Buffalo Roundup
A weekly update on all things athletics at The Villages High School in Florida. By the Buffalo, for the Buffalo.
Buffalo Roundup
Fall Sports Are Underway! | 8.26.26
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Cody and Drew summarize all the action as the 2026-2027 School Year is underway — a recap of the first Football game, Volleyball's busy start to the season, Swimming & Diving jumping into the deep end, and a quick-fire recap of our other Fall Sports.
Hello and welcome to the first edition of the Buffalo Roundup for the 2026-2027 school year. I'm Drew Shaultry, joined as always by Cody Hills, who's back with me. And Cody, dare I say we are better than ever. You'll notice we're switching to an audio-only format. We decided to spare the audience from having to look at us while you listen to us. We figured that'd be a little bit better for everyone involved.
SPEAKER_00Free of charge, too. Improvements without charge in this economy. How could you not be thrilled about it?
SPEAKER_01That's just what we're about here at the Villages High School and the Buffalo Roundup. So excited to be back, excited to get into the swing of things. We're going to release this episode on a Wednesday. We're going to be looking at Tuesdays most weeks, but uh for the most part, either Tuesday or Wednesday releases for the Buffalo Roundup for the foreseeable future for the duration of the 26-27 school year. We may come back to you in video form just for uh maybe a couple of special episodes, but uh for most of the time, this is how you're gonna be receiving us from here out.
SPEAKER_00Well, and to give a hint of how the sausage is made, right? We're just a little more conversational this way, I think. The pressure of not being on camera, uh, enjoy just speaking freely a little bit more, not worried about camera placement. Again, behind the scenes type stuff. I think it's just gonna be a better product, and we're all about a better product.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just easing up the production uh schedule as well, so we can try to deliver this to you a little bit more regularly. That is the goal. So we're gonna get into it in a minute. Fall sports are in full swing. Everybody jumped right in uh to start the first week of the FHSA A fall season. So we're gonna talk football, volleyball, cross country, everything that's going on in the fall. We'll give you the quick recap and kind of set the stage for you for the rest of the season. We'll get to that in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and while we have a minute, just to remind you that as you wait for each new edition of this Buffalo Roundup Podcast, the new and improved Buffalo Roundup, you can find all you need to know about the villages high school sports at any time on our athletics website. That's where we've got a digital home just for you, complete with scores, schedules, rosters, and other information, including ticketing and live stream broadcasts of Buffalo athletic programs, all right at your fingertips. Be sure to check us out online today at athletics.tvcs.org.
SPEAKER_01All right, it is the fall, so we got to start with football. They kicked off the season with a 31-14 win over the mighty Bulldogs of Zephyr Hills on Friday night. Cody, great final line, obviously 31-14. A little bit of a bumpy start in that one, but on the whole, pretty good start to the season for the Buffalo.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think on social media the post that went out said big plays in front of a big crowd for a big win. It was a really good night overall from the grand scheme of things, right, Drew? Uh we got decent weather. There was no weather delay. That was nice. A little delay in kickoff time because of the late arriving Bulldogs. Um, but other than that, uh I I thought it was just about everything you could hope for is in a season opener, especially if you take it back two weeks with the kickoff classic. Surely it wasn't the cleanest performance out of the Buffalo. There's stuff to build on coming out of that. And then you have the season opener where, you know, I had a chance to talk with with head coach Richard Pettis after the game, and he says as long as he's been doing this, it's sure of a heck a lot better to start 1-0 than it is 0-1. And so once you cross that box and check mark that, uh everything else is sort of gravy. Yes, there's a lot to improve on. Yes, there's a lot of ground to make up in specific areas of their game, and we'll get into those. But overall, just thrilled to get the victory, I think. It was good to have a nice big crowd here. There were some big plays made that got the people up out of their seats. And there's a lot of hype and excitement around this football team, right? Uh we've talked about it obviously off the Buffalo Roundup, but there's a lot of expectations around this program, and there's been a lot of like what's the word I want to use here? But uh a lot of touch and go waiting to get to the season. You're holding back that throttle, and now it's full go. Everything counts for real. Um, and to finally have the season here, it's really exciting, and especially with the expectations and with the big three-score win uh last Friday night. How could you not be excited about what's hopefully to come here at H.G. Moore Stadium?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely an enjoyable game, especially by the end of it. Just a couple of highlights from the stat sheets for you. Uh, outgained the Bulldogs 312 to 190 over the course of the night, 214 passing yards, 98 rushing yards. So nice balanced attack from the Buffalo. Uh Jay Kennedy went 14 of 22, 214 yards, four touchdown passes in the opener. Debo Clark uh caught seven of those passes for 109 yards and two scores, uh, and then four different players with sacks on the defensive side, and Jonathan Williams with an interception as well. So all-around performance from the Buffalo got it done in both of those two phases. The third phase was maybe where they struggle a little bit. Special teams, a bit of a of an issue early on here. And we kind of knew that coming in based on what we'd seen in the kickoff classic the week before.