By: J. Daniel Pearson
A big volleyball win for Osceola against a ranked state-power and a first-ever win over St. Cloud by Poinciana highlighted a busy week of action in Osceola County Sports, but all will take a back-seat this week’s action, when the Kowboys will square off against St. Cloud for the 101st time in one of the nation’s longest-running football rivalries.
Here is a look around the county in high school sports:
VOLLEYBALL
In the biggest match of the week, Osceola (10-3) took down previously undefeated Deland in four sets on Tuesday night, winning (25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19). Deland came into the match with a 9-0 record and ranked third in the state by MaxPreps (read about win here: https://www.positivelyosceola.com/osceola-lady-kowboys-down-deland-in-four-sets-in-girls-volleyball/ ). The Kowboys would follow that with straight set wins over Bishop Moore (25-20, 25-23, 25-14) and county-rival Gateway (25-21, 25-9, 25-13). Junior Cate Palmi (64 kills) and Jordin Southall (49 kills) led the way in the three matches for Osceola.
The Lady Kowboys play three times this week, facing The First Academy on Monday (9/9), Harmony on Tuesday (9/10) and traveling to Windermere on Wednesday (4/11). The Harmony – Osceola match could very well be a preview of the 2024 Orange Belt Conference Tournament Championship game, as the Longhorns are 4-0 this season after beating St. Cloud last week (22-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-13 ). The Longhorns offensive attack has been led by sophomore Samantha Vickers and senior Alana Asante. Harmony also has a Friday match against Celebration.
First-year coach Lidvani Pereira-Paiva had Celebration off to a solid 4-3 start, with senior Sophie Fiore leading the team with 70 kills. Poinciana was 2-2 after a five-set win over Celebration. St. Cloud and Gateway were both 2-4; while Liberty (0-3) will seek their first win of the season this week when they play Lake Buena Vista (9/9) and Trinity Prep (9/10).
CROSS COUNTRY
Six of county’s eight school participated in last Saturday’s 2024 St. Cloud Invitational. In the boys 5K race, Lake Nona (Led by second place finisher Matt Rutan 16:44.32) placed three runners in the top 10 to win the team title with 66 points. St. Cloud was an impressive second (100 points) led by five top 25 finishes by Isaiah Casiana (11th – 17:35), Jayden Chofooklun (21sr-18:28), Luis Rivera (23rd-18:38.09), Brody Ansbaugh (24th -18:39.09), and Adon Elienist (25th-18:41.95).
Top finishers for other county schools included Poinciana’s Levi Lee (5th-16:52.14); Harmony’s Riley Ramirez (11th-17:33); Gateway’s Xavier Ramirez (13th-17:44.19), Celebration’s Leandro Torres-Jojoa (18th-18:11.6) and Osceola’s Ethan Ortiz (56th-20:15).
Harmony (112), St. Cloud (116) and Celebration (123) went 3-4-5 in the team competition on the girls side, trailing champion Windemere (43) and second-place Lakeland (74). Top 10 finishers included: Emma Wilkinson (Lakeland Christian – 18:50.06), Arabella Duffell (Lake Nona- 19:00.05); Ava Lack (Windermere- 20:21.48 ); Lailana Decker (St. Cloud -20:30.93 ); Annabella Ekebergh (Windermere-20:40.97); Ryann Lange( Windermere- 21:06.03); Claire Reburn (Celebration – 21:21.52); Lily Crevasse
(Windermere-21:53.62); Lauren Bayes (Lakeland Christian-22:02.74) AND Cadence Edwards
(Harmony-22:14.63).
FOOTBALL
In this week’s feature game, Osceola (2-1) meets St. Cloud (2-1) in the 101st edition of “The Game,” the fifth oldest rivalry in Florida and one of the oldest in the entire nation. Check back on PositivelyOsceola.com later this week for a complete preview of this game, where Osceola is riding a 18-game winning streak in the series and holds a 69-27 -4 overall advantage.
Osceola ran its record to 2-1 on the season with an impressive 21-7 win over 2024 playoff team South Dade. Taevion Swint, coming off a shoulder injury, saw limited action but still ran for two touchdowns and the Osceola defense nearly pitched a shutout — allowing a late touchdown in the game that was aided by two personal foul penalties.
Liberty (1-1) trailed Oak Ridge, 6-0 at halftime before a severe thunderstorm wiped out the second half of their game last Friday. The teams will meet Monday night to play the second half, before the Chargers host Freedom on Friday night.
In another game that ended at halftime because of weather, Celebration (1-2) picked up its first win of the season with a 21-6 victory over Lake Region, The Storm got touchdown passes from Landon Yaw and James Wise-Pauley and a defensive score on a fumble return in the win. The Storm hit their bye week and will return to action at Space Coast on Sept. 20.
Poinciana (3-0) remained the only undefeated team in Osceola County, getting a first-ever win over St. Cloud (19-7) in a game that was also halted in the fourth quarter due to lightning. Quarterback Cameron Brown was once again the star of the show, throwing for 215 yards and one score (to Chance Frazier) and running for 119 yards and two more scores.
It was the first 3-0 start in school history for the Eagles, that have only had two non-losing seasons in their 34-year history. The Eagles will have a tough challenge this week when they host Evans (1-1), a team that beat Haines City (26-0) in its opener, lost to state power Apopka (6-0) in Week 2. Evans Week 3 game with power Jones was moved to Monday night because of weather.
Harmony (0-3) had its offensive struggles again, falling to Sebastian River (23-7) on the road. They host Bayside (2-1) on Friday.
Gateway will look for its second win of the season when they play at Lake Region this week. The Panthers recorded their first football win and first shutout since Oct. 10, 2022 when they white-washed Cypress Creek, 12-0. Although the Panthers have struggled in recent seasons, there is hope for the future as the Panthers three standouts in the game RB Nydrell Thigpen, WR Johnny Reyes and QB AJ Spann are all freshmen.
“I was so happy for our kids to finally get a win,” Gateway coach Marlin Roberts said. “So many of these guys have taken their lumps but they continued to work hard and play hard. This team is really young, but we have some talent and hopefully they will continue to work and grow as a unit.”
Tohopekaliga (2-1) is idle this week after a tough 26-14 loss to Hagerty (Read that recap here: https://www.positivelyosceola.com/hagerty-huskies-run-past-tohopekaliga-tigers-26-14-friday-night/ ),
GOLF
The St. Cloud Lady Bulldogs had a pair of matches last week, losing to state power Viera on the road (168-181) but defeated rival Harmony (173-197). Sophomore Maddie Burdie shot 41 to lead St. Cloud against Viera, junior Karolyna Adams shot 44. Adams and Burda shot matching 39s in the Harmony win; freshman Melanie Cherpady was low for the Longhorns with a 44; senior Aryana Persaud was at 45.
