Spring Sports in Full Swing!

JV Baseball – Coach Brandon Hazzard

The TFA Boys JV Baseball is off to a great start.  They are 8-1 and are playing great!  So far this season, they have notched wins over rivals Orangewood, Trinity Prep and Master’s Academy.  They’ve also outscored their opponents 91 – 31! The only loss is to 8A Olympia Titans. Their last game against Harmony H.S., all cylinders were firing with Chris Miller throwing a 5 inning no-hitter and Daniel Cohen hitting the first grand slam of the year!  The next few weeks the JV baseball will start the second half of their season. Hope to “see you out at the ball park” supporting the boys!

Varsity Track & Field – Coach Rick Bohner

The Varsity Track and Field teams are having a great season, competing so far in three large meets with schools from every classification.  The current record for the Girls Team is 36 – 8 – 0, and the Boys Team record is 38 – 6 – 0.  So far two school records have been broken twice this year:  Colton Plante in the Men’s Shot Put, and the Men’s’ 4x100m relay, comprised of Lloyd Hylton, Tyler Acree, Julian Wiggins, and Mason Plante.  Nine other school records could possibly be on the line in the balance of this season.  The teams have two home meets left: Saturday, March 17^th beginning at 8:30 am, and Friday, March 30^th, beginning at 3:30 pm.  Come out, watch, and support your Royals compete!

Varsity Softball – Coach Tim Covey

The softball program had a great turnout this year, with 30 girls coming out to play on the middle school and varsity squads.  The girls in the program are very young, with no player in the program older than 10^th grade.   The players on both squads have been showing great promise so far this season, and the future of the softball program is very bright with the young talent.  The varsity team has victories over Jones, Foundation, and Faith Christian at this point in the season, while the middle school team put themselves in the middle of the pack in league play by sweeping Lake Highland on March 6. Go Royals!

Baseball – Coach Darrell Don

The Royals Baseball program has seen all 3 teams get off to a great start this season! The Varsity improved to 5-4 with an 8-0 victory over previously undefeated Harmony High School behind Adam Haseley’s dominant performance on the mound. Adam struck out 12 batters while only allowing 3 hits in 5 innings of work. He also homered to lead off the game and along with Ben Deluzio’s two hits led the Royals offense in the victory. The JV team improved to 7-1 with a 12-0 victory over Lake Highland Prep on Monday afternoon and have been led by Chris Miller, Cody Oerther, Kyle Connell, Garrett Galloway, and Peyton Hopkins! The MS team has been dominant in improving their record to 7-0 this season. Each game has seen the Royals defeat their opponent by the 10 run mercy rule and they have already secured the #1 seed for the post season tournament in April. Come out and catch the Royals play this season and see some great baseball! 

Royals Making History!

In this edition of Royal TV News we take a look at our Competitive Cheer Team and their success at States, and Nationals. We'll also look at Girl Soccer, and Varsity Boys Basketball.

Competetive Cheer:

WOW! What a year for out First Academy Competitive Cheer team!  They made TFA history from the start to the finish of their season.  The girls competed at the state meet just a week ago and finished 3rd in the state! At the state competition the girls had to make major changes to the retinue due to some injuries, and despite it all, ended 3nd, the best finish in school history. After states the girls had to quickly turn their attention to the UCA National competition at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports! After their morning retinue, they qualified for the National Finals in the evening, and ended the night finished 6th, another TFA record!  What a season for the cheer team, and congrats to the team and their coach Kelly Leslie for all their hard work! You can watch archived footage of the Competitive Cheer State Competition on RoyalsTV by going to fhsaasports.com/thefirstacademy

Girls Soccer:

We've talk about Girls Soccer before but since then, the girls went on the make more TFA Soccer history!  They won Districts for the first time in school history, they host and won a Regional match for the first time in school history, and in the Regional Semi-Final in took two extra time periods, and two penalty kick sets for Lakeland Christin to knock off your First Academy Lady Royals. The last match was absolutely thrilling, but the season as a whole will go down in TFA History and never forgotten!  Go Royals!

Boys Basketball:

Here we go again! Varsity Boys Basketball is now starting another run towards the State Finals, and it started with another District Championship win over Trinity Prep. Tyler Coon, Tay Akers were name to the All District Team, while Dillon Graham was named Class 3A District 5 Player of the Year!  They will play again in the Regional Tournament Thursday Febuary 16th at 7:00PM.  Watch Live on RoyalsTV! 

