Diomar Ortiz drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key with 2.7 seconds left to give St. Cloud a 54-52 upset road win over top-seeded Harmony – sending the Bulldogs to Friday’s 2024 Orange Belt Conference Championship game.

St. Cloud (15-5) will square off against Poinciana (12-4) at 7 p.m. Friday night in the neutral site championship game at Celebration.  Seeded second, the Eagles reached the title game with a convincing 58-42 win over Osceola.  The championship game will be preceded by a third place game between the Kowboys and Longhorns at 5 p.m.

Ortiz’s shot capped a big comeback for the Bulldogs, who trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half.  

Harmony, who led the game from the beginning and for all but the final four total minutes, used a 9-2 run to start the third quarter and build a 40-26 lead.  But from there, the Bulldogs began to chip away.  Malaki Baker hit a three from the top of the key and Alex Springs and Josiah Cotto scored buckets down the stretch as St. Cloud cut the deficit to five (36-31) after three quarters.

Springs and Baker would key the comeback in the fourth.  

Springs would score seven of his game-high 19 in the period and Baker came up with six points and three huge blocks in the period.  St. Cloud tied the game at 49-49 on a Springs’ jumper and then took the lead on a Josiah Cotto basket 54 seconds later.

Vlad Torrado hit one of two free throws to pull the Longhorns within one, but they failed to take to the lead when Baker had two big blocked shots on back-to-back possessions.  After a St. Cloud miss, Harmony grabbed the lead on a Sylus Cory layup with 30 seconds remaining.

That play set up a wild finish.

Springs missed a short jumper but Cotto wrestled for the rebound on the floor, forcing a tie-up.   St. Cloud retained the ball with the possession arrow with nine second left.  Sam Perez took the inbound pass, swung it over to Ortiz, who calmly hit nothing but net for the game-winner.

“Our plan was to try to prevent Harmony from getting off to a fast start and they did it both at the beginning of the game and to start the third period,” St. Cloud coach Tommy Billiteri said.  “Fortunately we kept our composure and I can’t say enough about how we kept our focus and battled back the entire game. Alex (Springs) and Malaki (Baker) were definitely the key.”

In addition to Springs’ 19 points, Baker – a 6-4 sophomore – scored nine points and had three blocks.  “I personally believe Alex is the best player in the county,” Billiteri said.  “Malaki just keeps improving every week, he certainly a player we can build around in the future.”

The win gave St. Cloud the season series over Harmony (16-4), as the two split two games earlier this year with the Longhorns winning 54-47 on Dec. 1 and St. Cloud taking a 49-42 win on Jan. 10.   More importantly, the Bulldogs two victories in the OBC title insures that St. Cloud will finish with a winning record for the first time in more than two decades and will give them a shot at their first OBC Boys Basketball Championship.

“It will be the first time this year we’ve faced Poinciana,” Billiteri said about Friday’s upcoming game.  “I don’t know a ton about them but from what I understand they are a senior-led team and are real athletic.  We’ll try to put a scouting report together quickly and get ready to play another really good team.”

Harmony, which fell to 16-4 with the loss, played the game without senior starter Frans Richardson, who was injured in practice on Tuesday.  They were led in scoring by Jeremy Penner and Cory with 12 points each; Torrado had 10 and Noah Tribe chipped in nine.  For the game, the Longhorns shot 46 percent (19 for 41).

“I thought we played a pretty good game tonight.  We stuck to our game plan and took good shots,” Harmony coach Duke Leonardo said.  “I do think we missed Richardson a lot tonight.  We’re not as deep this year and with him out, I tried to ride our starters for almost all of the fourth quarter.  I think that was probably a mistake on my part, it was obvious we were pretty tired and worn out at the end of the game.

‘But we need to get over this in a hurry because there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves.  Although we are not playing for the title, we have a big rematch with Osceola on Friday and that’s a team we most likely will also see again in district play.”

OBC Tournament Results

Monday Quarterfinals

• St. Cloud 47, Gateway 40
• Harmony 63, Celebration 42
• Osceola 69, Tohopekaliga 60
• Poinciana 63, Liberty 35

Wednesday Semifinals

• St. Cloud 54, Harmony 52  
• Poinciana 58, Osceola 42
• Gateway 46, Celebration 33

Thursday Consolation Games

• 7^th Place:  Celebration at Liberty, 7 p.m.
• 5^th Place:  Tohopekaliga at Gateway, 7 p.m.