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it uh, you know, it is very much the third phase of the game, right? I mean, any that is the coach speak, you know, in in any any facet of football as it pertains to special teams, that it's sort of that often forgotten third phase. And, you know, I'm very adamant, and I think the coaching staff is too, you you can lose a game on special teams a lot quicker than you can necessarily win one. The mistakes can really pile up on you here, and and you can, you know, I think you're more likely in quicker succession to hurt yourselves on special teams. Thankfully for the Buffalo, it didn't, at least in the outcome, in the end outcome, really affect them. But yeah, what two missed PATs that had a third one blocked, you know, uh the return yardage wasn't wasn't that great. Special teams turnover as well. Yeah, special teams turnovers. Well, that's yeah, great point. Yeah, just not able to um, you know, really take advantage of that third phase. And and last year I thought that was a strength of the Buffalo, you know, especially with you know now departed senior uh Cavante Corbin uh at Samford. But you know, he was huge in the return game, but the unit as a whole was really solid. Um, and that's not to say that this unit's not going to turn things around, but we only have the smallest of small sample size to go off of. We got 48 minutes uh down this season for minutes that count. And it it wasn't a really a glowing endorsement for that third unit. I think there's a lot of room for improvement. I think we might see different personnel going forward on those units. Um, but overall, I definitely don't want to let it sour what we have to talk about about the game, but it is important, right? I mean, special teams, you know, you've got to get that stuff shored up or later in the year it's gonna cost you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I and the Buffalo absolutely have the athletes to make special teams an impact uh part of the game. Uh, just have to, you know, get the the group working as a whole, as a collective, uh, and kind of functioning a little bit better in that phase. So uh we'll entrust it to Richard Pettis. I'm sure that he, if he hasn't lost sleep over it, I'm sure that it has occupied a good portion of uh of his mind for the past few days uh while he's been marinating on that win. So uh I'm sure that will not go unaddressed uh over the coming weeks. Buffalo have some time to kind of work on that. An early buy week here, open week in week two. Uh sets them up to to prepare for a big game against Sout Lake, tough opponent coming up uh in their second game of the season on September 4th. Uh, but Sout Lake also going to be coming off of an early bye as well. So even matchup there in terms of the rest uh as they get ready for the Eagles.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that was a really fun game a year ago down in Groveland, a very physical ball game, um, and one that the Buffalo had to grind their way out uh of a victory, 37-26 um also on that first Friday of September a year ago. So that was a really good ball game. But yeah, I think there's a lot for VHS to build on, you know, especially you mentioned you know Jay Kennedy in the night he had you know, what, 200 straight attempts now consecutively without an interception going back to the 2024 season um and that playoff loss to Bradford. That's that's the last time he has thrown a pick in a game that has counted. So at the high school level, that's unheard of, right? I mean, having a quarterback, especially as much as the Buffalo like to throw the ball and like to remain balanced to go 200 consecutive attempts without an interception, and uh it's pretty impressive. I'm glad you highlighted Debo Clark. You know, Debo to me has been a ticking time bomb in terms of production, right? He had a really good year a year ago, early in the year. I think he had nine touchdowns, a good majority of them were within the first three or four games. Um, then of course, you know, tape gets around, word gets around, and and he starts to get scouted a little bit more. But on the whole, I think Debo Clark is is set to have a really huge season. I think this was just a glimpse of it. There's things that the offensive coaches and Richard Pettis can do, and we saw a little bit of it last Friday where you can get him open a little bit through the scheme of things. And then, you know, low and you hold when you do that, there's plenty of other options to go around that that also get opened up. You know, there's a lot of mouths to feed in this offense, but there's a lot of talented players too that will be ready for their opportunity. We didn't even mention Magic Kennedy, you know, a freshman, the younger brother of Jay Kennedy, hauling in the touchdown. Um, what a special moment for for that family and getting that opportunity. Um, there's a lot to be excited about for the offense and that defense too, they're stingy, aren't they?