Osceola County High School Athletes Busy During Christmas Break

By: J. Daniel Pearson

While a lot of our local high school sports teams shut down for Christmas break, others were competing in tournaments held throughout the area.

In girls’ basketball, St. Cloud High came up with an impressive third place finish at the Jim Clark Invitational, which was held at Bishop Moore High School, Dec. 27-29. The Lady Bulldogs hammered Apopka in the first round, 69-32, before losing a nail-biter to Lake Mary, 49-46, in the semifinals. Dropping in to the third place game, the Dogs (12-4) easily dispatched Master’s Academy, 59-25. Lake Mary would defeat host Bishop Moore for the championship, 60-50.

“Overall, I don’t think we should have lost a game in that tournament,” coach Chad Ansbaugh said. “But we let the Lake Mary game slip away. They (Lake Mary) stayed together for the whole game and we didn’t in the final minutes.” Ansbaugh did praise the effort of senior center Haley Collins. “She was definitely the MVP of the tournament for us. She has been battling injuries all season but she is still playing the best basketball of her career.”

Heap Awarded at Powerade Wrestling Tournament

Despite being without a top player in Malayna Stevenson (ankle injury), the Gateway Panthers (8-2) continued on its winning ways with an impressive second place showing in the Tampa Christmas Classic. Gateway opened their tournament with a tight 46-45 win over Eagles Landing, the 24^th ranked team in Georgia 5A. They then slipped by Pt. Charlotte, 45-40, in the semifinals to set up a championship game against Monsignor McClancy (Queens, NY). In the opening win, Karyna Rivera led the Panthers with 25 points; while Alyssa Marino had 21 in game two.

In that title game, McClancy size and depth proved too much for the Panthers, as they fell 78-42. Marino (16 points) and Rivera (12) again led Gateway in scoring in that final.

The Harmony (5-4) girls’ team was idle last week but they defeated Freedom (40-23) and Mt. Dora Christian Academy (69-32) in the Cletus Stutzman Memorial Tournament. Ellah Husbands and Dalie Velez made the All-Tournament Team for the Longhorns, with Husbands also earning Tournament MVP honors.

In boys’ basketball, Harmony (10-2) put on a strong showing in winning the Vero Beach Holiday Hoopla Tournament – beating Centennial (66-61), Tocoi Creek (75-61) and Davenport (66-44) in the pre-Christmas tournament held Dec. 21-23. The Longhorns will take a five-game winning streak into the New Year.

St. Cloud (7-4) took part in the boys’ version of the Tampa Christmas Classic, which was held at Wiregrass Ranch High School. The Bulldogs dropped their opener to Monsignor McClancy (58-51) and then dropped their first consolation contest to a good Davie (Fla.) Western program, 61-40. In the seventh place game, the Bulldogs – behind Alex Springs and Diomar Ortiz – defeated Perry Springs (KY), 64-60. Josiah Cotto made a clutch free throw with one second left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

Tohopekaliga lost a regular season game at Seminole, 83-45, on Friday night to fall to 2-6 this season. The Tigers will attempt to right the ship with games against St. Cloud and Satellite Beach this week.

Gateway evened its boys’ basketball record at 5-5 this season with an impressive showing at the Father Lopez Shootout in Jacksonville. The event was not a tournament per se, but the Panthers defeated host Father Lopez 59-49 and Flagler Palm Coast, 59-55; before dropping a game to powerful Jacksonville Episcopal (12-1), 58-33.

“It was a solid event for us,” Gateway coach Travis James said. “We won two close games and then stayed within five points of Episcopal in our last game but they were just too big and too strong for us to hang with in the second half. They are a great three-point shooting team and will definitely be a contender to make the Final Four in their class this year.”

The Panthers have three games this week, including a key matchup with Harmony on Friday night. It will be the first game Gateway will play in their new gym.

Coming off their impressive win in the Kowboys Invitational before Christmas (Read about that win here: https://www.positivelyosceola.com/poinciana-eagles-take-home-title-in-kowboys-invitational-basketball-classic/ ), Poinciana dropped a regular season game to Medina (Ohio) on Wednesday, 60-42. The Eagles, 7-3, play twice this week.

Last week, Osceola took a small contingent of wrestlers to the prestigious Powerade Holiday Tournament in Cannonsburg, Pa. – just outside of Pittsburgh. The event featured 69 teams, including some of the top wrestlers in the nation.

Wrestling at 145, Anderson Heap was Osceola’s top finisher, taking a fourth place finish. Heap opened the tournament with a pin of Logan Rodgers (Hickory, Pa.) and then an 11-4 decision over Billy Tyler (Brentsville, Va.). He then advanced to the round of eight with a win over 8^th seeded Eli Carr (Hempfield, Pa.) by a 7-1 count. Dreams of a title would come to an end in the semifinals, where Heap would lose a 6-0 decision to Pierson Manville from State College, the #1 ranked wrestler in the nation at 145. Heap would rebound with a 5-3 sudden overtime victory over Evan Petrovich to reach the third place match. Heap would then lose a tough 3-0 decision to Alex Nini (Christian Brothers Academy, NJ), the 17^th ranked wrestler nationally his weight class.

Although they did not make the podium at the ultra-competitive tournament, freshman Adaias Ortiz went 4-2 at 114-lbs., Gunner Holland went 3-2 overall and just missed an opportunity to make the podium when he lost 1-0 decision Hunter Hohman (Grove City, Pa.) in the consolation round. Nathaniel Cabrera won two matches at 160 for Osceola.

This week several county teams will participate in the FHSAA District Duals competition. The top two teams in each district will advance to regionals the following weekend.

THIS WEEK’S VARSITY SCHEDULE

Tuesday, Jan. 2