Friday Championship Round (at Celebration)

• 3^rd Place Game:  Osceola vs. Harmony, 5 p.m.
• Championship:  St. Cloud vs. Poinciana, 7 p.m.

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The tournament opened Monday with all the top seeds advancing as #1 Harmony defeated Liberty (14-0); #2 Gateway got by Osceola (8-0), #3 Celebration took down Poinciana (9-0) and #4 St. Cloud beat Tohopekaliga (5-0).

Led by midfielders Rebekah Wiles and Brynn Magner, top-seeded Harmony is coming off a 9-6-1 season.   Coach Scott Marlega has an experienced group of seniors and says his team is confident heading into the tournament.  “We want to compete for both an OBC and District championship and we certainly believe we have the experience and talent to do so.”

After early season losses to Celebration and St. Cloud, Jorge Molina’s Gateway squad took a three-game winning streak into the tournament as the number two seed.  During that win streak they have out-scored the opposition, 24-0.

Celebration enters the OBC tournament as the hottest team in the county.  Rebecca Camis’ team had won six in row since dropping a 2-0 decision to Freedom back on Nov. 8.  The high-scoring Storm are led by senior Erin Ozyurek (10 goals) and sophomore Ellie Armstrong (9 goals).

“We have an outstanding mixture of experienced players and young talent,” Camis said.  “We’re off to a really strong start and continue to build on the new culture we started to establish last year.  We are hoping for a strong showing at OBCs this week as build to the post-season.”

Celebration took a 4-0 mark against county opposition into the OBC tournament.

Behind young midfielders Natalie Ocampo (freshman) and Sophia Hernandez (sophomore), Kristi Ford continues to build a young but talented Tohopekaliga squad.

“We have a very young and energetic team this year,” Ford said.  “They are bonding and working well together as a team with total support for each other. Although we lost our starting goalkeeper to a torn ACL right before our season started, Melina Swaisgood has stepped into the starter’s role and is certainly up to the challenge. This is a great building year for the Lady tigers and we are super excited to watch as this team hopefully will grow, play and win together– both on and off the field.”

Despite losing some talented seniors off of last year’s team, long-time St. Cloud coach Shawn Beck believes the Bulldogs have a chance to compete for both the OBC title and a district crown.  Midfielder Karen Prado; centerbacks Delia MacDonald and Natalia Martinez; and forward Sofia Hauser are his top returning players.

2023 Orange Belt Conference Tournament Schedule

Monday, Dec. 5

Game 1:  Harmony 14, Liberty 0

Game 2: Gateway 8, Osceola 0

Game 3: Celebration 9, Poinciana 0

Game 4: St. Cloud 5, Tohopekaliga 0

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From toe tapping touchdowns to the corner of the end zone, to gritty interceptions, the Longhorns brought their “A” game on St. Cloud’s home field. The Longhorns move to 8-1, undefeated in OBC play, while the Bulldogs, who as the 2021 OBC Champion, made it as far as the FHSAA Regional Semifinals in 2021, drop to 4-3. District tournaments will take place April 25-29. #OsceolaSports

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“A total team victory,” Celebration head coach Kelly Walton said. “In winning three straight OBC titles our senior class was so special, both in the points and leadership they provide.”

Costa and Sukhorukev won three gold medals each. Costa, an all-state performer in the 100-back last year, was dominating in his two individual events—winning the 200-IM in 2:03.75 by more than 14 seconds over second-place finisher Delyn McDonald of Gateway (2:17.90) and taking his specialty, the 100-back, in 0:54.52 by more than seven seconds over Harmony’s Bryan Wong (1:02.28). Costa also joined Brandon Cunningham, Greg Kamensky and Sukhorukev in winning the 400-free relay in 3:25.35.

Sukhorukev’s individual races were much closer. Seeded third in the 200-free, he edged Harmony’s top seed Alexander Tanon by just 15/100th of a second in winning with 1:57.57 time. He also won the 100-breast (1:04.66), less than a second in front of St. Cloud’s Aydan McNulty (1:05.53).

Harmony did not win an individual event but saw its 200-Medley Relay team of Bryan Wong, Nathan Smith, Tanon and Hunter Boro take first. Tanon was a key to the Longhorns’ second-place finish. In addition to the relay and second place in the 200-free; he also took second in the 500-free and second in the 400-free relay to capture four medals overall.

Osceola’s Anthony Ambrosi had two impressive victories, with wins in the 50 and 100-free. Ambrosi (21.94) out-touched Celebration’s Brandon Cunningham (22.11) by 17/100th of a second in the 50-free and then doubled four events later by winning the 100-free (49.64) over Celebration’s Greg Kamensky (50.18).