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I mean, only uh allowed less than 200 yards on the whole night against a quality Zephyr Hills team with some D1 talent uh uh on both sides of the ball. So uh for them to hold them to less than 200 total yards of offense. Um obviously a couple of a couple of big moments in in special teams that they surrendered. Again, we already emphasized how that's gonna be a point that that needs some addressing. But uh on the whole, you got to be happy with what you saw from the Buffalo early on. We're looking forward to seeing them again in two weeks. So uh should be exciting. Hopefully you'll you'll come out to watch that one. If you're not able to get out here, we will have it for you on TVCS Live, which is now on the NFHS network. If you want to sign up to watch every Buffalo home game, every on-campus event this fall, go to athletics.tvcs.org slash livestream for a full list of our upcoming live streams as well as instructions on how to sign up and support the Buffalo from the comfort of your own home. Again, TVCS Live now on the NFHS network. Moving on to volleyball, busy, busy start for Michelle Mormon's squad. Six matches in the first week. Incredibly busy start. Yeah. I mean, listen, we talked about how everybody kind of jumped right into the season last week being week one of the FHSAA fall season. Nobody jumped in more headlong than the VHS volleyball team. Again, six matches in seven days, a four and two start, so pretty positive overall, two losses to two very competitive teams, but ticking off the four wins in matches where uh they felt like they should, all four of those coming via three-zero sweep. So a really, really good start for the Buffalo.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the week started off really strong, protecting home court, right? The season opener last Monday against Vanguard and then back-to-back nights with Mountora coming to town. And then you had to take that show on the road up to Ocala this past weekend, playing three matches in two days, uh, really in three in about a 24-hour time span. Um, and I know Coach Mormon was pumped about the 3-0 victory over Forrest, getting that sweep. Um, thought maybe they gave away that five-set loss to Chiles. I mean, you looked at those scores in those sets, very competitive throughout uh until that fifth set. But yeah, there's a lot to be excited about them too. You know, of course, in the fall, football gets a lot of the headlines and the Friday night lights and the rah-rah-rah. But this volleyball team, to me, you know, you talk about a team that you better get excited about on campus. It's Michelle Mormon's Buffalo volleyball team. I mean, you talk about all the returning players they have back. You know, I think we counted a week ago, what, 10 10 players that were on the roster a year ago, a couple more that were at least in the JV program. I mean, there is a core that understands her expectations, understands her standards, and I and I think you saw a little bit of that with some of the victories in that first week, but I'm really excited to see how it matures and grows as the year goes on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is kind of the key, right, to building a sustainable program is having younger players coming up, and we're seeing it. We were talking last year about how the freshman team was better than a lot of the JV teams we were seeing. Those players are now playing JV, those JV players are playing varsity, and this roster is all of a sudden way deeper than we expected. Coming uh out of the spring and into the summer, you know, we were concerned about what the attack was going to look like up front. And all of a sudden, you know, Angelyn Hunt comes back from Trinity Catholic after spending her freshman year in Ocala. Sloan Childers comes into the program as well, but then you also get improvement from Ava Dariano and Alana Wilson, and then a couple of those JV collops, Alyssa Sellers, Haley Black have looked really good to start the year. And suddenly you've got this really deep rotation of frontline players where we were concerned a little while ago if Bailey Hunt's gonna be doing more setting, are they gonna be super dependent on Alexia Walls and Adeline Day, uh, or excuse me, Alexia Laws and Adeline Day to kind of carry the hitting and the blocking up front. Uh, but it seems like not only have they uh sort of addressed that in terms of how they're using different players, how they are allowing their setters to hit, because again, Bailey Hunt, Sharon Wechens, excellent hitters uh who are just kind of more focused on setting, uh, but also those players coming in and those younger players or previously younger players stepping up has really made this a potent frontline attack. And they're a lot to handle. We saw in those two home matches against Vanguard and against Mount Dora, there are no stretches where an opposing team can really say, okay, we got to take advantage right now because they don't have blockers, or we're gonna have an easier time setting up hits because they're not gonna be able to really penalize us. This is a team that can go all the way around their rotation now with quality hitters, whether it's Laws, whether it's either of the Hunt sisters, whether it's any of those other names that I mentioned, they are constantly putting teams under pressure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think the two the buzzwords for me, and it goes to your point, the versatility and the flexibility that that this team has, and I think that's what you're alluding to. Because you're right, you look at a Sharon Weichens or a Bailey Hunt, probably any other school, they're gonna go and play outside hitter and star in that role. So the fact that they're able to slot into these more so these setter dominant roles, it just speaks to the depth. And you know, we have seen we've seen, I feel like we've seen this coming, right? Like Michelle Moore, we've seen her build this program. Look, she's a three-time state champion coach, right? Three Pete, 08, 09, and 10 at the first academy, which lo and behold, I believe the first academy is the next opponent.
