Middleton, Fla. – The Villages High School football team saw its season come to a stunning end Friday night in Middleton.

The Buffalo were denied by Berkeley Prep (Tampa) in the Class 2A-Region 2 quarterfinals, surrendering a late touchdown to ultimately fall 35-28 at H.G. Morse Stadium.

VHS finishes its 2025 season with a 9-2 overall record.

"First and foremost, I'm obviously so proud of our fight and we laid it all on the line tonight," said VHS head coach Richard Pettus. "We played a very good football team and it was back-and-forth. It was going to come down to who had the ball last – with quality time left on the clock – and (Berkeley Prep) did."

Both teams flashed efficient offense throughout the night, with both the Buffalo (9-2) and Buccaneers (5-4) punting just once apiece. The deciding drive proved to be the final one for the visitors, as Berkeley marched 80 yards on 10 plays and chewed up seven minutes of clock, with Matt White scoring a 10-yard touchdown run with :42 seconds remaining.

That was the fifth touchdown in six possessions for the Buccaneers, who churned away with a balanced offensive attack that racked up 397 yards – 194 rushing, 203 passing – in the win.

The Villages brought its own firepower to the fight, rushing for 223 yards as a unit. Antwon Johnson led the way with 127 yards on 13 carries and two scores, while Tranard Roberts tallied 106 yards on nine carries before leaving the game late in the first half with an injury.

Jadence Kennedy added 115 yards and a touchdown pass through the air, but his 18th and final attempt of the night was a desperation heave of nearly 50 yards that fell incomplete in the end zone as time expired. The junior quarterback finished his season completing 72% of his passes for 2,035 yards and 27 touchdowns with no interceptions.

The Buffalo advanced to the postseason by way of earning the No. 4 seed in the Class 2A-Region 2 field, after finishing 9-1 in the regular season and district runner-up. The only loss of the regular-season campaign came to district foe and three-time defending state champion Cocoa.

This marked the second consecutive year VHS advanced to the FHSAA state playoffs, building off a 5-5 overall record one year ago. It was also the sixth playoff appearance in the last eight seasons for the Buffalo.

"It's unfortunate because we had a really good year, even though we didn't meet our ultimate goal," Pettus said. "I'm really proud of our 18 seniors and what they've given to our program these last four years. The support we had from the community and our fans, it really was an unbelievable year and I'm so thankful for it. Now, hopefully the guys coming back and us as coaches learn from this and make something good come from it."


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment via email at cody.hills@tvcs.org.