Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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There’s simply no substitute for a hometown newspaper – except a hometown news website – and I’m thrilled to learn that we now have one! I literally grew up with the hometown newspaper – two of them, actually. Late every afternoon when I was a kid growing up in Ridge Manor, I looked forward to seeing the paperboy ride by on his bike. The pages were smaller than the big-city papers and after being rolled tight (and rubber-banded even tighter) it could be thrown a long way...
With 10 players out with the flu the week of their Regional Final against Tampa Jesuit including star quarterback, Eric Williams, the Lake Wales Highlanders gave it their best effort against all odds. In a sport where injuries cause coaches to get creative illness isn't often a factor as it was in last Friday's game. Incidentally, it just happened to be the most important game of the season. In a lopsided Class 5A High School final the formerly undefeated Highlanders finally...
And then there were eight. Of the eight teams remaining with the prospect of being crowned the FHSAA 5A State High School Football champion our own Lake Wales team is very much in the hunt. Next up at 7:30 p.m. Friday night at home are the Tampa Jesuit Tigers, 10-2, opposing the undefeated Highlanders in a 5A regional final. Lake Wales is 12-0 after running over Port Orange Atlantic, ending the Sharks season last Friday in front of a boisterous partisan, standing room only,...
Stephen Cornelius recognizes that the proud tradition of the Lake Wales Marching Highlanders is still embedded deeply in the community. He understands what he faces as the new band director for Lake Wales High School, and says he's ready for the challenge. Reflecting on his new position, Cornelius wrote: "It was Theodore Roosevelt that said 'far better it is to dare mighty things...even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy...
Lake Wales High School's boys baseball team can take it to the bank that closing out Spring 2019 with a won-loss record of 21-7 reflects a season well done. Imagine. Three quarters of the time spent playing, the Highlanders were on top, and only a quarter of the games found them on the losing end. That made for a successful run that took them deep into the FHSAA playoffs, losing only in the Regional finals. Except for a one run difference on the scoreboard both Lake Wales and...
Our Lake Wales Highlander baseball team, 21-6, is riding a 15-game winning streak into an FHSAA Regional Semifinal test against the Dunedin Falcons this weekend after besting the Boca Ciega Pirates Wednesday afternoon, 7-3. The playoff game will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 18 at Highlander Hill. Lake Wales Coach Don Bridges and his seasoned staff have been steadily on course this spring honing their players offense, defense and pitching to bring the team on an ascending traject...
Three former professional athletes, a coach who won two state titles, and one of the program's most ardent supporters make up the inaugural class for the newly-created Highlander Hall of Fame. Pro football players Lorenzo Hampton and Buford Long, along with pro baseball player Pat Borders, softball coach Nancy Denton, and "The Voice of the Highlanders" Richard "Dick" Howell will be inducted May 4 during a dinner ceremony at Lake Wales Country Club. "The Highlander Booster...
Often it is momentum that dictates success and when, in the top of the first Highlander center fielder Ben Gilbert made a diving catch off a Bloodhound line drive, it set the stage for the rest of the contest. To add insult to injury #9 Gilbert hit a single in left center and came in to score when eventual Player of the Game #2 Abdiel Flores nailed a pitch over the fence for a homer in virtually the same location as Gilbert's hit and his amazing catch. Flores followed up with...
On a beautiful Tuesday evening in Eagle Lake the Highlanders baseball team took on the Thunder of Lake Region. The game was decided heavily in the first inning with a six-run explosion by the Highlanders. They added two more runs in the top of the second to take a quick 8 to 0 lead. At this point Starting PItcher Blake Bradley had a no-hitter through two innings. During the third inning the Highlanders tacked on two more runs, one which was aided by an incredible bunt by...
Lake Wales Highlanders Varsity baseball took a turn for the better Monday night at Highlander Hill after splitting two games last Thursday and Friday with rival non-conference foe Bartow Yellow Jackets. Monday night's contest results were welcome news to Coach Don Bridges and his hard working Assistant Coaches Steven Wilmoth, Lorenzo Parker, Mike Gerlosky and Levi Borders managing a tricky game with two similar strength teams and Lake Wales needing to avenge an earlier loss...
Our Highlander boys varsity basketball are now idle after a loss Friday night March 1 to home team Lakewood Spartans in the FHSAA Regional Final in St. Pete. But the Lake Wales team and its supporters should be proud of their stellar, break out season nonetheless under the direction of Coach Don Grant, Assistant Head Coach Anthony Jones and Assistant Coaches J. R. Grant, Norman Jackson and Marcus Walker. Although falling one game short of entering the Final Four to participate...
In the final seconds of a hard fought Regional semifinal with the season on the line Lake Wales freshman Donald Gatlin took matters into his own hands sinking a 2-point shot with two seconds remaining, and the defense shut down the Tampa Jesuit Tigers to lead the Highlanders to victory, 45-44, at home. Lake Wales will face off with the 25-3 Lakewood High Spartans in the Regional State Championship Final in St. Petersburg. Lake Wales is 22-7. When asked what factor contributed...
The Lake Wales High School varsity basketball team won the District 10 championship Saturday, Feb. 16 with a 46-44 win over Sarasota Booker that went down to the last four seconds. They now move on to the first Class 6A state championship playoff game against Tampa Robinson at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 in their home gym, 1 Highlander Way. Coached by Don Grant, the Highlanders went 20-7 for the season, 6-2 in the district. According to MAXPREPS, Tampa Robinson was 13-11 for the...
In only their second season and under the steady hand of Coach Stacey Butcher the Lake Wales High School Boys Varsity Lacrosse team crossed a milestone under the Legion Field lights and a full moon by beating a similarly matched but seasoned Lakeland Christian in their season opener Tuesday, Feb. 19. Final score: 9-8 in double sudden death overtime. For those fortunate fans who braved a roller coaster ride of emotions over 54 unyielding minutes of nonstop action the seesaw...
Senior Forward Raykwon Frazier scored 29 points while Donald Gatlin and Ty Hall each dropped in 14 of their own leading the Highlanders to a decisive 40-point victory over the (Tampa) Robinson Knights in a 6A Regional contest at home Thursday night. With a win-loss record of 21-7, Lake Wales socked it to the mismatched Robinson by working the boards on offense and applying a swarming defense using a double teaming strategy that forced numerous turnovers and missed shots that...