Other individual winners in the boys’ meet were Gateway’s Delyn McDonald in the 100-fly (54.90) and Osceola’s Noah Maniace (5:24.11) in the 500-free. St. Cloud’s Silas Corchado (215.90) won the 1-meter diving competition which was contested the night before.

Osceola public schools will compete in district meets that begin Oct. 21; with regionals beginning Nov. 1. The state championships will be held in The FHSAA Class 4A Championship will be held Nov. 13 and the Class 3A Championship on Nov. 14 at the Sailfish Splash Waterpark and Aquatics Center in Stuart, Fla.

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The high school football regular season begins tonight, albeit with a few changes to address COVID-19 protocols, and here are eight games to watch in 2021.

St. Cloud at Osceola (Monday, September 27)
One of the oldest rivalries in the state of Florida and the nation, these two schools will meet for the 98th time in Week 1 of the regular season. For history alone, this makes this one of the must-see games of 2021. But this rivalry has lost some luster as Osceola has totally dominated the series of late and leads 66-27-4 overall. “To be honest, it has not been much of a rivalry of late,” Head Coach Bryan Smart said last year. “You have to be competitive to be a rivalry.” St. Cloud last won on the field in 2010, 41-35, a game that would later be forfeited. Still the historical significance of this game should not be ignored. The teams have met every year since 1925, except when World War II forced the cancellation of the 1942 game. There have been some memorable games in this series too. Back in 1999, Osceola (9-0) hosted St. Cloud (8-0) and more than 7000 fans came to see a Kowboys win.

Viera at Harmony (Oct. 1)
Playing a ton of sophomores last season, Harmony rallied from a 0-4 start to win four of their final five. Still a young team, the Longhorns have put themselves in a position to possibly battle for a district championship this season. Viera was a solid 7-4 playoff team last year and this game could go a long way in determining the Class 7A, District 7 crown.

Celebration at Tohopekaliga (Oct. 8)
This game is a non-district matchup of two teams under first-year coaches. Both Rich Pringle of Celebration and Jeff Higgins of Tohopekaliga are first-year coaches looking to put a stamp on their respective programs. Since its founding in 2003, Celebration football program has struggled mightily with a few exceptions. Tohopekaliga has had two winning seasons in its first three years of existence but is also on its third head coach in four years.

Gateway at St. Cloud (Oct. 8)
Across town from Tohopekaliga, an interesting game will take place between St. Cloud and Gateway. Bulldog head coach Bryan Smart and Panther Head Coach Marlin Roberts have served at their two schools longer than any other current coaches in Osceola County and they are close friends. The two schools traded victories in the series for more than half a decade until the Bulldogs won the last two. Smart and Roberts have each won three times in the last six games.

Dr. Phillips at Osceola (Oct. 15)
Long considered Central Florida football powers, Osceola and Dr. Phillips have met numerous times in the post-season, most recently in the Class 8A Regional Semifinals in 2019, where the Kowboys came away with a 20-7 win. But this year’s regular-season matchup has added significance because both teams found themselves in the same district this year (Class 8A, District 9), with the winner getting a leg up in the race for the district title.

Osceola at West Orange (Oct. 22)
A tough two-week stretch for the Kowboys concludes when Osceola travels to West Orange to meet the upstart Warriors. Under head coach Michael Granato, West Orange had a turnaround season last year, losing a tough 38-21 regular-season finale to Jones high school before recording a pair of shutouts in the playoffs – beating Ocoee (38-0) and Spruce Creek (26-0) before falling to Apopka in the regional finals (18-9). The new district with Osceola, Dr. Phillips, and West Orange is considered the toughest in the state with three teams that finished in the top 10 last year in the 8A power rankings.

Harmony at St. Cloud (Oct. 29)
Without question, the Soldier City Classic has replaced Osceola vs. St. Cloud as the most intense rivalry in the county. When Harmony opened in 2004, more than half of its first group of students were siphoned off from St. Cloud High School, creating a natural rivalry. And it has been a good one. When Patrick Forsythe scored on a 60-yard run in the fourth quarter to cement a 21-17 win for the Bulldogs, it evened the all-time series at eight games each. “The Osceola game has the history, but Harmony is our biggest rival,” Bulldogs head coach Bryan Smart said. “The proximity of the schools, the fact these kids continue to play in the same youth sports league before high school, and the fact that it has been a close and great rivalry has made this the one regular-season game where the regular-season records do not matter. It is the big game on our schedules.”