Be sure to follow Royals TV and The First Academy on Twitter @royals_tv and @thefirstacademy You can also "like" us on Facebook by going to Ffacebook.com/royalstv or facebook.com/thefirstacademy 

Royals TV News - January Week One

In this edition of Royals TV News we talk about Varsity Girls Cheerleading and their recent trip to Flagler Palm Coast H.S. to compete in Regional Competition, Varsity Boys Soccer win again, and again, Varsity Boys Basketball pull off a huge upset of top ranked Lake Highland Prep, and we also take look at past Royals making the news on the collegiate level:

Competitive Cheer:

Our TFA cheerleaders have risen to the occasion in making The First Academy proud. This year the FHSAA has deemed it mandatory for cheerleading teams in the state of Florida to compete in 4 additional ‘regular’ season competitions before the close of their season in February. So far our varsity cheerleading team has competed in 2 of those regular season competitions as well as Regionals. They placed 3rd on December 3 at the UCA Regional competition, earning them a bid to the Nationals competition at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in February, and 1st at the Bishop Moore local competition on December 17. Both of these were regular season competitions. Just this past weekend, the team placed 2nd at the FHSAA State Regional competition. TFA varsity cheerleaders will compete again on January 14 and January 28 before competing at the State final championship on February 2nd at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.

Boys Soccer:

Quietly the Boys Soccer team is pulling off one of the better season in TFA Soccer history. The varsity soccer team is now 12-1-2 with a 9-0-1 record in district play. They have 4 games left in regular season and are the #1 seed in the upcoming district tournament.  Senior night is this Friday against Faith Christian at 7:00.  Come out and support Tanner Dodge and Sam Fritzler as they play their last regular season home game.  Go Royals, and Go Varsity Boys Soccer!

Varsity Boys Basketball:

Wow! TFA two years in a row upset in town rival Lake Highland Prep and this year it did not take overtime. Tyler Coons turned a loose ball into the game-winning basket with seven seconds to go as TFA rallied in the fourth quarter to win 56-55 over visiting Lake Highland Prep in a clash of state-ranked boys basketball teams. Dillon Graham, who scored a game-high 21 points and hit two huge 3-point shots in the closing minutes, missed inside on a well-executed backdoor bounce pass from Coons but the rebound bounced away and Coons collected it with plenty of time to make the go-ahead shot.

The Boys Basketball team also played, and unfortunately lost 75-68 against top ranked Olympia High School in the inaugural Showdown in O-Town at Orlando Christian Prep. Dillon Graham led all scorers with 26 points. He made four 3-point shots, one that closed the gap to 59-56 in the second minute of the fourth quarter.  Hudson Price had 11 and Tay Akers 10 for First Academy. - Buddy Collins (Orlando Sentinel)

Olympia Fights off TFA TFA tops Lake Highland

TFA Volleyball Alumni:

Three of our graduates, now playing for Liberty University in Virginia, are Big South Conference Champions and recently competed in the NCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament. Loren Thomas (2009) , Gabby Shipe (2011) and Ansley Gebben (2011) were big contributors to the Lady Flames Conference Championship held in Charleston South Carolina.  Loren Thomas was named MVP of the tournament.  In the first round of the NCAA National Tournament the Lady Flames faced 4 time defending National Champions Penn. State.  The Lady Flames  put up a valiant fight against the  Lions but lost in three sets to be knock out of the tournament.  We are so proud of our Lady Royals. 

 

TFA Athletics - RoyalsTV News

It’s been an awesome week for RoyalsTV and TFA Athletics! We've seen some exciting close games, as well as some very convincing victories on the playing fields and courts.  We'll also hear about the exciting service project our girls soccer team did during their Thanksgiving holiday. In this edition of RoyalsTV News:

Boys Soccer:

The Boys varsity soccer team is off to a strong start to the season.  After 12 games, they have 9 wins, 1 loss, 2 ties, and are 6-0-1 in the district.  Despite a young roster (17 players that are sophomores or under) are in strong position for the state tournament this year, and with experience we should be strong for the next few years to hopefully put TFA boys soccer on the map!

Boys Lacrosse:

Varsity Boys Lacrosse competed in the Central Florida Fall Lacrosse League and finished undefeated at 7-0 We are looking forward to a strong spring season as we will field a strong Senior class. Returning senior midfielders Colin Kruger, Kennan Miller and Casey Dorner with assistance from senior Attackmen Kevin Harrigan and Shawn Sagraves will lead a very experienced team. Returning underclassman Micah Larson,  Zach Oliver, Sam Goudy, Jacob Thomas and Tommy Rohrlack will provide great depth to this very strong unit. TFA Lacrosse has become a top program in Central Florida and should make some real noise this season. They are coming off a 12-4 season and look to compete for a district championship in just their 3 year of Varsity competition. Please come out and support us this season.  First game is Home vs. Tampa Catholic on February 21, 2011. Bring your Cowbell!!

