The game has no implications for the District 7A-10 championship, but Friday’s 21st edition of the Soldier City Classic between St. Cloud (6-2, 2-0) and Harmony (4-4, 0-2) means everything to the players, coaches, alumni and fans of both schools.
St. Cloud has won the last two games and leads the all-time series 11-9, but Bulldogs Coach Mike Short says the last Longhorns win in the series—a 44-0 blowout in what became known as the ‘Lights Out’ game—is what has motivated the whole program.
“That was a really ugly game for us that remains etched in my memory,” Short said. “To this day I use it for inspiration and to prepare for better things.”
St. Cloud then dominated the 2023 (21-0) and 2024 (29-8) editions to take the Brass Bugle has Harmony went 3-7 and 2-8. But Short and Harmony Coach Don Simon—who coached that 2022 win before stepping down to become Tohopekaliga’s athletic director—says records simply do not matter in this game.
“We are neighboring schools that have developed an incredible rivalry and anything can happen,” Simon said. “They (St. Cloud) are a really talented team, so there will be no margin for error on Friday. We need to play our best game of the year on offense, defense and special teams.”
The Longhorns are coming off a 26-16 win over Celebration. The game was tied at half and a forced fumble and recovery by nose tackle Gerald Piper led to a touchdown to help insure the victory.
While last week’s 44-21 win over Tohopekaliga, which included two Bryce Williams interception returns and three Cameron Dalton rushing TDs, clinched 7A-10, the pressure of winning this game, against this opponent, on this Friday is fully in effect, Short said.
“Winning the district last week did nothing to take any pressure off,” Short said. “This is the game both teams circle at the beginning of the year. You could finish 1-9 but if you win this game, it can take all the sting away.”
Former St. Cloud coach and current AD Bryan Smart summed up what the game represents.
“When Harmony opened (in 2004), they took a lot of our students, which included a bunch of good athletes. But keep in mind these guys grew up playing youth sports together. The rivalry is there in every sport. Add to that, each year these two schools usually fight it out for the OBC All-Sports and All-Academic trophies. We love to beat each other at everything. Simply put, this has been a close, hard-fought series and it has all the makings of what a true rivalry is all about.”
With a Harmony win, the victor of this week’s Tohopekaliga (4-4, 1-1) and Lake Nona (5-3, 1-1) game could tie the Bulldogs for the district title; but St. Cloud wins all tiebreakers with wins both.
The game still holds importance for the Tigers. Should they win Friday and next week against Avon Park, they would still be in the hunt for an at-large playoff spot.
Friday night also marks the 19th playing of the Battle of the Boulevard between host Poinciana (2-6) and Liberty (0-8). This has been a lopsided series in the strangest of ways. The Chargers won the first 15 games in the series—12 by margins of 20 or more points— but have lost the last three in similar fashion, being outscored 138-16. The Eagles will be looking to rebound after dropping a 19-8 decision to Gateway on Friday night.
“The path to victory against Liberty is pretty simple, we just need to play a lot better than we have the last two weeks and try to win every quarter,” Poinciana coach Taron Mallard said.
In one of the more intriguing games of the week, Osceola (62) hosts Lake Wales (6-2) in a non-district game. Lake Wales hung with the state runner-up Kowboys last year before falling 28-17. They have claimed wins over state power Sanford Seminole and District 4A-10 champion Clearwater.
After two closer than expected district games, Osceola had a breather with a 50-7 win over Apopka last week. Jakari Watson rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns on just four carries and Ja’Kai Pratt returned two fumbles for scores as the Kowboys were once against without several starters because of injuries.
“I looked over to the stands at Thursday’s walkthrough and we had 10 starters or key players who were not going to be available for Apopka. Given that we were without our top two running backs and had to start a sophomore center who never played a varsity game in his life, I thought we responded pretty well to adversity,” Kowboys coach Eric Pinellas said.
Celebration (1-7, 0-2) wraps up district play on Friday by traveling to Dr. Phillips (52, 2-0).
The Storm played Harmony to a 10-10 first-half tie on Friday night before dropping a 26-16 decision. Landon Yaw threw for 215 yards in the game, including a touchdown pass to Cameron Bizzack. Both Kaseem Shelley and Nick Edouard had interceptions for the Storm.
Fresh off the win against Poinciana, Gateway (4-5) finally hits it bye week. In the Panthers win over Poinciana, Gateway had to overcome an 8-7 fourth quarter deficit. In that game, sophomore sensation Nydrell Thigpen scored twice and went over 100 yards to become the Panther’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Philip Bangura reached the mark in back-to-back seasons in 2018-19. Led by Isaiah Noel’s three picks, Gateway had a season-high six interceptions.
