GAINESVILLE (December 21) – Senior quarterback Bryce Carpenter of Venice High School has been named the 2017 Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Football following a final round of voting by a statewide panel of high school football coaches and media representatives.

Carpenter, who was previously selected as the Class 7A Player of the Year, led his squad to the state championship by completing 191-of-315 passes for 3,053 yards with 42 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. He also carried the ball 273 times for 1,274 yards with 22 rushing touchdowns. Carpenter threw for 7,047 yards and 83 touchdowns while rushing for 3,416 yards and 54 TDs during his varsity career. He has signed to play college football at Coastal Carolina University.

Carpenter scored a convincing victory over the other eight finalists with 15 of the 24 first-place votes and 195 points overall. In the runnerup spot was Class 8A POY Lorenzo Lingard of Orange City University (79 points) followed in third place by Class 4A POY Ivory Durham of Jacksonville Raines (74). Class 6A POY Brian Snead of Armwood (40) finished fourth followed by Class 5A POY Quadry Jones of Orlando Jones (34), Independent POY Noah Mumme of Satellite (24), Class 3A POY Jordan Travis of The Benjamin School (22), Class 1A POY Derrick Staten Jr. of Madison County (19) and Class 2A POY Jaylin Jackson of Cambridge Christian(17).

The Florida Dairy Farmers High School Sports Awards program exemplifies Florida Dairy Farmers’ commitment to the state’s youth. This marks the 26th year of these unique awards as we honor the state’s top athletes and coaches in all 30 FHSAA sanctioned and recognized sports.  The program also emphasizes to young people the importance of keeping dairy products a primary part of their diet in their overall nutrition plan.