By: J, Daniel Pearson
In the sport of volleyball, the Lady Kowboys kept rolling with a pair of victories in regional play last week and are now just one game away from earning a spot in the Final Four in Class 7A. On the football side, Osceola High is in position to secure home field advantage through at least the first two rounds of the FHSAA Class 6A Football Playoffs; while St. Cloud—currently riding a three-game winning streak – finds itself with a chance to secure an at-large playoff bid in 7A Region 3. That’s not all the sports happening however, district competition is scheduled this week in golf and cross country. Here is a look in and around Osceola County High School sports scene:
VOLLEYBALL
Osceola (23-4) will attempt to reach the FHSAA 7A Final Four for a second time in three years and just the second time in school history when it hosts Vero Beach (19-4) in the Region 2 Finals on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
It will be a battle of the top two seeds in the region.
“Obviously when you get to this stage, every team is pretty good. I don’t know a ton about them as we haven’t played them this year, nor have I seen them in any tournaments this year,” Osceola coach Carrie Palmi said. “From what I understand they are a really tall, athletic team and looking at their schedule they have played some good competition this year with limited losses. The important thing will be for us to play our game.”
Against common opponents (Harmony, Bishop Moore, Holy Trinity Episcopal, and Bishop Moore), Vero Beach went 3-1 this year; while Osceola was 5-0. The Lady Kowboys enter the match on a strong run, riding an eight match winning streak, sweeping through the Orange Belt Conference Tournament, District Tournament and first two rounds of regionals — not dropped a set (24-0) along the way.
Last week, Osceola swept Windermere in the regional quarters (25-12, 25-13, 25-15) and came back on Saturday beating West Orange (16-5) in the semifinals (25-14, 25-20, 25-18). Juniors Cate Palmi (17 kills, 6 aces) and Jordin Southall (12 kills) led the way in the West Orange win.
Vero Beach reaches the regional final after dispatching Harmony in three sets in the quarterfinals and taking a 22-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 victory over Olympia in the semifinals. Sophomore OH Ella Gravlee (292 kills on season) highlights a Vero roster that includes four players 6-2 or taller.
FOOTBALL
With its 29-8 win over Harmony in the Soldier City Classic and Lake Nona’s 17-0 victory over Tohopekaliga, St. Cloud has a chance to slip past Tohopekaliga for the eighth and final playoff spot in Class 7A, Region 3. The Bulldogs took sole possession of second place in District 10 and will most likely move past the Tigers when the new ratings come out on Tuesday.
St. Cloud, 5-4, concludes its regular season on Wednesday, Nov. 6 – hosting Ridge Community (5-3). “Our goal is to win that last game, get into the playoffs and then try to keep it going,” St. Cloud coach Mike Short said. “I do believe we are playing our best football of the year right now at the end of the season and that’s what you want to see from your team.”
Behind another strong running performance from Taevion Swint, Osceola won its fourth straight game with a big road win over Lake Wales, the 13th ranked team in Class 4A by a 28-17 count. Osceola trailed 10-7 at the half, but went on a 21-0 run in the second half to take control of the game.
Swint rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns – brining his season totals to 980 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns on just 104 carries (8.6 average). Alijah Jenkins caught a touchdown pass and Jeff Banks blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for another score to account for the Osceola scores.
The Kowboys came into the game ranked second in their region and will play their final home game of the season against St. Petersburg Lakewood. A win most likely lock up the number two seed for Osceola and insure the Kowboys would be at home for the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Tohopekaliga (4-4) had a Week 7 game with Master’s Academy postponed due to Hurricane Milton and with that small private school involved Sunshine State Athletic Association playoffs, there is no room on the schedule to make up that game. The Tigers conclude their regular season at home against Avon Park on Friday. A win would make Tohopekaliga bowl eligible and head coach Anthony Paradiso said he would like to find an opponent and play a post-season game.
Fresh off their 47-8 win over Liberty in the Battle of the Boulevard, Poinciana (6-2) will have a chance to reach seven wins for just the second time in school history (8-2 in 2022) when they host Timber Creek (1-7) on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Eagles will play their hurricane delayed make-up game with Auburndale (5-3) on Thursday, Nov. 7. With Poinciana’s independent status making them ineligible for the state playoffs, Coach Taron Mallard says the school is working on a possible bowl game match-up with fellow independent Windermere (9-0) the following week.
