By:  J. Daniel Pearson

Long one of the region’s top soccer programs, the Celebration Storm continued on that path Wednesday night, defeating Harmony 6-0 to win its fourth consecutive district championship.

Victor Mora got things rolling for the Storm midway through the first half, taking a long pass from the midfield, beating the final defender to the ball and deftly dribbling past a charging Harmony goalie for a 1-0 lead.

“We have so much faith in our defense, we will try those long passes knowing that if they get intercepted we will be in position to defend,” Mora said.  “This team has a lot of trust in each other.”

A few minutes after Mora’s goal, Pedro Moreira made it 2-0 firing a left-footed shot into the net past Harmony goalie Ryan Schadeck.  

Harmony would have a chance to get back into the game.  

Play was stopped for five minutes when Storm goalie Andres Morales collided with Harmony’s Luis Benitez.  After it resumed, Morales made a sensational stop of a Harmony free kick.  The Longhorns blasted the rebound toward the net but a Storm defender cleared the ball away to keep it a two nil score.

“It’s why a two-goal lead always scares me a little,” Storm coach Chad Boudreaux said.  “You sometimes get complacent after going up two…next thing you know they get one in, it becomes a one-score lead and all the momentum goes to the other side.”

Boudreaux would have no such worries on Wednesday.

After Celebration and Morales stopped the Harmony threat, Joao Pedro-Oliveira took a pass on the left side and lofted a soft shot over Schadeck’s outstretched hands to give the Storm a three-goal lead at the half.

The second half would be all Celebration as they dominated both possession and field position.  

Harmony briefly had a chance to get back in the game but the Longhorns sent an open shot just wide of the net and then had a goal disallowed for an off-sides.  

After that brief rally, the Storm would emphatically slam the door shut with two more quick scores. Abraham Badillo-Santana chipped one in after a Harmony misplay of the ball and Mora scored his second goal of the game – blasting in a rebound off a corner kick.  A foul in the final minute resulted in Badillo-Santana scoring his second goal on a penalty kick.

“Ever since we lost on penalty kicks to Gateway in the OBC Championship last month, this team has been on a mission,” Boudreaux said about the Storm that have now won six straight and outscored the opposition 27-1 in the process.  “We have played with a laser focus and tonight we kept that going.”

The win pushed the Storm to 13-3-1 on the season.   They will open play in regionals next Tuesday, most-likely at home when the schedule is released later this week.  “We have six teams in our region that are fairly close in talent,” Boudreaux said.  “We should get at least one home playoff game, but we’ll have to wait for the seedings to come out.”

In other district soccer action this week, a short-handed Harmony girls teams used a penalty kick from Gabriella Guzman to defeat Celebration 1-0 and win the Class 7A, District 7 championship.   The Lady Longhorns were without the services of senior captain Kendyll Linscott (injured) and midfielder Machaela Looper, who was trying out for the El Salvador National Team for the U17 World Cup.

The game was played fairly evenly for 80 minutes as both teams had multiple scoring opportunities.  Longhorns head coach Scott Marlega credited defenders Ava Duval and Faith Jorge as well as the clean sheet turned in by goalkeeper Faith Hizer for the victory.

Although the Longhorns won a district championship, they were not ranked in the top four in their region and may open region playoffs on the road.

Elsewhere, Gateway will most likely get an at-large bid to the 5A, Region 2 Playoffs after the Panthers (16-2-0) lost a heartbreaking 1-0 district championship game to Innovation (Read about that game here:  https://www.positivelyosceola.com/top-seeded-gateway-panthers-fall-to-innovation-in-5a-district-7-boys-soccer-championship-upset/ ).

In other action, Osceola participated in the Class 6A, District 7 championships in Polk County.  They beat Lakeland (11-3) in the quarterfinals and Lake Gibson (4-3) in the semifinals and were slated to face off against Bartow in the championship game Wednesday night.

District Soccer Scores

Involving Osceola County Schools

7A, District 7 Boys

  • Semifinals
  • Celebration 4, Poinciana 0
  • Harmony 2, St. Cloud 1
  • Championship
  • Celebration 6, Harmony 0

7A District 7 Girls

  • Semifinals
  • Celebration 8, Poinciana 0
  • Harmony 4, St. Cloud 1
  • Championship
  • Harmony 1, Celebration 0

5A, District 7 Boys

  • Semifinals
  • Gateway 2*, Lake Buena Vista 2
  • Championship
  • Innovation 1, Gateway 0

5A, District 7 Girls

  • Quarterfinals
  • Gateway 3, Lake Buena Vista 2
  • Semifinals
  • Innovation 9, Gateway 0

6A, District 7 Boys

  • Quarterfinals
  • Osceola 11, Lakeland 0
  • Semifinals
  • Osceola 4, Lake Gibson 3
  • Championship 
  • Osceola at Bartow

6A, District 7 Girls

  • Semifinals
  • Bartow 10, Osceola 0    

4A, District 7 Girls

  • Quarterfinals
  • Mulberry 8, Liberty 0

4A, District 7 Boys

  • Mulberry 8, Liberty 0