SPEAKER_01They're coming up on the schedule, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Come Thursday, so that's that's fun. Um, but I mean, you sort of felt this coming and and this sort of this uphill climb of okay, like she's building this program, the depth is coming, the talent's coming, just give it time. And what now in year four, I believe, of Michelle Mormon, um, three or four, you know, finally seeing the fruits of those labors and seeing the buy-in that this program has had, it's exciting. But yeah, just how versatile they are, to me, that's exciting. And you're right, there's never really a dull moment either for them competitively or even us watching or broadcasting. I mean, there is a threat for them, whether it's offensively, defensively, on the back line serving, at all times on the floor. There is no, as you said, there's no sigh of relief from any opponent or anybody who might be scouting this team. So there's a lot to get fired up about, especially, I mean, after that first week, again, there's a lot of victories in there. Stacking dubs early in the season, it's gonna go a long way towards hopefully a better ranking at the end of the year. And if you recall, they had that murderers row a year ago in that schedule, right? It was Mont Verde, West Orange, and Lake Valley Prep, I think, right? So through a real and this schedule, maybe it doesn't have three that are that difficult consecutively, but the schedule is not a cakewalk either. Um, so stacking up wins early in the season certainly is gonna benefit them. But talk about, you know, seeing football sort of come together and gel this volleyball team is gonna be really exciting to watch too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I don't want it to go uh undiscussed that the defense is also significantly improved from a year ago. One of the changes to volleyball at the high school level this year is allowing for two liberos in the same game. Uh, and so that allows Michelle Mormon a lot more flexibility with how she deploys Alexa Taylor and Anastasia Harding. What we did not see is Alexia Smith coming in as a third Libero, and she's already gotten some uh rotations in the alternate jersey. And then Jory Ponsford uh coming up from JV a year ago has been outstanding as a defender on the back line. And so that rotation, which is really where the team was lacking depth last year, has been extremely solid to start the year. And then Bella Bradley starting the year healthy as well, being able to be a contributor on that back line too. I mean, it they really do feel like the most complete team uh that we've seen, potentially the most talented, but certainly I think the deepest. I was looking through the roster earlier in those first two matches. Every single name on the roster, you can point to plays that they made in those opening two matches. So I think that this team is set up for uh a really good season. And then on top of this team taking a big step forward, they also get put in a better situation in terms of the classifications and districting restructure. They move out of Mont Verde's district, and Mont Verde moves into Lake Island preps. They're still in the same region, but the chances but having to go through Mont Verde to get that favorable regional seating to get a home bid for the opening round of the regional playoffs, you no longer have to worry about that. They're in a district with still some quality teams and a lot of familiar faces, but it's it's Lake Sumter and I believe Hernando County is kind of encompassed in this. But Crystal River, Danellin, Eustace, Hernando, Nature Coast, South Sumter, Umatilla, I don't want to speak out of term, but that's a winnable district for the villages. And that, you know, has not really been the case against Mont Verde. We've seen them be competitive with the that team before, but at no point would you ever consider them favorites to beat a Mont Verde team, even playing at home. And so now uh with Mont Verde kind of taken out of the picture, obviously uh one of these dominant preparatory academies out of the way for the district, you end up in a region where there's a chance that you can make it to a regional final or potentially make it through a region and only have to play Mont Verde or Lake Highland prep once. Uh, and then you know, if you get these Buffalo on the right day, it sees it seems like they can hang.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's fair game, I think, if you catch them on the right day. And especially I think this team is gonna get better as the year goes on. They're already a cohesive unit. The communication, you know, we talked about on that season opening broadcast of just how big the communication factor is gonna be for this team this year. But I mean, you know, this a program sort of feels like the perfect storm maybe coming together. Or I don't want to say that because that feels more it just happened by happenstance or circumstance, but because we talked about how well that Coach Mormon has built this program. But you talk about getting a powerhouse out of the district and out of your way there. It's a program that the last two years has won a regional quarterfinal, then been stuck in that regional semifinal, the most talented, at least on paper that we think, and certainly the deepest, at least from our estimation. I mean, there's a lot of things building in the right direction for this program to hopefully have one of its more memorable seasons.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's a culmination, right? This has been the build. This has been the goal is to get players that have been working with Michelle Mormon since they were in uh middle school in her program, since they were middle school freshman JV. And now we are seeing a full roster of players that she has worked with and developed, and it just so happens that they catch a break with that Mont Verde move in the same year. So um, you know, all positive signs for the Buffalo early on. Really looking forward to seeing uh how the rest of their season plays out. Their next game is gonna be at the First Academy on Thursday, August 27th, and then they will be back at home next Tuesday, the first, against Meadowbrooks. That'll be the next chance to see the Buffalo, and of course, again, we will have that match for you on TV CS Live. But very much looking forward to seeing this Buffalo team come home. It does feel we talked about it early on, like they are, and this is due to that chemistry that you talked about with the number of returning players. It feels like they are ahead of schedule. They are leaps and bounds beyond where they were at this point a year ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's exciting. And I mean, you know, we get to thankfully, Coach Mormon, you know, gives us time after our home broadcasts to come over and and break the match down with you. And she has what's the word here? She's still very focused, right? There's not a lot of rah-rah in her voice after victories, especially.