want to maintain their relevance. UNC, meanwhile, is on the opposite end of the spectrum. There, Davis has clung to tradition. There’s been a resistance to adaptation. Approaching the end of his fourth season, Davis has only recently concluded that, yes, a general manager is necessary; that the ways of the old no longer apply.
College basketball has lost a lot of what allowed its rise in popularity throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. There’s little continuity year-to-year. Players are usually gone before the casual fan has a chance to remember them. March is still March, yes, but the enduring popularity of that one month has come to overshadow everything else. The sport is mostly a national afterthought until mid-February. Even in the heart of Tobacco Road, it’s different than it used to be.
What’s happened in recent years in the macro beyond-basketball sense has hurt, too. Football has come to rule everything in major college athletics. Or, to be more precise, the pursuit of football TV money has come to rule everything. Schools feel immense pressure to raise their profiles in that one sport. Conferences are desperate to maximize their football television “inventory,” which has led to realignment that has crushed old rivalries, led to the destruction of the Pac-12 and made for bizarre, nonsensical nationwide conferences.
The ACC’s basketball tradition is second to none, but how much does that matter in a football-first world?
Parts of what made the conference such a basketball utopia are long gone. The geographic proximity, for one. The double round-robin, with every school playing each other home and away. At Duke’s game against California recently at Cameron Indoor Stadium, it became easy to think, “Why?” As in, why is this a conference game? Why did Cal travel back East for the third time since early January to play an ACC game? Why are we doing this? What are we doing?
And the answer, of course, is obvious: Because of TV. Because of football.
If the ACC wants to get back to what it long was in men’s basketball, it’s time for the conference to go back to its roots. Bring back the Big Four Classic, for one. Find a way for what’s left of the ACC’s core to play each other twice a year, home and a way. Foster those old rivalries among the former Big East schools. Minimize the travel to the degree that’s even possible.
Make it all matter again. In recent years, the league’s emphasis has been on football at the expense of everything else. The conference has been desperate to enhance its standing in that one sport. Perhaps it’s understandable, to a degree. Meanwhile, the sport that made the ACC has fallen by the (Tobacco) roadside, neglected. Once, a long time ago now, the thought of the league sending only three teams to the NCAA tournament was incomprehensible, indeed.
Not anymore, though. The conference is twice as large as it was then, and not even half as good. It has attempted to shed its identity as a basketball-first league and, in a way, that effort has proven more successful than it ever seemed possible.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/18/acc-basketball-was-once-king-so-how-has-the-once-proud-conference-reached-such-a-low-2/

Friends, are you waking up to the subtle but noticeable taste of impending doom? Is the color orange triggering a thrumming between your ears? Are your gutters going uncleaned because you stay up late rereading the complete works of the French existentialists? Have you and your Sharpie been banned from Barnes & Noble because you were caught crossing out “Gulf of America” on maps?
You might be in a coup.

It’s a rare condition in North America. Now, though, it has made the leap across the Atlantic. But unlike France — which has both Napoleonic history and darkly muttering existentialists wandering the streets of Paris to remind everyone just how bad things can get — we Americans have no natural immunity. Sure, we may have spread the disease across half of South and Central America (Apologies, Chile. Mea culpa, Nicaragua.), but we haven’t had to deal with it here at home.
Also, coup symptoms may vary. This makes diagnosis difficult. For instance, are you screaming at the TV because of coup-related cable news headlines, or are you simply experiencing the much more treatable schizophrenic break with reality? And how can you tell the difference?
Let me help.
You might be in a coup if the head of the Department of Transportation says air safety was compromised the moment the ladies arrived and everyone started talking about flight decks instead of cockpits.
You might be in a coup if one of your Florida congressional representative, Anna Paulina Luna — still roaming the halls of power without an adult chaperone — announces she will reinvestigate JFK’s assassination by bringing in members of the Warren Commission. They are all dead.
You might be in a coup if cafés in British Columbia have started selling “Canadicano” coffee instead of “Americano” coffee.
You might be in a coup if the U.S. Senate phone system nearly buckled under the weight of 1,600 calls every 60 seconds instead of the usual 40 calls, and callers weren’t checking in to show their solidarity with the 19-year-old popcorn heir who goes by “Bigballs” online and is getting access to their IRS records as part of Elon Musk’s team of merry saboteurs.
You might be in a coup if the businessman American co-president who wants to build in other countries just made it legal for American businessmen who want to build in other countries to bribe those other countries. “It’s going to mean a lot more business for America,” Trump explained.
You might be in a coup if the acting head of the DOJ’s National Security Division is ousted after about four weeks because vibes.
I’m sorry. Would you like to take a break? I only ask because your eyes have started to bulge like Igor in “Young Frankenstein” and also, you’ve got that whole throbbing neck vein thing going on. (By the way, rewatching “Young Frankenstein” is a non-FDA approved treatment to relieve coup symptoms.)
Onward, then.
You might be in a coup — or, alternatively, a locked psych ward — if an actual congressman filed an actual bill to rename Greenland, an actual part of Denmark, “Red, White and Blueland.”
You might be in a coup if 20,000 Denmark citizens subsequently sign an online petition seeking the “Denmarkification” of California. The persuasive pitch includes allowing Danes to both rename Disneyland after Hans Christian Andersen and create an endless avocado toast buffet. Lego executives would lead negotiations.
You might be in a coup if the blue-stocking American Bar Association broke free of its prim restraints long enough to issue a statement to its membership saying, and I paraphrase here: “You’re in a coup, and you might want to support the rule of law.”
You might be in a coup if your president and Donald Trump went full Rumpelstiltskin when multiple lawyers and judges did just that, pausing multiple assaults on multiple rules of law in multiple agencies.
