Celebration and Liberty to tangle in other intra-county game
Osceola County’s second oldest football rivalry resumes this week when Gateway (3-3) hosts St. Cloud (2-4) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Other Week 7 action finds Celebration (1-4) at Liberty (2-4); while Tohopekaliga (3-2) looks for its second straight win when it hosts Lake Brantley (24). Poinciana (3-2) takes on Lake Region (0-4) in the other county game; while Harmony (1-5) and Osceola (4-2) hit their bye weeks.
Although St. Cloud has dominated the series with Gateway of late, winning the last six games by an average of 26 points, the Panthers have had its moments in the friendly and spirited rivalry. Gateway won five of seven games played from 20122018 and played solid football in September, winning three of four and posting three shutouts. Even their lone loss in the past month saw a stellar defensive effort (14-7 at Winter Springs).
While Gateway is youth-centered, St. Cloud is loaded with a team full of veterans, but is not having the type of season envisioned in August. Two dominant wins to start the year were followed by the Bulldogs’ first-ever loss to Poinciana, then a 56-6 loss to Osceola in the 101st edition of “The Game” and a heartbreaking overtime decision to Merritt Island (2623). Second half mistakes last week led to a fourth straight loss, 23-10 at Lake Nona.
On paper, St. Cloud is still the deeper, more experienced team and should be favored against the Panthers. Gateway’s small squad is dominated by freshmen and sophomores and Marlin Roberts says a Panther win would rank as the school’s biggest and most important one in a decade— since a 34-23 upset of Ridge in 2015 clinched the Panthers’ first playoff berth in school history.
“Being totally honest, St. Cloud will be the toughest, most experienced, and most talented opponent we have faced this year and it will be a huge challenge,” Roberts said. “On the positive side, we have a really young team that is getting better each week. I’ve known Mike (Short, St. Cloud Coach) a long time and I know he loves to throw the ball all over the field. It’s going to be important try to get some pressure on their quarterback and for our defensive backs to have to play sound, disciplined football.”
The Bulldog offense can be explosive. Logan King, St. Cloud’s senior quarterback, has thrown for 1400 yards and nine touchdowns through six games. WR Alex Springs (32-534-3 TD) has been his top target; while senior running back TJ Griffin poses a threat both running (48-213-1 TD) and receiving (20-317-1 TD).
“Marlin is doing a great job this season and has them riding high,” Short, who at one time was a Gateway assistant with Roberts, said. “They are a much-improved team and we will need to bring our A-game against them.”
Celebration and Liberty have been on similar paths as they are counting on new coaches (Chris Blanton - first year Celebration and Dee Hart—second season Liberty) to get their programs back on track after several rough seasons. Both coaches are playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores and both have shown significant progress in quality of play.
“I think both teams are just trying to learn how to win,” Blanton said of Friday’s matchup. “Coach Hart is doing a great job down there, and we know he will have them ready to play, so we better go into that game with the right mindset.”
“I knew going in, this job was going to be a process,” Hart said. “Our kids have responded and continue to practice and play hard. We are trying to build a program and the big key to that is to get better from game-to-game and week-to-week on both the field and in the classroom.”
After a Week Off, Poinciana (3-2) returns to action and is seeking to break a two-game losing streak when they host Lake Region (0-4). The Eagles started the year with wins over Celebration, St. Cloud and Harmony, but have suffered back-to-back losses to Evans and Haines City.
“Life is 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it,” Eagles coach Taron Mallard said. “We need to respond like champions this week and based on our practice last week, I think we are on our way to accomplishing that.”
Tohopekaliga won its district opener against Harmony last week (14-9), but the highflying Tiger offense under junior quarterback Sabby Meassick has struggled a bit to replicate its high-scoring offense from 2022-23.
After throwing for 6,900 yards and 74 touchdowns in his first two seasons, Meassick has nine touchdown passes at the midway point of the 2024 season. Still with a win over Lake Brantley, Tohopekaliga can go to 4-2 on the season. They can also claim their first district championship with wins over St. Cloud (Oct. 18) and Lake Nona (Oct. 24).
