By: J. Daniel Pearson
Positively Osceola
First place in District 10 7A will be on the line this week when the Tohopekaliga Tigers (4-3, 1-0) travel to St. Cloud’s Thomas Gannarelli Field for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff with the St. Cloud Bulldogs (5-2, 1-0).
The winner will gain control of the 4-team division and move a step closer to an automatic playoff bid.
The Tigers are coming off an impressive 42-8 win over Masters Academy last Friday, where Sabby Meassick became the state’s all-time leader in career completions. Going 28 for 52 for 381 yards and five touchdowns, Meassick has now completed 1034 career varsity passes – breaking the state record formerly held by Lake Nona’s Kyle Isreal. With at least games left, he also holds county records for career passing yardage 12,202 and career passing TDs (126).
Meassick reached the state record against Masters, despite being without the services of his top target Tre Punter– who was out with an injury. Running back Xaevez Brown more than picked up the slack, catching four balls for 128 yards and rushing for 123. He finished the game with four touchdowns.
“We’re still a very banged up football team that is missing a lot of starters. Our only goal will be to try to cleanup our mistakes from the last two weeks and try to get better,” Tigers coach Anthony Paradiso said. “I don’t really view this as a pressure game. We knew going into this year that we were in a rebuild situation. Between graduation and transfers we lost a ton of talent off last year’s playoff team. Regardless of what happens Friday, I am so proud of how our players have fought and played all season.”
St. Cloud should be well-rested as the Bulldogs are coming off a bye week.
The Bulldogs will counter Meassick with an outstanding quarterback of their own; as sophomore Jeremiah Lattier is a 57.7 percent passer who has thrown for 1900 yards this season with 17 touchdowns and just interceptions.
Bulldogs head coach Michael Short says his team must be better on offense this week. “Our passing game has been pretty good, but we need to be able to run the ball more effectively than we have, Tohopekaliga is a great passing team. but they have also been running the ball a lot more than usual. He (Sabby) is our top concern. He has the ability to throw the ball all over the place to different receivers, so containing him and getting their offense off the field will be important.”
“This game has all the makings of a close, exciting game that should be great for the fans but nerve-racking for the coaches,” Short added.
Osceola (5-2, 2-0) punched their ticket to the playoffs last week – winning its district with a nail-biting 13-10 win over Viera. It was not an easy game, as Osceola needed two fourth-down stops and an interception in the final quarter to seal the victory.
Turnovers and penalties were again troublesome, as Osceola managed just 15.5 points in their last two games. “Both those stats are a bothersome, but they also ones that can be cleaned up,” Kowboys coach Eric Pinellas said. “What has really hurt this team is injuries. We ‘ve been really banged up this year and have had to play some young kids before we wanted to and have had to play some players out of position. Jeff Sinophat (running back) left the game with a possible concussion and we may have lost Jaeden Bellamy — our second best offensive lineman — for the year with a possible ACL or MCL. The fumbles and penalties you can fix, the injuries not so much.”
In Apopka, Osceola will be facing a 1-5 team that has been a perennial power in the past. Pinellas says it’s a team that is better than their record indicates. “On film, I can tell you the offense has struggled a bit as they are running a new system, but they have some studs on defense and are always going to be well coached,” he says. “You also can not overlook the fact that these two schools have a lot of playoff and regular season history. I fully expect them to come out and play a hard, physical game against us.”
Meanwhile, Gateway (3-5) has an interesting game this week when they host Poinciana (2-5). The Panthers are coming off a big 42-13 win over Lake Placid; while the Eagles dropped a 42-0 decision to powerful Auburndale last Friday.
Gateway had its best rushing night in perhaps a decade or more as sophomore sensation Nydrell Thigpen ran for 307 yards and five touchdowns; while Honor Kim came up just short of a 100-yard night himself (92).
As both teams are independents and the game has no playoff implications, Gateway head coach Marlin Roberts says this is the biggest game of the season for his young club as they have a shot to finish with a .500 regular season for the first time since 2018 . “For the first time in a while we had a great turnout this summer that generated a renewed interest in Gateway football. We have some good players and a little depth and heading into the season, we felt seven or eight wins were possible,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately, we had trouble getting the ball in the end zone in the early part of the season and let some games get away from us. This game becomes really important as far as moving this program in the right direction.”
Although eliminated from the district race with the tough loss to Tohopekaliga, Harmony remains alive for a possible at-large or NIT bid at 3-4. The Longhorns should be favored in two of their final three games, starting with a Friday night matchup with Celebration (1-6).
The Storm had had trouble scoring this year, averaging just eight points per game; while the Longhorns are averaging 25 points per game after only scoring 12.2 ppg last year. Despite the offensive improvement this season, the inability to put the ball in the end zone cost Harmony in last week’s loss. Five trips inside the opponent’s 30 ended with three field goals, a blocked field goal and a turnover on downs.
In other county action, Liberty (0-6) looks for its first win of the season when it hosts Ft. Pierce Westwood (3-4) st 7 p.m.
County Schedule-Friday
Tohopekaliga at St. Cloud, 7:30 p.m. (District Game)
Apopka at Osceola, 7 p.m.
Poinciana at Gateway, 7 p.m.
Celebration at Harmony, 7 p.m.
Westwood at Liberty, 7 p.m.
