By: J. Daniel Pearson
Positively Osceola
It’s not too often that a Gateway-Poinciana football matchup would be considered the biggest county game of the week, but that’s exactly what happens when the undefeated Panthers (3-0) hit the road against the Eagles (3-1) in non-district game at 7 p.m. Friday night.
Kickoff at Poinciana Field is 7 p.m.
After coming off big wins last week, both teams are enjoying great starts, with several stars leading the way. Gateway’s Nydrell Thigpen rushed for 200 yards in a 34-7 win over Harmony; while Lucas Mineock threw for one touchdown and ran for another in a 21-6 win over Ridge Community.
The Panthers will be looking to match their first four-game winning streak since 2016; while the Eagles will search for their best start in school history.
“It should be a game of pretty evenly matched teams,” Gateway coach Marlin Roberts said. “They had a couple of transfers come in, including their quarterback, that have made a big difference for them. But they also have some talent at the skill positions capable of making big plays. It will be a great challenge for us.”
Last week, Gateway was locked in a tight 7-7 game with Harmony until Thigpen’s touchdown run early in the fourth quarter led to 27-0 run. He finished with 207 yards on 33 carries and now has 530 rushing yards in just three games.
“In order to win, we felt we needed to put the ball in Nydrell’s hands a lot,” Roberts said. “Harmony’s linebacker is a really tough kid and our plan was to line-up in the ‘I’ and just run away from him all night.”
Roberts added that he was pleased with the performance as it came after a week of distractions. “No school on Monday for Labor Day, I had a starter miss practice because his normal ride was out of town, a bunch of things like that,” Roberts said.
On the other side, Poinciana was never in real danger of losing to Ridge but numerous penalties thwarted Eagles drives and kept the game close until Quinton Slaughter’s pick six in the fourth quarter made it a two-score game. Mineock was 7 for 15 passing for 177 yards, including a 88 yard touchdown pass to Jamarie Williams – a transfer from Osceola.
Eagles head coach Taron Mallard said the key to the game will be to contain Thigpen. “They have some talented athletes but Nydrell is something else,” Mallard noted. “I love watching that kid play. Whenever you see a Gateway game you come away knowing he was the best player on the field.”
Three other county teams will be in action this week.
Osceola must find a way to rebound after last week’s 40-6 loss to Lakeland when it travels to Lake Wales this Friday. (Read about Lakeland game here: Lakeland Derails Osceola, Hands Kowboys Crushing 40-6 Defeat ).
The Kowboys offensive line continues to be a mystery as they could not generate any push against the Dreadnaughts. Osceola managed just one first down in the game; while its defense gave up an uncharacteristic 400 yards of total offense as the game went to a running clock against Osceola for the first time in two decades.
“It was really frustrating because I thought our offensive line was starting to play better after the Lake Mary game (a 17-6 upset win by the Kowboys),” coach Eric Pinellas said. “But we ended up reverting to the same mistakes and missed assignments we experienced in the first two weeks. It isn’t going to get any easier from here.”
After losing a tough 35-34 decision to Deland in its opener, Lake Wales has won three straight games, outscoring their opponents 141-14 in the process – including a 65-0 win over Lake Region last week.
The Highlanders feature a balanced attack. They are averaging 200 yards rushing per game, while sophomore quarterback Kingston Loydd is completed 65% of his passes with nine touchdowns and no interceptions.
Nova Lakes (2-2) lost a 29-0 decision to Freedom (read about that game here: ( Costly Mistakes Sink Nova Lakes in 29-0 Loss to Freedom on Thursday Night ) and will attempt to win its third game of its inaugural year when it travels to Colonial.
Despite the Freedom setback, Rattlers coach Anthony Rivers says his team continues to improve and get better. “We have a school that just opened and an extremely young team with no seniors and frankly a lot of athletes that are playing varsity football for the first time. There are going to be struggles and setbacks and we are going to run into some teams that are just physically better than we are,” the coach said. “But I am seeing a lot of progress from week-to-week and day-to-day. Our kids are learning and playing hard and that’s all we can ask of them.”
The other game this week will see Harmony (1-3) hosting Titusville (3-1) in its Homecoming Game at “The Ranch.”
Despite back-to-back losses to Poinciana (19-0) and Gateway (34-7), Tyler Anderson’s young team has been competitive for three quarters in both of those games thanks to the solid play of its defense.
The Longhorns held Poinciana to a 0-0 tie through three quarters and were also locked into a 7-7 tie with Gateway at the start of the fourth before running out of gas.
It’s a light week of action for county teams as St. Cloud (3-1), Tohopekaliga (3-1), Liberty (0-3) and Celebration (0-4) all hit their bye weeks for the 2026 season.
St. Cloud continued its impressive season last Friday with a 50-13 win over Lake Minneola.
Quarterback Jeremiah Lattier threw for season highs of 284 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Tight End Owen Sullivan was his favorite target, grabbing three passes for 83 yards and a score. Eli Manning led the team with 61 rushing yards and a touchdown on just nine carries. Jaden Taylor had a 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. It was a total team effort, as the Bulldogs piled up almost 600 all-purpose yards in the game.
Defensively, interior linemen Iran Gonzalez had s big night. He had four tackles, including one for a loss and a quarterback sack in dominating the middle of the field.
Things will ramp up for the Bulldogs when they return to action the following week, as they face a really tough Lake Nona (3-1) in a district game. The Lions only loss was a 13-10 overtime setback to Winter Park and includes a 24-3 throttling of traditional state power Edgewater last week.
After it’s bye week, Tohopekaliga will play its first home game of the season when it hosts Harmony on Sept. 24. Despite playing four straight road games to open the season, the young Tigers have played well – only losing a 43-39 decision at Astronaut in its season opener.
The Tigers were dominating on both sides of the ball against the Storm. Junior quarterback Gabe Valez upped his season touchdown total to 15 with six scoring strikes. Anthony Wise and Bradley Weck hauled in two TDs each; while linebacker Kesan Mcduffie posted five tackles-for-loss. CJ Hall and Ethan Hatfield each had interceptions.
“It’s really just about trying to get better every week,” Tohopekaliga coach Anthony Paradiso said. “We’ll use this week to heal up some bumps and bruisers and get ready for our first district game.”
Liberty dropped a 29-0 decision to University and was scheduled to finish its Week 3 district game with Discovery. That game was tied 6-6 in the third quarter when a lightning delay forced a postponement. It will be picked up in the third quarter at Liberty on Monday. Following its bye week Friday, the Chargers will travel to Windermere (2-2) on Sept. 24.
After being shutout for the third straight game, Celebration returns to action with a district home game against East Ridge (3-1) on Sept. 25.
Week 5 Schedule (All Games 7 p.m.)
Titusville at Harmony
Gateway at Poinciana
Nova Lakes at Colonial
Bye Week: Celebration, St. Cloud, Tohopekaliga,Liberty
Week 4 Results
Lakeland 40, Osceola 6
St. Cloud 50, Lake Minneola 13
Gateway 34, Harmony 7
Tohopekaliga 48, Celebration 0
Poinciana 21, Discovery 6
Freedom 29, Nova Lakes 0
University 29, Liberty 0
