WINDERMERE  The Windermere Prep middle school football team raced out to a 20-0 lead in the Sunshine State Athletic Conference Middle School Championship, led 30-6 at halftime and concluded an undefeated season with a 44-6 victory over Lake Highland Prep.

The Lakers were dominant in all facets of the game, with the only score by the Highlanders coming on a kickoff return for a touchdown.

Tommy Darrow

“We put a lot of practice time in and we also made a decision that we’re going to try to encourage them to give their all every play,” explained head coach Roger MacClellan afterward. “When we started doing that toward the end of the season, we were winning a lot more plays than we were losing. …

“They are smart kids. We have very few penalties and we have a lot of where we are calling the plays from the sideline and they know how to get into them and execute the plays.”

Windermere Prep won through a total-team effort, but has also been led all season by eighth grader Tommy Darrow, who is the quarterback for the Lakers’ offense.

“He’s just the emotional leader on offense and defense,” MacClellan said. “He exemplifies that giving his all every play and the guys follow suit when he does that.”