By: J. Daniel Pearson
for Positively Osceola
New districts, new schedules, new coaches, returning stars and higher expectations will all be on the horizon when local high school football teams open training camps on July 29. Harmony and St. Cloud got an early jump with a 12:01 a.m. “Midnight Madness” practice.
“It’s something we started a couple of years ago,” Bulldogs head coach Mike Short said about the early morning start. “The kids really seem to like it and the parents and fans have made it a pretty cool event.”
When practices do start, five county teams will find themselves in new districts; while three others have decided to take the independent route for the next two years.
St. Cloud, Harmony, Tohopekaliga will join nearby Lake Nona in Class 7A, District 10. Longhorns coach Nick Lippert says he excited about that change after Harmony has been stuck in a district on the East Coast for a number of seasons. “St. Cloud is without question our biggest rival and we are starting to get a pretty heated one going with Tohopekaliga,” Lippert said. “Obviously Lake Nona has had some talented teams in the past. The thing I like about it is our rivalry games will mean even more now because a district championship and playoff spot will be on the line.”
Other district changes are in store for Celebration and Osceola. The Storm (7A) move to a tough District 9, where they will have to contend with Olympia, East Ridge and perennial state power Dr. Phillips. With the state moving away from the Suburban-District model back to a 7-class system based on enrollment, Osceola finds itself in 6A-District 6 with just two other teams in Viera and Melbourne.
Gateway and Liberty have decided to join Poinciana in the ever-growing list of 70+ teams that have declared independent status for the next two seasons. While going independent eliminates any chance to make the state playoffs, it does allow schools to put together a more competitive schedule — something Poinciana did three years ago.
“We just really felt it was the right move for us,” Panthers head coach Marlin Roberts said. “For the last couple of years we were stuck in one of the biggest, far-reaching districts in the state that was also loaded with two or three powerhouses that we simply cannot compete against. We still have some outstanding teams on our schedule but in terms of fairness, giving our kids a chance to compete, and reducing travel this was a good move for us.”
New faces or at least faces in new roles will be on the sideline for ’24. After a pair of 1-9 seasons, Celebration released Jeremy Palmer and brought in Chris Blanton in the head coaching role. Poinciana decided to elevate assistant coach Taron Mallard to the head job after long-time coach Randy Beeken was not renewed.
The new season will also see the return of many outstanding players.
Tohopekaliga welcomes back junior quarterback Sabby Meassick, who has already set county career records for passing yards (6887) and passing touchdowns (77). Osceola brings back a wealth of talent on both sides of the ball, including RB Taevion Swint, who returns for his senior season after an injury-riddled 2023. Despite missing four full games last season and limping in several others, Swint compiled 800 all-purpose yards and scored eight touchdowns to bring his three-year total to more than 4000 yards and 46 touchdowns.
St. Cloud welcomes back the dynamic duo of quarterback Logan King and wide receiver Alex Springs. A three-year starter, King threw for 2200 yards and had an excellent 24 TD to 6 Interception ratio; while Springs – in his first full year of playing football –- caught 57 passes for 947 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Other exciting players to watch this fall include Gateway RB Deshawn Reese, Harmony DB Chase Adams, Celebration WR Sean Nuzzi, and Poinciana’a WR Ernest Nunn and QB Cameron Brown.
Expectations remain both high and relative among the eight county coaches.
Osceola Coach Eric Pinellas said the Kowboys 4-7 mark last year (one that could easily be explained by a dozen injuries to key starters as well as playing arguably the toughest schedule in the state) was “unacceptable with no excuses.” Although the Kowboys went3-0 and won their district, it was Osceola’s first sub .500 mark in almost two decades. “We make no excuses for last year, there’s nothing we can do to change it,” Pinellas said. “But we control our own fate moving forward and I like our personnel and how we have been going about our business.”
St. Cloud has put together back-to-back eight win seasons and head coach Mike Short has a senior-laden squad that wants to take it to the next level. “With the exception of defensive line, we have a bunch of talented players at every other position,” Short noted. “Our team goals are private but its’ safe to say we want to win districts and get to the playoffs.”
After a tough 2-8 record in 2023, Harmony coach Nick Lippert believes his team has the talent to return to its previous winning ways. “Seems like that at every volunteer workout we have 50 or 60 kids show up this summer and most of those kids stayed and put in extra work,” Lippert noted. “Being in a more travel-friendly district helps our team. Frankly I see, a ton of 50-50 games on our schedule, if we win the majority of them, we can be successful.”
After a really rough 2021 season, Tohopekaliga brought in Anthony Paradiso as head coach and he has recorded back-to-back seasons of .500 or above. Although he has been setting records, Meassick is still just a young, developing quarterback and as he continues to improve, so should the fortunes of the Tigers.
After years of struggling, Poinciana put together back-to-back respectable seasons of 8-2 and 4-6. Despite playing an independent schedule, Mallard believes it is something his team can build off of. “It’s going to take some time and we are going to have to continue to build the culture, but we see positive steps every day. We went to a 7-7 King of the Beach Tournament in Daytona that was loaded with good teams and we held our own. Part of the building process is getting our kids to believe they can compete and we can see that happening.”
Coaches at Gateway (0-10) and Liberty (2-8) are also positive heading into the campaign. “Obviously you can’t control the injuries we have had the last couple of seasons, but we have also had a lot of problems with our better players transferring out. We only had one leave for this coming year and attitude in the spring and summer has been good,” Roberts said. If we stay healthy we should be able to compete this season.”
”We won two games last year and scored 107 points last year,” Liberty Coach Dee Hart said. “While that may not sound impressive, you have to consider Liberty was 0-10 and outscored 453-12 the previous year. We got a late start last year (Hart was named head coach after fall practice had started) but we are making progress and I love the attitude and efforts our kids have put in.”
Practices begin July 29 with teams being permitted to play a Kickoff Classic, a non-counting pre-season game on Aug. 16. The regular season begins Aug. 23.
