As they hit the field this week for the first official practices of the season, Osceola County’s eight football programs have finalized their 2024 (and, for the most part, 2025) schedules.
Monday also marked the start of practices for girls volleyball, bowling, cross country, golf and swimming teams.
Five football teams will play district schedules, three have joined a number of Orange County schools in playing as independents, and a number of weeks in the season that begins on Aug. 23 (Kickoff Classic preseason games will be on Aug. 16) will be highlighted by feisty and anticipated in-county games.
Among those, the 101st playing of the Osceola-St. Cloud rivalry will take place Sept. 13 at Tom Gannarelli Field. Two other in-county rivalries, the Battle of the Boulevard (Poinciana at Liberty) and the Soldier City Classic (St. Cloud at Harmony) move up from the last week of the season and will be played on Oct. 25.
St. Cloud-Harmony will again be a district game; the Bulldogs were originally placed in District 6A-5 with Osceola, Melbourne and Viera, but they appealed and will play up in District 7A10 with the Longhorns, rival Tohopekaliga (who they host on Oct. 18) and Lake Nona.
Celebration will play in District 7A-9 against Orlando’s Dr. Phillips and Olympia and East Ridge from Lake County. The Storm still have in-county games against Poinciana (the Aug. 23 opener), at Liberty (Oct. 4), against Harmony (Oct. 18) and at Gateway (the Nov. 1 finale).
Some of those districts got jiggled when including Gateway, Poinciana and Liberty joined a number of Orange County schools in playing as independents. Those three, along with Orlando University, Colonial, Cypress Creek, East River, Lake Buena Vista, Oak Ridge and Windermere, cannot play for district championships or regional playoff berths. But, the move makes it possible for them to have fewer games where they’d be outmatched against district opponents, and fill a schedule against similar teams that has more competitive games. Osceola’s independent contingent features a number of games against that group.
Other in-county games this year include Poinciana at Harmony (Aug. 30) and St. Cloud (Sept. 6), Liberty at Gateway (Thursday, Sept. 27), St. Cloud at Gateway (Oct. 4) and Gateway at Poinciana (Oct. 18). Osceola only plays St. Cloud in-county but, per the usual, will face off against a number of perennial playoff teams in order to be best prepped for a playoff run. The Kowboys take on the likes of Treasure Coast (Aug. 23 opener), go to Lake Mary (Aug. 30), host Jones (Sept. 20) and go to Apopka (Oct. 18) and Lake Wales (Oct. 25).
To see the full slate of schedules, check out our Back To The Football special section on Aug. 25.