You might be in a coup if that makes you feel a little bit better.
Sadly, there is no immediate cure for coup.
But we’re working on it.
Until then, eat well. Get some sleep. Call a senator. Kiss a cat. Avoid French existentialists. And get that throbbing neck vein thing checked out.
Pat Beall is a Sun Sentinel columnist and editorial writer. Contact her at beall.news@gmail.com.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/18/the-coup-and-you-pat-beall/

The odds on Orlando area boys basketball to land three-fourths of the FHSAA Class 7A final four got even better Monday night when Sanford Seminole traveled up I-95 and scored a 59-56 win against Creekside, the top seed in Region 1.
That makes it certain the Region 1 champ will be either Seminole or Apopka, which will host the Seminoles in a Thursday night region final.
Another Greater Orlando matchup has Oak Ridge, the area’s top-ranked team for much of the year, playing for the Region 2 crown at Windermere, which is now No. 1 in the area and No. 2 in 7A behind Miami powerhouse Columbus.
Kissimmee Osceola can be the third large-class semifinalist if it wins a Thursday night home game against streaking Sarasota.
Three 6A teams — Evans, Edgewater and Lake Howell — also have reached the elite eight.
Windermere pulls away
TJ Drain missed three of his first four shots before he settled into his usual role and the Windermere defense ramped things up in the second half as the top-seeded Wolverines eventually rolled to a 60-41 victory vs. visiting St. Cloud.
Drain, a 6-foot-8 senior, led all scorers with 25 points and also pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked 3 shots. Andreas Smith added 16 points for Windermere (24-5).
St. Cloud (24-5) played the Wolverines to a tie in the first half but scored just 14 points after the break.
“I thought our defense was better in the second half and it helped that we started making some shots,” Windermere coach Mark Griseck said. “When you score, a lot of times it correlates to better defense.”
Alex Springs scored 14 points for St. Cloud, which beat Olympia last week for its first regional win since its 1965 team reached the state tournament.
By Chris Hays
Reece for Ridge
Senior guard Jalen Reece scored 31 points, 7 of those on one trip downcourt, to lead second-seeded Oak Ridge to a 91-65 homecourt win against No. 3 Wellington (22-5). Jamier Jones added 22 points for the Pioneers (17-9).
Oak Ridge broke a 24-24 tie on two free throws by Reece and a dunk by Jones. Treyvon Maddox dunked at the buzzer to give the Pioneers a 40-33 halftime lead. That grew to 61-48 when Reece hit a halfcourt shot to beat the buzzer ending the third period.
With five minutes to go, Reece made three free throws after being fouled beyond the arc, then two more after a technical was whistled on the Wellington player who fouled him. Oak Ridge inbounded the ball and Reece was fouled again and made two more freebies.
By Rick Staudt
Darters defense
Apopka defused Winter Park’s deliberate Princeton offense and scored a 50-39 homecourt win to avenge a season-opening loss to the Wildcats.
Jahi Bowden, a 6-1 senior guard, scored 14 of his game-high 17 points in the first half to stake the Blue Darters (21-7) to a 19-14 lead that swelled to 35-22 early in the fourth quarter after Rafael Betancourt made a 3-point shot and Jermichael Johnson added two treys.
The Wildcats (20-8) pulled to within 37-30 with 4:45 to go. But Johnson delivered a no-look pass against pressure to Jude Angervil for a layup that stretched the margin back to 42-31.
“I thought our commitment to do what we wanted defensively was really good,” Apopka coach Scott Williams said. “That’s a hard team to play against.”
By Buddy Collings
Kowboys rebound
Top-seeded Kissimmee Osceola made 13 of 15 free throws down the stretch to overcome a four-point deficit and defeat Tampa Plant, 75-66.
The Kowboys (25-3), winners of seven in a row, will be home Thursday to face Sarasota (27-2), winner of 17 in a row.
Osceola scored the first 13 points. But its offense stalled out and a 19-5 run gave Plant a 32-27 lead at halftime.
“We got off to a great start and frankly I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit and you simply can’t do that against a good team,” Osceola coach Steve Mason said. “We tied the game in the fourth period and during a timeout I told our kids we needed to lock them down and they did so.”
Jordan Mason, the coach’s son, came up with a couple of steals and six fourth-quarter points. He finished with 21 and Luke McCrimon scored 20 — including making 8 of 9 free throws in the closing minutes. Helio Quinlan added 17 points, 15 on 3-point shots.
By J. Daniel Pearson
6A winners
Top-seeded Evans dominated the first half and beat Bartow 73-50. Rahean Edmonds scored 18 points — all on 3-point shots — for the Trojans (23-6). David Rushing added a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Arosco “Trey” Dubois scored 19 points.
Evans will stay at home to host Edgewater (19-8) for the 6A Region 2 title. The Eagles overwhelmed Viera, 71-49.
Lake Howell (23-6) won 40-31 at home against Ocala Forest (22-6) in 6A-1. Isaac Buckley scored 19 points and Janiel De Los Santos had 12 points and 2 steals.
TMA turnaround
The Master’s Academy, trailing 31-22 at halftime, reversed the script in the second half and again held off The First Academy in a 50-48 home win in 2A. The Eagles (24-5) used a 21-2 second-half run to take control.
Senior guard Jack Kaley finished with 17 points, 15 on 3-point shots. Senior guard Josh Pitts added 14 points. Micah Taber, also a senior, sparked the Eagles with 9 points and some big defensive plays.
TFA (18-9) took a 31-22 halftime lead, riding high on the back of junior guard Max Simmons, who made five 3-pointers. He finished with 21 points.