Girls Soccer:

While brainstorming about a service project for the year, one of the team seniors Casey O’Brian, suggested to help out a family she has known for a few years. She works with one of the kids in the family who's autistic and plays in a softball league on Saturdays. So the girls loaded up the team bus and headed to St. Cloud to help this family attend the town’s Christmas parade. They brought Santa hats and candy canes to bring some Christmas cheer to this family of 14 kids, 9 of whom have cerebral palsy and are on ventilators. It literally took most the team to even get all of the kids 6 blocks down the street. Each player was assigned a child in the family, and also had 4 nurses there to assist with any emergency that may occur.  The girls had such a wonderful time with the family and enjoyed the parade. Once the parade was over, they wheeled the kids back home and said their goodbyes.  Lots of the girls said "It was hard to leave after making an instant bond with our new friends."

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of RoyalsTV News!  Be sure to keep up with RoyalsTV on twitter @royals_tv and on Facebook at facebook.com/royalstv

TFA Football Recap

TFA vs. Harmony
By: Nique Smith, TFA Senior

The Royals proved once again Friday night that games aren't won on paper. Harmony, initially favored to win, ran into a focused and well-prepared First Academy Royals football team. Both teams played hard and it made for a good battle.

Harmony started the game off on a high note, when junior running back Michael Santiago returned a 97-yard kick for a touchdown. But then the Royals began to execute their offense. Kyle Don and Lloyd Hylton pushed the ball up the field, leading to a 36-yard pass from Curt Cramer to Ben Deluzio. The First Academy continued to run the ball well, as senior running back Tyler Walko added to the Royals score with a 46-yard touchdown run late in the first half. Junior Quarterback Curt Cramer also did a good job of locating his receivers during the game. The Royals showed off their depth, especially at the running back position. They rotated multiple players in and out, and when their name was called, they made the most of it.

More than just the offense was on fire: The Royals were very impressive and active on defense, too. Micah Larson led the defense with five tackles on the night. They played hard and showed heart and determination, going after every ball thrown. Junior defensive back Daniel Cohen intercepted a pass thrown by Harmony's sophomore Quarterback Sterling Hicks, and took it back 27 yards for a Royals touchdown. Freshman Fletcher Magee also had an interception, as well as Junior Ben Deluzio off a tipped pass from Tyler Walko. The fans were also treated to big hits on defense by Tyler Walko, Colton Plante, and Ben Deluzio. The defense held their own causing three turnovers and shutting down the Longhorns' aggressive running game.

Overall, the Royals were impressive during the course of this game. The game was called in the 3rd quarter due to a power outage, but only in a little over two quarters of action, the Royals proved that they can play with any team, no matter the classification. The Royals will learn from this game and only improve. The sky's the limit for what this team can do this season.


Facebook Page:
facebook.com/royalstv

Twitter Page:
@royals_tv & @thefirstacademy

Kick-Off Classic Preview

TFA FOOTBALL 2011

TFA vs. Harmony High School
By: Nique Smith, TFA Senior


    Coming off of a 5 win season in 2010, The Longhorns of Harmony High School are eager to take the field here in 2011.  Led by Head Coach Jarred Butler, the Longhorns look to present a  good challenge to kick-off the Royals 2011 season.


    The Royals look to provide another season of excitement in 2011. Coming off a 10-2 season, led by Head Coach Leroy Kinard, the Royals look to start the year off right with a win against Harmony. The Royals are stacked with tremendous athletes on both sides of the ball. Curt Cramer, a smart and accurate passer will lead the offense at the Quarterback position. Albert Settles, a game-changing running back is joined in the backfield by Juniors Lloyd Hylton and Colton Plante, two very skilled and tough running backs.  The strength of the Longhorns is on their Offensive Line, with Senior Tackle Terry Akers. Akers and the Harmony Offensive Line were a key part in the Longhorns aggressive rushing attack, that ran for over 2,500 last year. Also look out for Senior Wide Receiver and Defensive Back Daniel Foshee to make plays during the course of this game.

    Due to injury, Wide receiver M.J. Mathis will not play in this game, but look for Junior wideout Ben Deluzio, a stellar athlete with great speed and Division 1 caliber skills to make some plays in his absence. You will also see Ben on the defensive side of the ball in the safety position. The Royals will test their new defense out this week against the tough Harmony rushing attack. The Royals are led on defense with hard-hitting linebackers Micah Larson, Colton Plante and Tyler Walko.  

What to watch for:

    Look for the tough Longhorn offensive and defensive line against the young inexperienced offensive and defensive line of The First Academy.  You can also look for the weather to play a factor with hurricane Irene brewing in the Atlantic, look for the ball to stay on the ground a lot.

 

    This game will be a hard fought tough game. The Longhorns run into a hungry Royals team, with great athletes and speed looking to compete. The weather may be an issue, but if it all plays out well, get ready for an exciting football game as both teams battle it out on the gridiron.