By Dan Pearson
An Orange Belt Conference champion will be crowned in both boys and girls wrestling on Wednesday; while a multitude of county teams will chase district championships in soccer during a busy week of Winter Sports around Osceola County. Here is a rundown of what is going on:
BOY’S SOCCER
At least one district champion will come from Osceola County on Wednesday (1/29) when #2 Harmony (7-10) hosts top-seeded Celebration (12-3-1) at 6 p.m. at “The Ranch” in the Class 7A, District 7 Final. Celebration dispatched Poinciana 4-0 in the semifinals; while the Longhorns took a hard-fought 2-1 win over arch-rival St. Cloud in the other semi. Led in scoring by seniors Armando Fonseca-Monslalve and Victor Mora, Celebration has been a state power in boys soccer for more than a decade. They enter the contest winners of five in a row and seven of their last eight.
Although the top seed in Class 5A, District 7, the Gateway Panthers (16-1-0) had their hands full in their semifinal game with Lake Buena Vista, needing penalty kicks to win after drawing 2-2 in regulation. The win sends the Panthers to the District Final Tuesday night (7 p.m.) against a good Innovation (10-5-4) squad. Gateway defeated Innovation, 3-1, in a regular season game back on Nov. 19.
GIRL’S SOCCER
Top-seeded Celebration (14-4-2) will host Harmony (11-5-1) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night (1/28) for the Class 7A, District 7 championship. The Storm advanced to the final on Friday with a dominating 8-0 win over Poinciana in the semifinals and comes into the district finals on a hot streak – being unbeaten in their last nine games (8-0-1). Harmony, the 2024-25 OBC Champions, reached the finals with a 4-1 win over St. Cloud and has won four of its last five. It will be the first meeting of the season between these two teams, with the winner automatically advancing to regionals.
Gateway kept its season alive on Friday with a 3-2 win over Lake Buena Vista. They have a tough task tonight (1/27) when they play at number one seed Innovation (13-0-2) a 7 p.m.
WRESTLING
Gateway High will be the host for both the boys and girls 2024-25 Orange Belt Conference Wrestling Championships on Wednesday afternoon beginning at 1:30 a.m. As has been the case in recent years, Osceola and Harmony are expected to battle for the boys’ title but this year may come with an unknown factor. Both squads have been ravaged by illness and injuries. At the State Dual regional tournament two weeks ago, Harmony had to forfeit four weight classes due to illness and injury – losing 24 team points in a close loss. Osceola ended up winning that event and advancing to the state tournament – but ended up forfeiting five weight classes (30 team points) in 55-21 loss to Wellington.
“It’s been a tough year,” Osceola coach Rick Tribit said of his team that has won the last two and 13 of the last 18 OBC titles. “We’re trying to get ready for a state championship last week and we were missing 5-7 starters each week day to illness. You simply can’t forfeit five weight classes and expect to have any chance.”
In one of the closest OBC Meets ever, Osceola edged Harmony last year, 222-217 despite the Longhorns placing more wrestlers in the finals (10-9) and posting more individual championships (6-5). The two depleted squads met in the District Dual Championships two weeks ago with Osceola coming away with a narrow win
Osceola won its third consecutive girls OBC title last season and is expected to battle Harmony for the team title this year.