“When you’re playing with seniors, they don’t want to play their last game,” TMA coach Reggie Kohn said. “Micah and Jack’s scoring burst at the end was a huge force. And seeing the basketball go in, it gives you a little bit of life on the offensive and defensive end.”
Master’s beat TFA 54-52 on a buzzer-beating shot by Pitts in a Feb. 7 district final.
By Chris Martucci
TC tops Highlanders
Tampa Catholic, playing on the road, pulled away from Lake Highland Prep in the second half and ended the Highlanders’ 12-game winning streak with an 82-64 victory in 3A. It was the 20th road game of the season for the Crusaders (21-9).
Juniors Michael Madueme and RJ Ingram each scored 21 points for the Lake Highland Prep (23-5).
By Jean Racine
Region results
Monday region semifinal games and Thursday final matchups:
7A Region 1
Seminole 59, Creekside 56
Apopka 50, Winter Park 36
Thursday’s final:
No. 5 Seminole (19-8) at No. 2 Apopka (21-7)
7A Region 2
Windermere 60, St. Cloud 41
Oak Ridge 91, Wellington 65
Thursday’s final:
No. 2 Oak Ridge (17-9) at No. 1 Windermere (24-5)
7A Region 3
Osceola 75, Plant 66
Sarasota 81, Plant City 66
Thursday’s final:
No. 2 Sarasota (27-2) at No. 1 Osceola (25-3)
6A Region 1
Lake Howell 42, Forest 31
Tocoi Creek 68, Milton 55
Thursday final:
No. 2 Lake Howell (23-6) at No. 1 Tocoi Creek (26-3)
6A Region 2
Evans 73 Bartow 50
Edgewater 71, Viera 49
Thursday final:
No. 2 Edgewater (20-8) at No. 1 Evans (23-6)
Class 5A Region 2
Leesburg 60, Wesley Chapel 54
Lecanto 48, Auburndale 43
Thursday final:
No. 2 Lecanto (26-3) at No. 1 Leesburg (16-7)
Class 4A Region 2
Eustis 67, Alachua Santa Fe 52
Atlantic 67, North Marion 46
Thursday final:
No. 2 Atlantic (22-7) at No. 1 Eustis (20-8)
Class 3A Region 2
Tampa Catholic 82, Lake Highland Prep 63
Villages 80, Discover 47
Thursday’s final:
No. 3 TC (21-9) at No. 1 Villages (24-5)
2A Region 1
Masters Academy 50, The First Academy 48
University Christian 46, Providence 35
Thursday’s final:
No. 2 Master’s (24-5) at No. 1 UC (21-8)
2A Region 2
John Carroll 65, Cornerstone 47
Santa Fe Catholic 68, Benjamin 24
Thursday’s final
No. 6 John Carroll (17-11) at No. 1 SFC (22-8)
1A Region 2
CFCA 65, Zephyrhills Christian 45
North Tampa Christian 85, Legacy 49
Thursday’s final:
No. 2 CFCA (21-8) at No. 1 NTC (23-6)
1A Region 3
Victory Christian 82, City of Life 61
Seacrest 64, Donahue Catholic 45
Thursday’s final
No. 2 Seacrest (17-8) at No. 1 Victory (23-6)
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/18/fhsaa-basketball-region-windermere-wolverines-osceola-kowboys-oak-ridge-sanford-seminole-apopka-evans-edgewater-masters-cfca-leesburg-eustis/

By JIMMY GOLEN
Associated Press
BOSTON — The first matchup between the United States and Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off left both sides — and most hockey fans, too — wanting more.
And that’s just what they’ll get.
The North Americans played their way into a rematch in the championship game, even with the United States losing 2-1 to Sweden in the round-robin finale on Monday. The U.S. team had already clinched a spot in the title game, and Canada earned its way there by beating Finland 5-3 earlier Monday to finish the group stage.
“It will be a hard fought battle. That’s what I would anticipate,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. “I feel like I get the best seat in the house, being behind the bench and being up close to it. To watch what these guys do on the ice at the pace that they’re able to do it, sometimes we just marvel at what goes on up there.”
Sweden rallied after falling behind just 35 seconds into the game to hand the Americans their first loss in the tournament that brought the game’s greatest players back to the international stage after sitting out the last two Olympics.
Canada watched its four-goal lead cut to one in the final minutes but pulled out a victory over Finland earlier Monday to grab the other spot in the title game. That clinched the rematch of the fight-filled round-robin matchup from Saturday.
“They’re gonna be extremely hungry. They don’t want to lose two to us,” American forward Dylan Larkin said. “I think there’ll be some nerves, but I hope it’s that level that it was in Montreal.”
Chris Kreider gave the Americans the lead in the opening minute on Monday night, but Gustav Nyquist tied it a dozen minutes later and Jesper Bratt gave Sweden the lead with less than a minute remaining in the first period. Samuel Ersson made 31 saves, shutting the U.S. down for the game’s last 59:25.
Officially, the nightcap meant nothing to either the Americans or Swedes: The U.S. had already clinched a spot in Thursday night’s championship game, and Sweden needed the Canadians to falter for a chance in the final.
“I don’t think there was too much of a shock,” U.S. forward Jack Hughes said. “They’re obviously a great team and I know they’re champing at the bit to get us again. We’re really excited that we get them, and that’s kind of what we were looking for.”
With some fans wearing powdered wigs and colonial-era tricorn hats, the Boston crowd bellowed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game — a response to the Canadians who booed the U.S. national anthem before the early matchups in Montreal. Chants of “U-S-A!” rang out through the TD Garden in the final minutes, with goalie Jake Oettinger pulled for an extra skater, but the Americans couldn’t beat Ersson to force overtime.
