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.
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).
