Down 21-6 at half in a torrential downpour, it appeared all hope had left the building for the Oviedo Lions varsity football team. The offense had stalled out after a long touchdown from wide receiver one, Marquet Williams, while Lake Brantley star quarterback, Braxton Woodson, was hitting his stride.

“We were all really down going into the first half,” said football star Brady Manning. “But we remained motivated and knew that we could get back into the game.”

After stuffing the Lions on the goal line, Woodson rumbled 98 yards for a touchdown during the second quarter, draining the life out of the stadium. Luckily, Coach Oderino and the Lions had an ace up their sleeve: DJ Scott. In the second half, the captain of the squad tore up Brantley’s defense rushing for an outstanding 206 yards and 3 touchdowns and leading the Lions to a 26-21 victory over Brantley.

“We were all bummed out about last week and were just really excited when we learned the game was still going to be played,” said student Logan Proth.

There was already controversy surrounding the Lions home opener as their pre-season game had been canceled just a week earlier due to lighting, and many had assumed this game was going to be canceled as well. The lighting caused a 30 minute delay, but the lighting cleared up and the student section was filled in a matter of seconds.  

“It would’ve been very annoying to have two games get canceled in a row because we had all been practicing so hard,” said cheerleader Rose James.

Lake Brantley were the definite favorites in the game, so it was no surprise how rowdy the crowd was when the Lions began their comeback. Coming into the game, Brantley was ranked 12 in the annual Orlando Sentinel super 16 by writer J.C. Carnahan, while the Lions were left off the list.

Next up, the Lions face the University Titans who suffered defeat to Oviedo’s cross town rival Hagerty last week. The Lions came into the second half with a chip on their shoulders and it remains to be seen if they’ll carry it into next week, but one thing’s for certain – through wind, rain, and lighting, nothing can stop these Lions from roaring.