Other games Friday will see Gateway (3-5) hosting Lake Placid tonight (Monday, 7 p.m.) in its hurricane delayed game before closing out its season on Friday at home against Celebration (2-7). The Panthers will have a chance to get to five wins for the first time since 2018. Liberty (2-6) host Lake Buena Vista (3-5) and Harmony (2-7) closes its season on the road against Colonial (3-6).
GOLF
Royal St. Cloud Golf Club will be the host of FHSAA Class 3A, District 6 Tournament for both the girls (Monday, Oct. 28) and boys (Tuesday, Oct, 29) tournaments. County schools St. Cloud, Harmony, Celebration and Tohopekaliga will compete in the tournaments.
To advance to regionals as a team, a top three finish in districts is required. The St. Cloud boys and girls teams – which each won OBC Championships last week – will be favored to advance to regionals with the boys being highest ranked team in the district; while the girls are expected to battle for second place behind powerful Lake Nona.
Led by OBC Champion and senior Espn Pool, the St. Cloud boys are a deep team this year with four players capable of shooting around par or better. Pool won the OBC Tournament last week with a nifty, 4-under 68 despite missing 10 greens on the day. “If we play our best, I like our chances of getting out of districts,” Pool said. “We have a pretty deep team and we have pushed each other all season. Playing districts on our home course is a big plus.”
Led by OBC Champion Karolyna Adams (Jr.), the Lady Bulldogs have advanced to the state tournament for the last three years but will have their hands full after losing some key players to graduation from last year. In addition to the top three teams, the top two individuals on non-qualifying teams, will also advance to regionals.
CROSS COUNTRY
After winning both the boys and girls Orange Belt Conference cross country championships last week (read here: https://www.positivelyosceola.com/st-cloud-sweeps-obc-cross-country-championships-as-decker-and-lee-defend-individual-titles/ ), St. Cloud will attempt to qualify for next round when they compete at the Class 4A, District 3 Championships at Osceola High School on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The top eight teams from each district move on to Region 1 Championship at the Bolles School in Jacksonville on Friday, Nov. 8.
Based on year-long performance, the Bulldog boys are currently ranked fourth in the district and should advance to regionals without too much trouble. The Lady Bulldogs are currently ranked 8th in their district and will have a battle to move on. “Barring any real surprise, I would think our boys have a pretty solid chance to make regionals,” St. Cloud coach Kevin Harkema said. “The girls district is pretty deep and we are going to have to run well to move on.”
ST. CLOUD LEADS OBC ALL-SPORTS TITLE CHASE
Winning OBC Championships in golf (boys and girls) and cross country (boys and girls), St. Cloud jumped on top of the Orange Belt Conference All-Sports Trophy race for the 2024-25 school year.
In all, points were collected in the fall sports of swimming, cross country, volleyball and golf and with 32 points collected last week for their four team championships (points are earned on a 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis), the Bulldogs are in first place with 48 points, followed by Harmony (46), Celebration (44) and Gateway (35). Tohopekaliga is fifth (30) and Osceola (22) sixth.
Because district play does not permit a round robin in football and with less than five county schools sponsoring bowling, those FHSAA sports are not calculated in the OBC All-Sports rankings.
Harmony has won the last four All-Sports trophies and nine of the last 13.
“Last week was a great week for the Bulldogs with four team champions and three individual champions and are pleased to be in first place through the fall sports,” St. Cloud Athletics Director Bryan Smart said. “We have a great rivalry with the Longhorns and would love to unseat them as All-Sports champions and we’re off to a great start, but there’s obviously a long way to go.”
In addition to St. Cloud’s four team championships in golf and cross country, Celebration won two team titles in swimming and Osceola took the volleyball championship. Harmony had no team championships in the fall, but was the model of consistency with five second place finishes and also finished no lower than fourth in any of the seven contested sports.
OBC All-Sports points for winter sports will be up for grabs in basketball (boys and girls), weightlifting (girls), wrestling (boys and girls), competitive cheer, and soccer (boys and girls).