Liberty at Poinciana (Nov. 11)
These two schools conclude their regular season with the annual Battle of the Boulevard. This rivalry has been lopsided in Liberty’s favor as the Chargers have won all 14 games in the series. Other than an 18-16 win in the inaugural game, the Chargers have also been dominating winning every other game by double digits. Liberty has outscored Poinciana in the series by a 620-186 margin. But regardless of the lopsided nature of the series, this game is the biggest game of the season for both schools. Similar to the Harmony-St. Cloud situation, most of the students in Liberty’s first-class came from Poinciana. That factor, along with the close proximity of the two schools, makes this a game to watch.

By J. Daniel Pearson
For Positively Osceola

J. Daniel Pearson, a long-time resident of Osceola County, has joined Positively Osceola as a freelance contributor. His JD’s Monday Morning Musings column will be a regular feature and he will be covering events for us throughout the year. Dan is a former Public Relations Specialist for Florida State University, Boardwalk and Baseball, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the Orlando Predators, and other professional sports teams and has been a freelance reporter to many newspapers in the state.

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County Athletic Director Ryan Adams said he sent word to athletic directors this week with a rough draft of what summer conditioning will look like in pandemic prevention world. More official guidelines will come next week, he said.

“It’s about being ready to go July 27, it’s a six-week process to avoid physical problems related to inactivity,” Adams said, noting the official start of fall 2020 practices for sports like football, volleyball, swimming, cross country and golf, which the FHSAA still says it’s still on track for.

In a normal year — Remember normal? Vaguely? — weight rooms and facilities would be allowed to be available for open workouts over the summer.

Celebration Athletic Director Rick Tribit said he and other ADs got a four-page document that included guidelines like hand sanitizing stations “everywhere”, limits on sizes of groups, separation of groups, and that the first two weeks will be exclusively conditioning and not sport-specific workouts.

Like businesses reopening, athletes will be on a phased program, Adams said. For example, athletes who start participating on July 1 will have to start from the first phase.

Students will also have to have completely filled out paperwork and active physicals to participate. Instead of being good for a full school year, physicals now expire 365 days from when they’re done.

These workouts are also voluntary, but Celebration High football Coach Jay Sobke thinks participation will be pretty good.

“The kids want to do something, especially after being off on their own for a couple months, and parents want them out of the house,” Sobke said.

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Both are juniors and have links to the award. Inyang, a three-sport athlete at St. Cloud in volleyball, basketball, and track and field, was also the county’s Player of the Year in 2019.

Hines, a 2020 Class 3A state champion wrestler after two runner-up state finishes, continues a family legacy. His older brother Malyke, a multiple state champion and now a collegiate wrestler at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, is a prior OBC Male Athlete of the Year.

Among the other awards announced Tuesday:

Female Academic Student Athlete of the Year: Emmalee Stephens, Liberty High: Stpehens is a three-sport athlete (volleyball, weightlifting, and softball), and has a 4.0 unweighted/4.58 weighted GPA.  She plans to attend the University of Florida.

Male Academic Student Athlete of the Year: Elijah Fielding-Gunn, Harmony High: Gunn is a two-sport athlete (football and track and field), and has a 4.0 unweighted/4.66 weighted GPA.  He plans to attend the University of Central Florida.

Mike Fields Distinguished Leadership Award: Scott Marlega, Harmony High (Girls’ Soccer and Unified Basketball): This award is named after Coach Fields who was an educator, coach, athletic director, and community leader in Osceola County.  Academic performance and sportsmanship were attributes of his professional career.

OBC Athletic Director of the Year: Rick Tribit, Celebration High

Top Female Academic Team: Girls’ Cross Country at Gateway High —  3.85 GPA

Top Male Academic Team: Boys’ Tennis at Harmony High — 3.73 GPA

Overall Academic GPA Champions: Harmony High with a 3.41 GPA – This is the school’s eighth championship since 2010.

Orange Belt Conference All Sport Champion: St. Cloud Bulldogs – This is the school’s eleventh championship since 1987. Standings included the fall and winter seasons only.

Last week the District announced that St. Cloud boys soccer coach Weylan Craig and Liberty softball coach Kathrin Pennanan were voted the M. Dean Cherry Co-Coaches of the Year.