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's still things to improve. We're not gonna sit here and pretend it's perfect, and we're glad that she's not either. But she's very much taking the approach of what's the next thing that we have to fix. Locked in. They are locked in, and that's exciting. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, moving on to swimming and diving. This is another coach that has been excited but very, very forward-focused about their team. Jackie Mitchell's swimming and diving programs, hot start to the season, uh, double duel match uh against Umatilla and Eustace, and the Buffalo getting big results against both of those opponents from Lake County in that one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was uh it's fun to see, right? And you know, I I went back and looked through. So the boys picking up a pair of victories, you know, 99-71 over Eustace, 140 to 10 over Umatilla. Uh, you know, the boys' team, 11-0 in head-to-head meets a year ago. You actually have to go back to the late 2023 season to find a head-to-head meet where they dropped the decision. I mean, we are talking we you know, on a streak of head-to-head victories, very impressive for this boys squad. And so I thought they looked really good, Aaron Nakoxe, uh the record of the 100 butterfly, you know, setting the school record first time out. And then Gideon Basden. Drew, I went back and looked. Gideon Basden's blazing here through the 200 freestyle. I'm looking back, who's Gideon Basden? Right, newcomer.
SPEAKER_01Newcomer.
SPEAKER_00What a way to make your debut at the VHS Aquatic Center. Setting the record, swam well in his other three events as well on the day. I mean, just You talk about a program that really churning it together. And coach, of course, Coach Jackie Mitchell, you know, second longest tenured coach here behind only Richard Pettis with football, has this thing already going in the right direction. Now, again, like you said, she's still guarded. Still, there's a lot of young faces. There's a lot of middle schoolers out competing for this program. There's a lot of first-year varsity swimmers for this program. That being said, though, if if last Thursday was any indication, they're going to have a really fun fall as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and we've been joking for about 11 months now that we're not going to let Jackie Mitchell downplay how good her teams are. They've just been too good. The program has gotten to a point where it's so consistent in developing new swimmers, getting the best out of its swimmers. And I'm just not going to let her tell me that they're not going to be successful this year. They're looking both teams for a third consecutive district championship this year. And based on what we saw in that early meet, the number of not just season best, but personal best times that they're setting in week number one has me convinced that they are going to be ready to go back to back to back this year on both the boys and the girls' side.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I mean, you know, they're aided by the facility, right? Obviously, getting the, you know, your home pool here, the VHS Aquatic Center, you know, has been an absolutely tremendous asset. She'll be the first one to tell you, but there's a heightened sense of stewardship with that as well. Nobody protects that pool and that aquatic center quite like Jackie Mitchell as well. And so, and her staff, Heather Tomadsian, we didn't even mention the diving program. You know, the divers off to a really solid start as well. Of course, they were the only ones scoring in the meet uh last Thursday, and that might be a trend. We'll see maybe throughout the years, not many programs in the area have it. But, you know, I thought Bella McDowell took leaps and bounds as well. Heather Tomatasian working with that program, you know, that's become fun to watch as well. And I shoot, Drew, I try to try to refresh my memory here. I think there were nine divers up on the board. Maybe only a couple had actually scoring dives, had accumulated enough dives to have their scores count. But there was a there was quite there were several divers up there just showing the growth of that program.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that that portion of the team is uh is definitely growing exponentially as now this is year three uh of diving for for the village's high school. So uh exciting to see that continue to grow. And again, just such an advantage when it comes to uh these regular season meets, but again, it's also what makes them contenders uh at the district and regional level. So uh really exciting to see how that program has continued to grow so far into its history. And uh they're gonna be back in action against Mount Dora on August 27th. That's this Thursday. Come on out, watch them at the BHS Aquatic Center. I'm telling you, these kids are so impressive in the pool, and it's a super fun, super, super fun game day environment. We had a huge crowd for the season opener this last week.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we did. It was a I think it's the most full the aquatic center has ever been. So that was exciting to see. And also, too, helping us out a little bit. That one's also gonna be a little bit later start, 6 p.m. start, 5 30 warm-up. So we avoid a little bit of that heat, but of course we do have the shade to grand station.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you talked you talked about having the pool being an advantage. I'm not sure how much of an advantage it's been this fall. Jackie Mitchell, just like so many of the other teams here uh in the early goings of the season, have not been able to practice because of heat and lightning advisories. Uh, and so they've been a little bit, if you ask her, behind the curve, and yet they come in with these kind of results early on. So very promising, but of course, working around the elements here in Florida as so many of these teams have had to do.
