Winter Park. That’s
it. When answering the question as to
how many OCPS schools in the Metro Conference, East or West, have ever won four
district titles in a row, Winter Park was the only answer. Not anymore.
Following an 18-6 victory in the district championship final against
rival Olympia, the West Orange Warriors now join the Wildcats as the only OCPS
schools to ever achieve four-peat status
.
It wasn't easy; because if it was, more schools would have
done it.
West Orange wasn't always the most dominant team in its
district. Following back-to-back
district titles in 2006 and 2007, the Warriors would go on to drop
four-straight title games. The first was
to Ocoee. The next three were to Apopka
by a combined total of five goals.
Then the 2012 squad stepped onto the field and emerged as
one of the most dominant teams in school history. Not only did the 2012 team set the foundation
for the Warriors’ historic title run, they laid waste to previous district
offenders; dismantling Apopka and Ocoee by a combined score of 42-1.
As other programs within the district struggled to keep pace
with the growth of West Orange, the Warriors rarely ran into difficulty in its
trek towards four-straight championships.
In 2015, the Warriors had their most difficult
regular-season district match-up on the road against East Ridge, holding on to
a 15-9 victory. Despite being the Warriors’
toughest competition, the Knights earned the no. 4 seed and faced WO in the
district semi-final. West Orange erased
any doubt from the regular season and sent East Ridge home for the season with
a 17-2 victory.
The championship game matched the Warriors up with rival
Olympia. The regular season game was a
heated affair that was a close, 9-6, contest heading into halftime. In second half the Warriors exploded for 17
goals, setting a new record with 26 goals scored in a game. Olympia committed 12 illegal hits to the head
against West Orange throughout the entirety of that game, amassing 17 minutes
of penalties.
Knowing the Titans were looking to avenge the regular season
loss, the Warriors were prepared for yet another tough match-up. However, West Orange was able to take control
of the game early and never allowed Olympia to mount any kind of run in the
first half, taking the wind out of the Titans’ title hopes. In the end, it was a decisive 18-6 victory
for the Warriors, and a historic four-straight district title.
No comments:
Post a Comment