“I am extremely proud to recognize these individuals for their amazing accomplishments,” said Ryan Adams, Coordinator of Athletics for the Osceola School District. “The Osceola School District is home to tremendous student athletes, coaches, and sports programs that promote excellence in the classroom, in competition, and in life.”

The Osceola County School Board believes strongly in the benefits of athletics to positively impact students and schools both inside and outside of the classroom.

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This week, January Jostling has come to Osceola County.

The Orange Belt Conference boys basketball tournament started Tuesday at the sites of four higher seeds at 7 p.m.

Osceola, the reigning Class 9A state champion (the state pared back to seven classes this year) and the defending OBC champion when the standings were based on regular-season play, is the No. 1 seed by virtue of being ranked No. 36 in the state by MaxPreps.

The losers bracket and semifinals will be played today at Tohopekaliga, at 2, 3:45, 5:30 and 7:30.

A 73-61 win over Liberty on Tuesday put the Kowboys (14-4) in the 7:30 semifinal  against Celebration (7-8), who beat St. Cloud, 61-48, last night.

Gateway (a 57-47 winner over Tohopekaliga Tuesday) and Poinciana (a 47-28 winner over Harmony) will play in the 5:30 semifinal.

The fifth and seventh-place games will be at St. Cloud on Thursday at 5 and 7 p.m., and the third-place and championship games will be Friday at Tohopekaliga at 5:30 and 7:30.

The top seeds have already tangled this season, with Osceola besting Poinciana, 58-43.

This will be the fourth bracketed team sport tourney held in the county this year. St. Cloud’s had a great run, finishing runner-up to Osceola in the fall’s volleyball tournament that went to an epic five-set final and sweeping the boys soccer (in November) and girls soccer (last week) tournaments.

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The Osceola Kowboys host Tampa Newsome for the District 7A-6 championship, and a win would give OHS five titles in a row.

St. Cloud host Viera in the 6A-10 final, and the Bulldogs are looking for their first district banner since 2000.

And Gateway, which has never won a district volleyball title, will play for the 5A-11 crown at Palm Bay Bayside on Thursday at 6 p.m. after beating Bayside Tuesday in straight sets.

The Panthers (14-10) will face No. 1 seed Merritt Island (22-6).

Osceola (24-1) earned their spot with a smooth win over Davenport Ridge, 25-10, 25-18, 25-16, in Tuesday’s 7A-6 semifinal. The Kowboys played Newsome (10-10) on Sept. 17, and won in three sets.

It wasn’t as easy for the Bulldogs (18-4) Tuesday. They had to play a bitter rival, Harmony, for the right to play for a title, and it wasn’t as smooth.

The upset-minded Longhorns (11-13) took leads to start the first two sets and proved to be quite the thorn in Coach Ettie Singleton’s team before the Bulldogs settled down, settled in and settled the match in four sets, 25-11, 23-25, 25-11, 25-19. Senior setter Janleen De Jesus was the distributor, notching 25 assists.

St. Cloud will play Viera on Thursday at 7 p.m. — and Coach Ettie wants everybody to come out.

Harmony scored the first four points of the match — and St. Cloud scored 16 of the next 18 to win the first set. But, showing resolve, the Longhorns opened a lead in the second behind the hitting of Alanys Rodriguez, Autumn Rogers and Caroline Munns, and won all the big points at the end to take the second.

From there the team leaned on its experience. From the rock-solid defense of Brooke Singleton, who played in the entire rotation, to setters Kaylee Tutor and Jazmin Santiago and the the front line of Abbie Tutor, Paige Alise and Eno Inyang flipped the win switch and took care of business over the final two sets.

“We made the decision among ourselves to just come out and play our way,” Inyang said. 

Coach Singleton her team showed “the good and the bad” all in one match.

“We struggled in the second set. It happens,” she said. “We had control of the momentum in the first and third sets, and if we can do that on Thursday, we have a chance.

“We knew playing Harmony for this would be hard. We played them last week, and they always give us a fight.”

“We knew they would come at us with a lot of fight,” Kaylee Tutor said. “Now that we passed this hurdle, we are so excited to try to win the district championship.”

Abbie Tutor is one of the team’s few seniors, but said there’s enough experienced out there to stay focused and in the moment. 

“This team does a good job of seeing the bigger picture,” she said when asked about the team’s attitude after Harmony tied the match in the second set.

Harmony won a district quarterfinal match Monday against Melbourne in three sets.

Thursday’s winners will claim a playoff spot and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The four teams in each region who don’t win district titles with the highest MaxPreps rankings will earn wild-card berths.

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