SPEAKER_00Hey, and while we have a moment, we'll tell you to make sure that you're following along with all of the action through our VHS Buffalo social media channels. You can check out our Facebook page. That's listed as VHS Buffalo Athletics. Our ex account can be found at Villages Buffalo, and of course, we share photos, videos, and whole a lot more on our Instagram at Villages Buffalo. And of course, hey, we've got YouTube as well at Villages Buffalo there as well. As always, we thank you for your support and your social media following of VHS Buffalo Athletics.
SPEAKER_01All right, just to touch on the rest of the sports that are kicking off their seasons. We've got a little bit less to go on with some of these, just very, very early going for these teams. But cross country had their home meet, their only one of the season this past weekend, so kicked off the season at home at Brown and Brown's farm in Oxford. Pretty dominant start. Not a whole lot of teams in the field for this one, but the Buffalo at the top of the leaderboy boards on both the boys' and girls' sides.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a great start for Jaclyn Bolin back and her and her first meet as head coach. You know, she's taken over this program after, you know, longtime head coach James JP Pro Bola steps down and credit tip of the, well, I guess it's cross country, so we're gonna do something corny here, tip of the shoes, I guess. I don't know. There's not really hats, but tip of the cap to uh James Probola for as much as he's sort of helped and and stick around or stuck around, excuse me, this program. But yeah, it was a good start for for Coach Bolin back in this um in this cross-country program, the boys um first place, girls first place, sweeping it. The boys uh led by uh Noah Fragula post the top time of 2001, um Christian Ducharme 2003, and then Deegan Rude at third, 2137. Uh Amy Tamassian, you know, finishing on top for the girls. So overall, just again, you mentioned it. Smaller field is originally was scheduled for just three teams. I believe only a pair showed up, um, full uh full two full squads. So um the overall results, okay. Yes, they're gonna be happy to take first place, but it's the times. I know Coach Bollenbach was pretty pleased with the times coming out of that. And just like swimming, you know, we talked about the personal bests and how those things are gonna really shave down as we go. Cross country is gonna be the same way. You know, this is a team that has been together really since the summer months, at least a good core of them. You know, Coach Bollenbach, you know, they've gone and done some training retreats together. They've worked on running on some terrain. Um, at Bronham Brown farm last week there or last Saturday in Oxford, not quite the terrain that they had trained for. They're training for a little bit something more um, a little more rugged, if you will, uh like they might see at Appalachi Regional Park for the state meet at the end of the year, or maybe Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Brooksville uh come the postseason as well. But overall, happy to get that first one out of the way. Happy to host that Buffalo invitational again and get the first victories for Coach Bowling back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And again, you talked about the times. Two of the boys being in the 20-minute range on the the first meet of the season, that's what you want. In order to, you know, really be contenders, you got to have your top two, potentially three runners be sub 20. You know, you're looking at uh for state championship, you've got to be in the 15s. But at this point to have a couple already at 20, and obviously, you know, you're not running outright for your fastest time every meet, right? I think that that's something that maybe people don't realize is that you are building towards your best time of the season. You probably will not, at least you're not gonna try to run your absolute best 5k until that last meet. You might try to do it once, but uh you've got to taper, you've got to build to it. Uh so much of it's gonna be shaving times, focusing on different parts of your 5k, uh different legs of it. Um, and so to have this as a starting point where you've got two runners just barely above 20 minutes is a really, really good starting point. And we're gonna see those times come down pretty quickly. But yeah, you want to get all five uh at 20 or under, and that's what's got gonna give you a good chance of making it to the state meet at the end of the year, which is always an objective for these cross-country teams. Moving on to bowling, uh, Joe Hornstein has maybe the biggest bowling squad ever, I think, in uh between the boys and the girls. He's got six uh mains for each team, and then he's got a reserve for both the boys and the girls, which has never been uh an option since he took over as the head coach of these teams. And uh they're off to a good start as well. Uh boys and girls both getting 3-0 sweeps over Umatilla, both Bulldog squads a little bit shorthanded, but when you're looking at the numbers, uh, especially on the boys' side, you're encouraged early on by what they're doing on the lanes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a couple of returning guys for them, right? Braden Lightbourne and Cash Carroll coming back, and there's a lot to be excited about there. And we've we've had a chance to chat with Coach Hornstein about it, not only about the numbers, but that returning experience and how valuable it is, at least to him, of these guys at least