Oviedo Lions roar past Lyman football for 3M-D2 championship

OVIEDO, Fla. – It didn’t take long for Coach Greg Odierno to build a championship football team at Oviedo High. Just two years into his tenure, he and the Lions have roared to a district championship.

Jackson LaTour passed for 232 yards and a career-best four touchdowns, Jacob Thelen caught two TD passes and DJ Scott rushed for 48 yards and two scores to lead Oviedo to a big, 43-13, Class 3M, District 2 victory against visiting Lyman on a cool and blustery Senior Night at John Courier Field.

In winning their fifth consecutive game, the Lions ran their overall record to 7-1 and district record to 3-0, clinching the championship with a full district game to play.

Lyman (6-3, 3-1), which played without its two best players – quarterback William Burke, who suffered a concussion last week, and sophomore running back Julian Prime, who has a broken foot – will need some help now to make the playoffs as an at-large team.

“I’m just so proud,” Odierno said. “I’m proud of my boys. I’m proud of the commitment they’ve made ever since I took over the program. Proud of my coaches. We ask a lot of them. For them to get a reward like this is very sweet.”

It didn’t take long for Oviedo to show it has the stuff of champions. Senior Noah Keller, who has been one of the Lions’ top defensive players all season long, intercepted a pass from backup quarterback Davion Jones to stop Lyman’s first drive at the Oviedo 37-yard line. It was one of many great plays by a Lions’ defense that forced six punts and held the Greyhounds to just 200 total yards, including just 76 rushing.

After the teams exchanged punts, Oviedo went on to score on its next four possessions to take a 29-7 halftime lead. LaTour threw a 9-yard TD pass to Thelen with 23.6 seconds left in the first quarter, and then Scott scored on TD runs of 6 and 7 yards to give the Lions a 22-0 lead. Omari Muhammad-Wyatt ran in a two-point conversion after Thelen’s score.

Lyman then mounted an impressive 12-play, 70-yard drive capped by a 13-yard TD pass from Jones to Elijah Miller with 3:42 left in the first half.

But Oviedo quickly squashed any momentum that Lyman had when it drove 72 yards in five plays for another score: a 17-yard pass from LaTour to Marquet Williams with 1:30 left in the second quarter.

Two of the Lions’ scores were set up by poor punts by Lyman that gave Oviedo the short field at the 30- and 25-yard lines.

LaTour then connected with Thelen again on a nifty 55-yard catch-and-run, with the star wide receiver splitting and outracing the secondary nearly 40 yards to the end zone.

“I’m super excited, never had (a title) before,” Thelen said. “It was the focus in practice. We were locked in. We had everything going with us.”

Lyman got on the scoreboard once more in the fourth quarter when Cameron Bennett ran 15 yards around right end for a TD.

Oviedo then capped the scoring with 5:42 remaining when LaTour connected with Muhammed-Wyatt on a 27-yard catch-and-run that started off in the right flat and then ended up on the left sidelines heading into the end zone.

“I feel great,” said LaTour. “I’m still a junior. I’m so happy. It’s my first district championship. I could not do it without my O-line at all. All glory to them, my receivers, and everybody who helped me along as well. All glory to God. That’s it.”

Statistically for the Lions, Thelen finished with four catches for 108 yards; Ryan Monroe, three receptions for 47 yards; and Muhammad-Wyatt, 54 yards rushing.

Jones threw for more than 100 yards for Lyman. Bennett finished with 35 yards rushing.

“Oviedo, they did their job,” Lyman coach Jermel Jones said. “They came out and played solid football. We had some chances and we just didn’t capitalize on the chances that we had. And the chances they had, they capitalized. And when you capitalize in football, that helps you win games.

“(Oviedo) having a lot of seniors also helps, a team being seasoned and being ready for the moment,” Jones said. “We’re a little young.”