Mistakes don't slow Winter Park in 42-28 spring win over Dr. Phillips

WINTER PARK - It was a mistake-riddled game, with more yellow flags flying around than any football coach would ever like to see. This, however, was spring football, and for the most part, Winter Park coach Tim Shifflet could shrug off all of the penalties when considering the good things he saw.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the 42-28 score, Dr. Phillips first-year coach Caleb Walls was not particularly pleased, but he, too, understood it’s spring, mistakes are made, and there are many lessons to learn.

“Yeah, it’s a spring game and after three-and-a-half weeks, it’s always good to come out and compete against a different colored jersey,” Shifflet said. “The kids have worked hard. They’ve been out there and it’s been hot and it’s been tough.

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“This is their reward, to come out here and get an opportunity to run around and have some fun, and that’s kind of what I tell them. There were some stupid penalties here and there, but it’s a learning experience.”

The Winter Park offense set the tone early. The Wildcats showed their ability to make big plays, and did so quickly. On the play of the game, quarterback Onrique Archie dumped a short screen pass to Damari Rolle, who made a few tacklers miss and then turned on the speed en route to a 70-yard touchdown.

The defense was equally successful, as KJ Davis and Talyn Boe combined for a sack on DP’s first play. Robert Howard and Maximus Lennon combined for a tackle in the backfield on the next play, and Dr. Phillips was 3-and-out to start.

On Winter Park’s next possession, Archie called his own number, taking the snap and bolting up the middle, dodging tacklers and then also showing his speed on his way to a 61-yard touchdown

Davis forced a fumble and recovered it on the next series, and it was Archie again, this time from 42 yards and Winter Park was making this one a laugher early 21-0.

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The Winter Park offensive line was doing a tremendous job blocking the likes of Dr. Phillips linemen Chop Henderson and Yousef Robinson, and Archie took advantage.

“We’re always as good as our offensive line is going to be and we did a good job up front,” Shifflet said of the O-line, which is led by the likes of tight end Smith Lessard, Collin Stone and Marco Malave. “Our guys on the edges and in the backfield can run, but the guys on the offensive line have got to do the job up front. They did a good job tonight.”

Archie takes the reins as the Winter Park quarterback this year, after sharing duties with Elijah Nickerson a year ago. Nickerson transferred to Lake Nona.

“He’s always been fast … he can go. It’s one of the strengths of his game, his ability to stretch the field at any time and make plays,” Shifflet said. “He’s a smart kid, he does a helluva job being a leader and I’m proud of the effort. We need our quarterback to play well and he played well.”

Another bright spot was Davis, an edge rusher who hasn’t, perhaps, lived up to his billing in recent years, but he came out to play Tuesday. He was a fixture in the DP backfield all night and was a wrecking ball for the Winter Park defense. He also came up with an interception of a batted ball in the first half.

“He has all the God-given gifts that you could possibly have. He’s just gotta get after it for 48 minutes as opposed to 24 minutes or 20 minutes,” Shifflet said. “He can be a really, really great defensive end and he has the opportunity to go play college football. He really played well tonight. He played with a little more aggressiveness, a little more of a motor.

“He can be one of the best defensive ends in the area.”

Walls saw some positives, as well, from his DP crew. He lit into the team with a firey halftime speech after watching Winter Park build a 28-14 lead at the break, and the Panthers seemed a little more fired up and aggressive in the second half.

“We’re young, but there were a lot of positives to it. A lot of the plays that were made were from freshmen, so being young, it gives us hope for the future,” Walls said. “We just gotta work in summer, evaluate, watch film, learn from our losses and come back stronger for next season.”

DP’s first points came via a 9-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tien Williams to Shamar Parker.

Winter Park and Davis kept the defense ramped up, getting another sack with help from Howard and Ben Strom. The aggressiveness, however, knocked Williams out of the game, after a rough facemask tackle by Ashton Gedeusma, who also had a stellar game.

Williams remained on the sideline for the remainder of the game as a precautionary measure, but he said he was fine.

Winder Pierre Jr. substituted and engineered the Panthers second scoring drive, capping it with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaiden Smith heading into halftime.

DP was fired up to start the second half, marching down the field to score on a Pierre Jr. 22-yard pass to Cameron Roy, as DP pulled within 28-21.

Winter Park shut down the short-lived Dr. Phillips hopes two plays later, when Archie hit Tristan Gunn with a 58-yard TD catch and run.

The 27-year-old Walls got his first game-time taste of being a head coach. He said he liked what he saw out of running back Justin Shelton and receiver Smith, as well as Williams until he got hurt, and back-up quarterback Pierre Jr.

“It was good, man. There are ups and downs with everything, but I’d rather it be like this,” Walls said, “come in with this group, build the foundation and just work our way up. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Remaining Spring Games

Wednesday

Deltona at East River, 6:30

Lake Mary at Jones

Lake Minneola at Olympia

Lake Wales at Lake Brantley

Thursday

Eustis, Matanzas at Pine Ridge, 6

Orangewood Christian at Bishop John Snyder

Seminole at Edgewater

Friday

Astronaut at Innovation, 6

Gateway, Windermere at Osceola, 6

Lyman at Mount Dora Christian, 6

Wildwood, Zarephath at Umatilla, 6

DeLand at TFA

Leesburg, Horizon at Wekiva, 6

Rockledge at West Orange

Winter Springs at Orange City University

No Spring game: Mount Dora

Chris Hays can be found on X.com@OS_ChrisHays.

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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 2:14 AM.