knowing what to do and knowing the process of getting up for a match and ready to go. And you know, those scores are very lopsided against Humatilla, especially on that boys' side. 878 to 360, 1004 to 384, a thousand series. I mean, you're pumped about that anytime you can pull that off, um, and then getting a 234 in the Baker game to complete the sweep. But what he was really excited about was doing it against an opponent that maybe they knew at least coming in on paper they were better than, right? And sometimes we see it all the time, especially in high school sports, that you play down to your opponent a little bit if you're feeling like, okay, maybe we should outmatch them. Or you knew coming in that Umatilla wasn't going to have a full complement of five bowlers uh step on the lane. So you knew you're gonna be at least be having a leg up from the start in terms of scoring. Um, but he he was very uh impressed with how they approached it, how they came out and did their thing, maybe a little bit of rust in that first match with the 878, but to come back with a thousand series, he was very excited about it. He got quite an ovation in the Buffalo Booster Club meeting uh last Thursday when he mentioned, you know, rolling uh or having his team combined for a thousand series and the 234 and the Baker. I think everyone realizes those are really good numbers. And it's really exciting. I think too, you know, it's a program that um speaking at least on the boys side, the girls' side have been good, right? We talked about, you know, in the past about you know being state runner-up uh just two years ago. They're they're just you know a handful of years removed from continually being state tournament powerhouses and being there and competing on the biggest stages. That boys side, no slight to the fellas, but sort of we're just kind of behind that a little bit, and whether it be because of participation numbers or just there wasn't a whole lot of excitement generated around them. Well, now it's here, and now they're playing and they're excited. Coach Hornstein's excited about it. So I think um it's a really fun time to follow the Buffalo bowling program. They're getting good crowds at Leesburg Lanes over there at AMF lanes in Leesburg, um, the district, a little bit of a different shake up there. Um, but but I think it all bodes well for the Buffalo. Um, with the experience, the path is gonna be a little bit more difficult to maybe get back to where they want to. But I think Coach Hornstein, as we've seen, you know, pretty boisterous a little bit about the prospects of that boys' team and that girls' team at least continuing to compete as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you mentioned the the district shakeup. District got a lot bigger this year. It used to just be the villages and a bunch of Lake County schools. Now you're bringing in teams from the Orlando area. I want to say there are 14 or 16 teams in the district now, which is a pretty big spike uh from what it has been for the last several years. That district's been very stable. There's not been a lot of shakeup, uh, but the FHSA condensing uh into much larger districts for bowling going forward. So that district championship or that district runner-up, which is the requirement for making it to the state meet, that becomes a lot harder, both on the individual and the team levels. But again, the boys, especially if they're putting up numbers like this, that 878 that they bowled in their first game is a little bit down. There's a couple things you can point to that you can say that's not gonna be the norm for those guys, willing to write that off as a bit of a fluke. That thousand series is gonna be almost essential now, I think, to get them in. Now they can get into uh the the knockout tournament, I think, no problem. I think that uh again, with the numbers that they're showing, they can be in that top four to make it to that baker tournament. And that baker number, that 234, that's the really important one. If this is a team that can consistently go 200 in Baker games, then I I don't think there's any way they don't make it out of the district. And once you get to the state level, if that's the level that you're bowling at, then you've got a shot against anybody because the whole format is it's the top X number of teams uh from the 10 pin sessions in the morning, just total pins across, I think it's five games or maybe four games. Um and then they take the top, I believe, 16 teams and uh and then it goes into a baker bracket. So if you're bowling 234, if you're consistently above 200, you can go toe-to-toe with anyone. It just means that you're within striking distance of whatever you've got. Um you know, it's not always the best bowling team uh that wins, but they do a really good job of weeding out the teams that cannot hang at that level. Uh and so basically, once you're in that top 16, though, uh everyone's got a punter's chance. Uh and so I think that it's super exciting that these boys uh are showing signs like this early. Again, if they can keep those Baker numbers up, they've really got a shot at doing something special this year. Uh and they're gonna be at home for their next one. They're gonna face Mount Dora on August 26th, uh, and then they'll be at Southlake on August 27th. So busy here to start the season. Most of the regular season games are gonna be against those standard opponents, the district opponents that we've seen for years and years and years. Uh, but I think that they'll be in pretty good shape by the time they uh get around to the district tournament. Moving on to golf, the boys have started the girls, supposed to be starting at Lakanto today. I don't know what the weather's like out there, but it's not too pleasant here. So uh if it's similar, they might not be getting that start. But uh boys started with an 18-hole match against Bishop Moore, took a loss in that one against the rival Hornets, but good measuring stick to start the year, Cody.