Instead, the Americans will regroup for the tournament final.
“The first game was such a great hockey game. And I think it’s great for hockey that there’s an opportunity for these two teams to meet again,” Sullivan said. “Obviously, both teams have star power all around the lineup. It was a very competitive hockey game, the first game. I would anticipate the next one will be every bit as competitive, if not more.”
The Americans faced Sweden a player down with Auston Matthews out, and then Brady Tkachuk left in the second period after colliding with Ersson in the crease. More disappointing for the Boston fans was Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy being scratched from the lineup.
Sullivan said the team had not moved to bring in roster reinforcements.
“We’re hoping to get some of these guys back,” he said.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/17/sweden-tops-u-s-2-1-in-4-nations-round-robin-the-americans-had-already-clinched-a-spot-in-final/

AUBURNDALE — It’s beginning to look like father, like son.
The Lake Mary girls soccer team advanced to the FHSAA Class 7A girls state championship game after a second-half rally sparked a 3-2 semifinal win over Palm Harbor University on Monday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.
“We just had to keep believing in ourselves, knowing how hard we worked,” Lake Mary coach Christian Eissele said. “We trusted the game plan and trusted the process.”
Lake Mary (18-3-2) will seek its fourth state championship when it squares off against Broward County power Cypress Bay (18-1-1) Friday at 1 p.m. for the 7A state title. The Lightning won their semifinal 1-0 against Jupiter (19-2-3).
Lake Mary won three state titles under Christian’s father, Bill Eissele, in 1989, 1998 and 2002. Bill resigned and handed the program over to Christian following the 2019-20 season as the third-winningest girls coach in U.S. history, producing a 660-215-72 record. He was in attendance watching his son’s team win Monday.
FHSAA state soccer: Lake Nona, Timber Creek rally to set Orange County championship
Lake Mary senior Lindsay Sheets produced the game-winning goal with 4:23 remaining.
“It’s a dream come true. I picture these things every night,” Sheets said. “It’s really amazing to be a part of this and I appreciate this opportunity. I am so blessed to be here. You just have to keep pushing and trust in your teammates.”
Trailing 2-1 midway through the second half, Lake Mary knotted the game 2-2 on a nifty goal by senior forward Anna Voigt, who slipped her foot past a defender and pointed the ball into the corner of the net just past the out-stretched hands of goalkeeper Keely Cash.
“I honestly can’t believe it. I’m speechless,” Voigt said. “It’s an amazing feeling and I really can’t describe it.”
It was Voigt’s second goal of the game. She opened the game’s scoring at the 29:55 mark of the first half to put Lake Mary up 1-0.
“Anna’s goals were unbelievable,” Christian Eissele said.
University (18-2-1) tied the game 1-1 on a goal by senior forward Erin Walker at the 7:27 mark and then headed to halftime with a 2-1 lead after a score by Ava Tutas with 2:56 left in the first half.
This game was a rematch from a 2019 state semifinal that was a 1-1 draw before the Hurricanes won in a penalty-kick shootout.
Lake Mary soccer coach Bill Eissele retires after 37 seasons, 660 wins
Orlando Sentinel varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/17/lake-mary-girls-reach-state-title-soccer-game/

AUBURNDALE — It’s beginning to look like father, like son.
The Lake Mary girls soccer team advanced to the FHSAA Class 7A girls state championship game after a second-half rally sparked a 3-2 semifinal win over Palm Harbor University on Monday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.
“We just had to keep believing in ourselves, knowing how hard we worked,” Lake Mary coach Christian Eissele said. “We trusted the game plan and trusted the process.”
Lake Mary (18-3-2) will seek its fourth state championship when it squares off against Broward County power Cypress Bay (18-1-1) Friday at 1 p.m. for the 7A state title. The Lightning won their semifinal 1-0 against Jupiter (19-2-3).
Lake Mary won three state titles under Christian’s father, Bill Eissele, in 1989, 1998 and 2002. Bill resigned and handed the program over to Christian following the 2019-20 season as the third-winningest girls coach in U.S. history, producing a 660-215-72 record. He was in attendance watching his son’s team win Monday.
FHSAA state soccer: Lake Nona, Timber Creek rally to set Orange County championship
Lake Mary senior Lindsay Sheets produced the game-winning goal with 4:23 remaining.
“It’s a dream come true. I picture these things every night,” Sheets said. “It’s really amazing to be a part of this and I appreciate this opportunity. I am so blessed to be here. You just have to keep pushing and trust in your teammates.”
Trailing 2-1 midway through the second half, Lake Mary knotted the game 2-2 on a nifty goal by senior forward Anna Voigt, who slipped her foot past a defender and pointed the ball into the corner of the net just past the out-stretched hands of goalkeeper Keely Cash.
“I honestly can’t believe it. I’m speechless,” Voigt said. “It’s an amazing feeling and I really can’t describe it.”
It was Voigt’s second goal of the game. She opened the game’s scoring at the 29:55 mark of the first half to put Lake Mary up 1-0.
“Anna’s goals were unbelievable,” Christian Eissele said.
University (18-2-1) tied the game 1-1 on a goal by senior forward Erin Walker at the 7:27 mark and then headed to halftime with a 2-1 lead after a score by Ava Tutas with 2:56 left in the first half.
This game was a rematch from a 2019 state semifinal that was a 1-1 draw before the Hurricanes won in a penalty-kick shootout.
Lake Mary soccer coach Bill Eissele retires after 37 seasons, 660 wins
Orlando Sentinel varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/17/lake-mary-girls-reach-state-title-soccer-game/

Here are scores and statistics from Monday’s high school sports events.
