Boys title in hoops shared by Storm, Panthers

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Orange Belt Conference championships in boys soccer and boys basketball were decided this week.

The Harmony soccer team tied St. Cloud 2-2 Tuesday to clinch the conference crown. Nam Vo scored his sixth goal for the Longhorns and Jeisson Gomez scored his fifth. Chile Loch and Madsen Senden scored for the Bulldogs.

The Longhorns, 6-3-3, should be one of the top two seeds at the 4A-6 district tournament in two weeks.

The boys basketball title was determined Wednesday when Celebration beat Harmony, 63-49, to run its conference record to 5-1, tying Gateway for the OBC championship.

It was Celebration’s first conference title, Coach Jeff Bean said.

Kordell Johnson and Romelo Banks each scored 20 for the Storm, 11-6 overall.

Gateway, under Coach Bob Baker, won its seventh conference championship since 2004. Gateway, 12-5, beat Celebration, 78-71, in November, but the Panthers lost a conference game at Osceola, 77-73, before the holiday break.

“We’ve playing pretty well right now,” Baker said.

The Panthers remain in the hunt for a bye at the 7A-5 district tournament next month with four games to play.

Harmony won the girls soccer conference championship.

The girls basketball championship will be decided Jan. 22 when Harmony visits Osceola. Harmony can clinch the title with a win; if OHS wins, the conference championship will be split among Osceola, Poinciana and Harmony.

The girls weightlifting championship will be determined at the conference meet Jan. 31 at St. Cloud.