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it wasn't. It's an it was an 18-hole match uh with with those visiting Hornets from the Orlando Metro. And so um that's a really good uh taste, if you will, of what it's gonna be like when the golf matters for real at the end of the season when you're district regional and hopefully a return trip to the state tournament. Obviously, it's two days of 18-hole action. But yeah, and overall, I think it's a good early barometer of where this team is at. You know, two big time returning players coming back, Landon Howell. He finished one stroke off the individual gold medalist uh against Bishop Moore. It was 67 here just last week in that opener. And then um also Aiden Scrock, excuse me, Aiden Scrocky had the 67, Landon Howe with a 73. So those are the two top returning players. After that, honestly, I I think that match uh last Tuesday against Bishop Moore, if nothing else, was just to see what Wade Morton, head coach, has left in the cupboard, right? Two guys you know returning that you can count on. But then after that, you know, Owen Grogan, AJ Sims, Brennan Hume, Ryan Marinaccio. I mean, you you don't really know what you have. Those are the other four that played alongside um your top two returning guys, but it was good to just get them into a match. Obviously, we know we try to slap it around a little bit out there. Playing 18 holes is a heck of a lot harder than nine holes, the grind that you've got to go through at this time of year?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we don't venture out much uh in the afternoon this time of year, and for good reason. But you know, that's that's a heck of a season opener to go from, and yes, they do practice matches and they've they've scrimmaged against one another and and tried to have practice rounds, but to go 18 holes and actual competitive stakes, that's a tough, tough deal. But I'm excited to see who emerges out of those first two. I think you've if you're the boys, you're Wade Martin, you feel really good about Aiden Scrocky, obviously a 67 in the first 18 holes. You feel good about Landon Howell just being, you know, what a shot over par or two over par over here at Shallow Creek, um, which is not an easy course to play by any means, especially this time of year. So um I think there's a lot to be excited about there. And that's, you know, again, that's a team that a year ago, you know, finished what 14th after two days of play at mission in the state tournament. So those two guys know what it takes to get back. Of course, Wade Martin knows what it takes. And then you touched on the girls side as well. Probably not going to get their season started today. We'll find out. But you know, there's a lot to be excited about there, too. Had new head coach Daniel Rowan taking over, a lifelong golfer, a lifelong guy in this area. Um there's there's golfers left in that cupboard too, as well. Kenzie Kasonic, you know, a year ago finishing uh 54th individually at the state tournament, and then also coming back, Sarah Lasdowski and and Daya Shoktawat. I mean, those are three players that finished in the top 70 of that state tournament a year ago. They finished tied for 13th. You know, that schedule's a little bit more condensed. I believe they just play four opponents. They're more so going to be focusing on their own game. Only four opponents throughout the year, making up about 10 or 12 matches. But I think between now and the uh the Buffalo Invitational that'll be coming later this uh later or next month, excuse me, at Glenview Champions up on the uh the northern end of the villages. That'll be another 18-hole event. What sort of growth can they make between now and September 12th on that Saturday? And and really, again, between now and then, what what leaps can they make in an 18-hole play? I think there's gonna be a lot for both squads, and both coaches are gonna find out a lot more about their teams.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely a lot of room for growth. So looking forward to seeing how both Coach Rowan and Coach Martin develop those teams over the course of the fall because it seems like every single year in recent history, both the boys and the girls, when it comes to the Buffalo are getting really competitive when we get to district regional and state time here in Florida. That's everything. That's all the sports. I feel like we've talked at you enough uh uh for one week, but uh again, really exciting fall here at the villages. This is uh shaping up to be a really, really fun season. If you were a fan of the Buffalo, all of these sports have been putting in incredible amounts of work here to get ready for this fall season. We've seen it uh firsthand and are really looking forward to watching these teams continue to grow. We'll have another episode of the Buffalo Roundup for you next week. We're gonna try to play with the format a little bit, bring you some uh some more interesting insights as we go along. But we appreciate you being with us and we're excited to be back here from the villages high school. Cody, any last thoughts before we go?
SPEAKER_00Go Buffalo, baby.
SPEAKER_01That's it. Till next time, go Buffalo