Boys Basketball
Region semifinals
7A REGION 1
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Creekside 75, No. 8 Lake Mary 53
No. 5 Seminole 52, No. 4 Orlando University 46
No. 2 Apopka 57, No. 7 Colonial 54
No. 3 Winter Park 46, No. 6 Lake Brantley 32
Monday:
No. 2 Apopka 50, No. 3 Winter Park 39
Buzz: Jahi Bowden had 14 of his game-high 17 points in the first half for the victorious Blue Darters (21-7) while Jermichael Johnson added 11 points. Max Waters had 16 points for the Wildcats (20-8) while Will Ryan added 11 points.
No. 5 Seminole 59, No. 1 Creekside 56
Thursday final: No. 5 Seminole (19-8) at No. 2 Apopka (21-7)
7A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Windermere 68, No. 8 Harmony 44
No. 5 St. Cloud 63, No. 4 Olympia 49
No. 2 Oak Ridge 77, No. 7 Centennial 70
No. 3 Wellington 85, No. 6 Fort Pierce Central 59
Monday:
No. 1 Windermere 60, No. 5 St. Cloud 41
No. 2 Oak Ridge 91, No. 3 Wellington 65
Thursday final: No. 2 Oak Ridge (17-9) at No. 1 Windermere (24-5)
7A REGION 3
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Osceola 102, No. 8 Sarasota Riverview 75
No. 5 Tampa Plant 57, No. 4 Newsome 53
No. 2 Sarasota 81, No. 7 Poinciana 58
No. 6 Plant City 72, No. 3 Lehigh 63
Monday:
No. 2 Sarasota 81, No. 6 Plant City 66
No. 1 Osceola 75, No. 5 Tampa Plant 66
Buzz: Jordan Mason had 22 points for the Kowboys (25-3) in the win while Helio Quinan had five 3-pointers on his way to 16 points.
Thursday final: No. 2 Sarasota (27-2) at No. 1 Osceola (25-3)
6A REGION 1
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Tocoi Creek 67, No. 8 Fletcher 54
No. 5 Milton 62, No. 4 Oviedo 59 (OT)
No. 2 Lake Howell 71, No. 7 Oakleaf 42
No. 3 Forest 67, No. 6 Crestview 57
Monday:
No. 1 Tocoi Creek 68, No. 5 Milton 55
No. 2 Lake Howell 42, No. 3 Forest 31
Buzz: Isaac Buckley had 19 points and 5 rebounds for the Silverhawks (23-6) in the win while Janiel De Los Santos added 12 points.
Thursday final: No. 2 Lake Howell (23-6) at No. 1 Tocoi Creek (26-3)
6A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Evans 65, No. 8 Gaither 27
No. 4 Bartow 71, No. 5 East River 62
No. 2 Edgewater 85, No. 7 Melbourne 44
No. 3 Viera 68, No. 6 Lake Minneola 54
Monday:
No. 1 Evans 73, No. 4 Bartow 50
Buzz: Rahean Edmonds had 18 points, including six 3-pointers, for the Trojans (23-6) in the win while Arosco Dubois had 19 points, and David Rushing added 17 points and 12 rebounds.
No. 2 Edgewater 71, No. 3 Viera 49
Thursday final: No. 2 Edgewater (20-8) at No. 1 Evans (23-6)
5A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Leesburg 70, No. 8 Fivay 47
No. 4 Wesley Chapel 72, No. 5 Vanguard 68
No. 2 Lecanto 64, No. 7 New Smyrna Beach 46
No. 3 Auburndale 65, No. 6 Gateway 63
Monday:
No. 2 Lecanto 48, No. 3 Auburndale 43
No. 1 Leesburg 60, No. 4 Wesley Chapel 54
Thursday final: No. 2 Lecanto (26-3) at No. 1 Leesburg (16-7)
4A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Eustis 54, No. 8 Bishop Moore 36
No. 4 Alachua Santa Fe 53, No. 5 Liberty 51
No. 2 Atlantic 64, No. 7 Tavares 52
No. 3 North Marion 60, No. 6 Rockledge 36
Monday:
No. 2 Atlantic 67, No. 3 North Marion 46
No. 1 Eustis 67, No. 4 Alachua Santa Fe 52
Thursday final: No. 2 Atlantic (22-7) at No. 1 Eustis (20-8)
3A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Villages 75, No. 8 Astronaut 23
No. 5 Discovery 79, No. 4 Clearwater Calvary 55
No. 2 Lake Highland Prep 55, No. 7 Berkeley Prep 38
No. 3 Tampa Catholic (19-9) 62, No. 6 Windermere Prep 57
Monday:
No. 3 Tampa Catholic 82, No. 2 Lake Highland Prep 64
Buzz: RJ Ingram had 21 points and 5 rebounds for the Highlanders (23-5) in the loss while Mikey Madueme added 20 points and 7 points.
