Thursday rewind: West Orange, Seminole, University top out-of-state visitors
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Orlando-area teams went 3-2 Thursday night in a five-game KSA Events series across the region. West Orange, Seminole and University all came out victorious against their out-of-state counterparts in regular-season openers.
West Orange, No. 9 in the Sentinel’s Preseason Super 16 Coaches Poll, won in dramatic fashion over Archbishop Hoban of Ohio 28-24. AJ Chung completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Yuto Kawamura-Johnson with 1:57 left in the game. Deandre Meredith sealed the victory with an interception with 19 seconds remaining.
Seminole’s offense finally got rolling and the defense tossed a second-half shutout after trailing at halftime, as the ‘Noles pulled away from state-ranked Mountain Vista of Colorado 28-17.
Orlando’s University High opened the season with a victory for only the third time since 2016 and the Cougars did it in impressive fashion, rolling up the points on Magnolia of California to win 47-7.
In the other two KSA games, Oak Ridge lost to South Elgin of Illinois 21-6 and East River lost to Heritage of Colorado 38-13.
DeLand starts No. 1 in Sentinel Super 16 football coaches poll; Jones second
No. 9 West Orange 28, Archbishop Hoban (Ohio) 24
Chung, a junior, showed poise in driving the Warriors downfield for the go-ahead score. The march started with a 10-yard sack of Chung, but then he regathered himself. After a pair of runs by Jayden Ammons to make up for the 10 yards, Chung unleashed the throw to Yawmura-Johnson, who juggled the ball at first, then pulled it in for the touchdown.
“It was really just having confidence in my teammates. The whole game we were playing from behind,” Chung said of the Warriors, who trailed 24-14 to start the fourth quarter. “Just being able to continue out there and trusting everybody and knowing and believing we were gonna go to score.”
Small-but-gifted running back Ammons (5-foot-8, 170 pounds) was the star for West Orange, running and catching the ball for a total of 157 yards (48 rushing, 109 receiving) and scoring two touchdowns. Ammons capped a 97-yard scoring drive with a 43-yard touchdown catch with 5:20 left to pull West Orange within 24-21.
“They weren’t guarding the flats and I knew every time they blitzed they weren’t picking up on the RB, so I told coach and we adjusted,” said Ammons, who caught 7 passes.
Meredith was in the right place at the right time to end the Hoban threat.
“I seen him run the wheel so I jumped it and caught the pick and tried to take it to the crib and that’s history,” Meredith said. “I was never worried. I believed in me and my brothers and we were gonna make the play to end the game.”
West Orange coach Geno Thompson said his team should not have been in the hole it found itself looking at in the fourth. The Warriors, usually a disciplined team, were flagged for 14 penalties for 85 yards. And a number of penalties were offsetting or declined.
“Let’s be honest. I’m a perfectionist. I’m excited for the win, but I focus on the fact that the game could’ve been out of hand in our favor very quickly,” Thompson said. “The mistakes that we made kept them in the game and we almost lost it because of it.
“I don’t wanna take away from the joy of what a gutsy win that was, being able to come back and deliver and execute and end with a pick. That was phenomenal team football, but we expect to be so much better.”
No. 11 Seminole 26, Mountain Vista (Colorado) 17
Seminole trailed 17-13 at halftime, but the ‘Noles came back strong to defeat the 2025 Colorado 5A finalist.
Running back Tyree Howard scored two touchdowns and the defense forced three turnovers to give the ‘Noles a short field on most of their possessions. Quarterback Daniel Proenza and running back/linebacker Jamarion Coleman also ran for touchdowns. Howard wound up with 9 carries for 100 yards and Seminole had 230 rushing yards as a team.
Proenza and quarterback Isaiah Taylor rotated for much of the contest. Proenza’s touchdown came after Seminole’s Jaylen Lowman forced a fumble on the opening kickoff.
“Jaylen Lowman, a heck of a player, came out, made a big play and set the tone for the rest of the game,” Seminole coach Karl Calhoun said.
Proenza completed 13-of-15 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown. He ran for 40. Taylor was 4-of-5 passing for 40 yards.
Coleman, a transfer from Lake Mary, had a big night, with 6 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble. Mason Willis had 2 sacks and three tackles for loss. Antrell Armstrong had 3 tackles for loss. Ethan Varnadore had a sack and a fumble recovery.
Proenza and Howard scored early in the game to give Seminole a 13-0 lead, but then Mountain Vista quarterback Marquise Reese got hot. He threw for 234 passing yards, including a 67-yard touchdown in that first half. Seminole stifled him in the second.
The Seminoles opened the second half with a 13-play 79-yard drive that Howard capped with a 7-yard touchdown run. The SHS defense forced two more turnovers in the second half.
Last week, the ‘Noles forced eight turnovers in their Kickoff Classic victory over Lake Nona.
University (Orlando) 47, Magnolia (California) 7
The Cougars, 16-83 in the previous 10 seasons, got a nice jump-start to the season for second-year coach Dave Carrington, who nearly lost his voice during the contest.
“We had a good night,” Carrington said. “We had a tough game last week against Gateway in the Kickoff Classic. But this week we were able to stop the run pretty well and we finally got the passing game going.”
Senior quarterback Cesar Ramirez threw 5 touchdown passes and was 9-of-15 for 150 yards. Aiden Rosario had 4 catches for 125 yards and 3 TDs. The other TD passes went to Quias Hafid and Flemang Dutheress.
Dutheress, Brandon Diaz, and Kenton Phillips had interceptions for the Cougars. Achilles Garcia had 7 tackles.
Chris Martucci contributed to his report. Chris Hays can be found on X.com@OS_ChrisHays.
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