No. 1 The Villages 80, No. 5 Discovery 47
Thursday final: No. 3 Tampa Catholic (21-9) at No. 1 The Villages (24-5)
2A REGION 1
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 University Christian 89, No. 8 Maclay 56
No. 4 Providence 49, No. 5 Bishop Snyder 41
No. 2 Master’s Academy 80, No. 7 P.K. Yonge 48
No. 3 The First Academy 67, No. 6 Faith Christian 43
Monday:
No. 2 Master’s Academy 50, No. 3 The First Academy 48
No. 1 University Christian 46, No. 4 Providence 35
Thursday final: No. 2 Master’s Academy (24-5) at No. 1 University Christian (21-8)
2A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Santa Fe Catholic 65, No. 8 Oxbridge 27
No. 5 Benjamin 57, No. 4 Holy Trinity 51
No. 7 Cornerstone Charter 69, No. 2 Foundation Academy 59
No. 6 John Carroll 56, No. 3 St. John Paul II 50
Monday:
No. 6 John Carroll 65, No. 7 Cornerstone Charter 47
No. 1 Santa Fe Catholic 68, No. 5 Benjamin 24
Thursday final: No. 6 John Carroll (17-11) at No. 1 Santa Fe Catholic (21-8)
1A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 North Tampa Christian 74, No. 8 Florida Prep 33
No. 4 Legacy Charter 64, No. 5 Mount Dora Christian 59
No. 7 Orlando Christian Prep (9-15) at No. 2 CFCA (19-8)
No. 3 Zephyrhills Christian 63, No. 6 Altamonte Springs 49
Monday:
No. 1 North Tampa Christian 85, No. 4 Legacy Charter 49
No. 2 CFCA 65, No. 3 Zephyrhills Christian 45
Thursday final: No. 2 CFCA (21-8) at No. 1 North Tampa Christian (23-6)
1A REGION 3
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Victory Christian 75, No. 8 Cambridge 23
No. 4 City of Life Christian 73, No. 5 Gulf Coast HEAT 57
No. 2 Seacrest 56, No. 7 Sarasota Christian 48
No. 3 Donahue Catholic 52, No. 6 Brandon Academy 43
Monday:
No. 1 Victory Christian 82, No. 4 City of Life Christian 61
No. 2 Seacrest 65, No. 3 Donahue Catholic 45
Thursday final: No. 2 Seacrest (17-8) at No. 1 Victory Christian (23-6)
Girls Basketball
Regional semifinals
7A REGION 1
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Ocoee 43, No. 8 Lake Mary 39
No. 4 Spruce Creek 58, No. 5 Seminole 48
No. 2 Timber Creek 59, No. 7 DeLand 49
No. 3 West Port 46, No. 6 Creekside 40
Tuesday:
No. 3 West Port (17-8) at No. 2 Timber Creek (24-4)
No. 4 Spruce Creek (15-13) at No. 1 Ocoee (23-3)
7A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Dr. Phillips 81, No. 8 Fort Pierce Central 27
No. 5 Palm Beach Lakes 39, No. 4 Palm Beach Gardens 34
No. 6 St. Cloud 65, No. 3 Oak Ridge 62
No. 2 Centennial 57, No. 7 Jupiter 34
Tuesday:
No. 6 St. Cloud (19-8) at No. 2 Centennial (17-8)
No. 5 Palm Beach Lakes (14-8) at No. 1 Dr. Phillips (17-9)
6A REGION 1
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Tocoi Creek 68, No. 8 Winter Springs 34
No. 4 Lake Howell 76, No. 5 Forest 56
No. 2 Niceville 46, No. 7 Milton 28
No. 3 Bartram Trail 46, No. 6 Nease 39
Tuesday:
No. 3 Bartram Trail (17-8) at No. 2 Niceville (19-6)
No. 4 Lake Howell (22-6) at No. 1 Tocoi Creek (17-7)
6A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 2 Horizon 76, No. 7 Armwood 50
No. 3 Edgewater 76, No. 6 East River 27
No. 1 Bloomingdale 66, No. 8 Viera 23
No. 4 Bayside 52, No. 5 Heritage 49
Tuesday:
No. 4 Bayside (20-7) at No. 1 Bloomingdale (21-5)
No. 3 Edgewater (17-8) at No. 2 Horizon (18-8)
5A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 New Smyrna Beach 66, No. 8 Jones 20
No. 4 River Ridge 39, No. 5 Springstead 25
No. 2 Leesburg 78, No. 7 Wesley Chapel 54
No. 6 Lake Wales 55, No. 3 Kissimmee Gateway 52
Tuesday:
No. 6 Lake Wales (16-8) at No. 2 Leesburg (12-9)
No. 4 River Ridge (20-8) at No. 1 New Smyrna Beach (23-5)
4A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 5 Lake Region 57, No. 4 Eustis 54
No. 1 Palm Bay 81, North Marion 22
No. 2 Bishop Moore 70, No. 7 Dunnellon 22
No. 3 Mulberry 57, No. 6 Eastside 49
Tuesday:
No. 3 Mulberry (18-2) at No. 2 Bishop Moore (12-13)
No. 5 Lake Region (8-8) at No. 1 Palm Bay (21-7)
3A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 4 Lake Highland Prep 48, No. 5 Lakewood 45
No. 2 Windermere Prep 54, No. 7 Clearwater Calvary 40
No. 1 Cardinal Mooney 67, No. 8 Cocoa 48
No. 3 The Villages Charter 54, No. 6 Tampa Catholic 50
Tuesday:
No. 3 The Villages Charter (23-5) at No. 2 Windermere Prep (20-7)
No. 4 Lake Highland Prep (14-12) at No. 1 Cardinal Mooney (20-9)
2A REGION 1
Quarterfinals:
No. 2 The First Academy 55, No. 7 Master’s Academy 11
No. 4 Ocala Trinity 55, No. 5 Bishop Snyder 38
No. 1 Providence School 65, No. 8 Oak Hall 11
No. 3 San Jose Prep 67, Rocky Bayou Christian 27
Tuesday:
No. 3 San Jose Prep (14-9) at No. 2 The First Academy (23-4)
No. 4 Ocala Trinity (18-9) at No. 1 Providence School (21-6)
2A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 5 Foundation Academy 33, No. 4 Edgewood 26
No. 3 Lakeland Christian 64, No. 6 Cornerstone 43
No. 1 Holy Trinity Episcopal 84, No. 8 Jupiter Christian 12
No. 2 John Carroll Catholic 38, No. 7 Oxbridge Academy 26
Tuesday:
No. 5 Foundation Academy (12-10) at No. 1 Holy Trinity Episcopal (20-6)
No. 3 Lakeland Christian (20-5) at No. 2 John Carroll Catholic (17-4)
1A REGION 2
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 CFCA 59, No. 8 Ormond Calvary 13
No. 2 Mount Dora Christian 56, No. 7 St. Edward’s 30
No. 3 Altamonte Christian 72, No. 6 Merritt Island Christian 32
No. 4 North Tampa Christian 49, Morningside Academy 36
Tuesday:
No. 4 North Tampa Christian (17-9) at No. 1 CFCA (19-8)
No. 3 Altamonte Christian (18-8) at No. 2 Mount Dora Christian (17-9)
Boys Soccer
FHSAA Tournament
CLASS 7A
Monday semifinals:
No. 1 Lake Nona 3, No. 4 Doral Academy 3 (LN won 4-2 in PKs)
Buzz: Moe Silva had 2 goals for the Lions (16-1-4) in the win while Arthur Maranhao had their other goal, and Murillo had 9 saves at keeper.
No. 3 Timber Creek 4, No. 2 Palm Harbor University 3
Buzz: The Wolves scored 3 goals in a 17-minute span of the second half to overcome a 3-1 deficit. Preston Williams, Grayson Wright, Hugo Stallone and Adam Shalaby had the goals for Timber Creek (17-3-1) while Mason Chubb had 10 saves at keeper.
Friday final: No. 1 Lake Nona (16-1-4) vs. No. 3 Timber Creek (17-3-1), 10 a.m.
CLASS 6A
Thursday semifinals:
No. 3 Olympic Heights (19-2-1) vs. No. 2 Mitchell (20-2-2), 10 a.m.
No. 4 Oviedo (15-3-3) vs. No. 1 Mandarin (18-0-2), 1 p.m.
CLASS 5A
Wednesday semifinals:
No. 3. Pembroke Pines Charter (18-0-2) vs. No. 2 Jesuit (19-2-1), 10 a.m.
No. 4 River Ridge (14-7-2) vs. No. 2 Arnold (17-1-4), 1 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Tuesday semifinals:
No. 3 Mater Lakes (22-1-1) vs. No. 3 Bishop Moore (24-3-2), 10 a.m.
No. 4 Fort Walton Beach (14-6-1) vs. No. 1 Barron Collier (18-2), 1 p.m.
Friday final, 4 p.m.
CLASS 3A REGION 2
Wednesday final:
No. 3 Calvary Christian (17-4) at No. 1 Lake Highland Prep, 7
CLASS 2A REGION 2
Wednesday final:
No. 2 Benjamin at No. 1 Holy Trinity Episcopal (17-0-1), 7
CLASS 1A REGION 2
Wednesday final:
No. 3 Cambridge Christian (17-5-2) at No. 1 Pine School (15-1), 7
Girls Soccer
FHSAA Tournament
CLASS 7A
Monday semifinals:
No. 3 Lake Mary 3, No. 2 Palm Harbor University 2
Buzz: Anna Voigt had 2 goals for the Rams (18-3-2) in the win while Lindsay Sheets had the other goals, and Laura Walker had 9 saves at keeper.
No. 1 Cypress Bay 1, No. 4 Jupiter 0
Friday final: No. 3 Lake Mary (18-3-2) vs. No. 1 Cypress Bay (18-1-1), 1 p.m.
CLASS 6A
Thursday semifinals:
No. 3 Sunlake (17-1-1) vs. No. 2 Bartram Trail (16-1-4), 4 p.m.
No. 4 Lakewood Ranch (15-4-2) vs. No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas (18-1-3), 7 p.m.
CLASS 5A
Wednesday semifinals:
No. 3 North Fort Myers (21-2) vs. No. 2 Ponte Vedra (15-3-2), 4 p.m.
No. 4 Cypress Creek/Wesley Chapel (15-4) vs. No. 1 Lourdes Academy (15-1-2), 7 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Tuesday semifinals:
No. 3 Bishop Moore (13-6-2) vs. No. 2 Bishop Kenny (16-2-2), 4 p.m.
No. 4 Lemon Bay (18-4-2) vs. No. 1 Plantation American Heritage (17-1), 7 p.m.
Friday final, 7 p.m.
3A REGION 2
Wednesday final:
No. 2 Lake Highland Prep (13-2-1) at No. 1 Montverde Academy (19-1), 7
2A REGION 2
Wednesday final:
No. 3 Benjamin (8-5-3) at No. 1 King’s Academy (15-3-4), 7
1A REGION 2
Wednesday final:
No. 3 Victory Christian (16-5-1) at No. 1 The Pine School, 7
Baseball
Evans 26, CFCA 11
Buzz: Zachary Reinert was 3-for-3 with 5 RBIs for the Trojans (1-1) in the win while Kailand Walker had a triple, double, 4 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Casey Nipper and Elijah Brenyo each had 3 RBIs for CFCA.
Circle Christian 19, Altamonte Christian 9
Buzz: Grant Lion went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs for the Centurions (2-2) in the win while Cayden Cook had a triple and 2 RBIs. DJ Williams and Carson Gore also had 2 RBIs each.
Geneva School 22, Holy Cross Lutheran 0
Buzz: Wyatt Stokes was 2-for-4 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBIs for the Knights (2-1) while Tyson Hilliard also had 3 RBIs, and Trenton Johnson added a triple and 3 runs scored.
Legacy Charter 8, Wekiva 6
Buzz: Jake Threadgill had a base hit, 2 runs scored and 4 RBIs for Legacy (2-1) while Tyler Strycharz went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Brady Reinert was 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs for the Mustangs (1-3) in the loss.
St. Cloud 11, Tohopekaliga 0
Buzz: Aiden Pegauro was 3-for-3 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored and 5 RBIs for the Bulldogs (3-1) while Nathan Blanco had 2 doubles and 2 RBIs, and Sean Gallagher had 5 strikeouts in 4 innings pitched to notch the win.
Other scores:
Calvary Chapel Academy 2, City of Life Christian 0
Softball
Ridge Community 12, Celebration 10
Buzz: Bella Bayona was 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI for the Storm (0-1) in the season-opening loss while Ariana Rosado and Briar Kraft each had a hit, run scored and an RBI. Violet McMahon added 3 walks and 2 runs scored.
Boys Lacrosse
Lake Mary 18, Windermere 3
Buzz: Max Masterson had 5 goals for the Rams (2-0) while Luke Shale and Chase Truesdell added 3 goals each. Asher Cohen had 2 goals for Windermere (3-1).
Other scores:
The First Academy 8, Buchholz 6
Girls Lacrosse
The First Academy 17, Celebration 6
Girls Flag Football
RGSA 16, Faith Christian 0
Boys Track & Field
WILDCAT OPEN
At Winter Park High School
Team scores:
1. Edgewater 194
2. Winter Park 177
3. West Orange 139
4. Oak Ridge 91
5. Poinciana 86
6. Orlando University 52
7. Deltona 42
8. Orangewood Christian 30
9. Lake Brantley 25
10. Legacy Charter 18
11. Dr. Phillips 8
Individual events:
60 – 1. Jordan Jackson (Winter Park) 7.18
100 – 1. Brian Dillard (West Orange) 11.14
300 – 1. Jason Gardner (Winter Park) 36.05
400 – 1. Treyce Cleveland (Edgewater) 52.84
600 – 1. Braylon Moyer (University) 1:25.45
1,200 – 1. Levi Lee (Poinciana) 3:07.55
1,500 – 1. Lee (Poinciana) 3:58.71
2,000 steeple – 1. Lee (Poinciana) 6:31.88
110 hurdles – 1. Octavious Lewis (Edgewater) 18.56
400 relay – 1. Winter Park (Diaz, Sutton, Jackson, Knight) 44.11
800 relay – 1. Winter Park (Diaz, Sutton, Gardner, Jackson) 1:30.55
1,600 relay – 1. Winter Park (Armstrong, Gardner, Knight, Sutton) 3:47.73
3,200 relay – 1. Winter Park (Finkelstein, Newsom, Stevens, Decoster) 8:56.93
400 jumpers relay – 1. Edgewater (Cleveland, Brown, Lewis, Cesaire) 46.40
400 throwers relay – 1. Edgewater (Marzolf, Edwards, Porter, Johnson) 47.51
High jump – 1. Tucker Crawley (West Orange) 6-1.50
Pole vault – 1. Ben Patterson (Winter Park) 11-6
Long jump – 1. Tyler Johnson (Poinciana) 21-1.25
Triple jump – 1. Johnson (Poinciana) 45-7.25
Shot put – 1. Wesley Hendry (Edgewater) 39-6
Discus – 1. David Gammichia (Orangewood) 108-6
Javelin – 1. Kenneth Johnson (Edgewater) 150-3
Girls Track & Field
WILDCAT OPEN
At Winter Park High School
Team scores:
1. Edgewater 214
2. Lake Brantley 168
3. Winter Park 109
4. Oak Ridge 62
T5. Poinciana 53
T5. Orangewood Christian 53
T7. Orlando University 51
T7. West Orange 51
9. Deltona 45
10. Legacy Charter 16
11. Dr. Phillips 10
Individual events:
60 – 1. Shania Joe (Deltona) 8.19
100 – 1. Ramiah Nwaogwugwu (Lake Brantley) 12.31
300 – 1. Destiny Castel (West Orange) 41.43
400 – 1. Joe (Deltona) 1:01.68
600 – 1. Pouchama Francois (Oak Ridge) 1:50.52
1,200 – 1. Nianah Williams (Oak Ridge) 4:18.17
1,500 – 1. Layla Fuller (Lake Brantley) 5:19.28
2,000 steeple – 1. Avery McDonald (Orangewood) 8:19.57
100 hurdles – 1. Ambrielle Demps (Lake Brantley) 17.38
400 relay – 1. Poinciana (Duncan, Archelus, Raymond, Calderon) 52.80
800 relay – 1. Lake Brantley 1:49.06
1,600 relay – 1. Lake Brantley (Nwaogwugwu, Ary, Oliver, White) 4:35.93
3,200 relay – 1. Edgewater (Bichanich, James, Sos, Wenrich) 10:53.89
400 jumpers relay – 1. Lake Brantley (Ary, Edwards, Demps, Bender) 51.83
400 throwers relay – 1. Lake Brantley (Breedlove, Williams, Richardson, Chaplin) 1:01.91
High jump – 1. Briana Walters (West Orange) 5-1.75
Pole vault – 1. Megan Harris (Dr. Phillips) 11-6
Long jump – 1. Milani Edwards (Lake Brantley) 15-8.25
Triple jump – 1. Alexa Bender (Lake Brantley) 34-7
Shot put – 1. Hailey Newton (Edgewater) 33-10.75
Discus – 1. Newton (Edgewater) 89-9
Javelin – 1. Newton (Edgewater) 100-5
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandoSentinel.com.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/17/fhsaa-high-school-scores-statistics-basketball-baseball-softball-soccer-lacrosse-tennis-water-polo-february-17/
