By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

As St. Cloud Coach Mark Jackson said before another hot afternoon practice earlier this week, “We’re ready to hit somebody else.”

The Bulldogs get their chance Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Olympia High, where they will conclude spring drills with a game against the Titans.

“Olympia has a lot of athletes, they fly around on defense,” Jackson said. “It should be a test for us. It should be fun.”

Harmony plays Daytona Beach Seabreeze today at 7 p.m. The game will be played at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

Friday, Osceola travels to Davenport Ridge Community and Liberty will host Lake Region. Both games start at 7 p.m.

Jackson said the offense was effective during the Maroon-Gold scrimmage Saturday, where rising junior quarterback Phillip Steinmetz, the county’s passing leader last season, connected repeatedly with receiver Cole Harvey.

“Cole probably had 150 yards receiving,” Jackson said. “Phillip has reached the point where he’s making his third and fourth read before making the throw. He looks good.”

Jackson will take a long look at his offensive line. “We’ve got three freshmen up front, and right now they’re struggling to put everything together,” he said.

The defense, switching from an odd to an even front under new coordinator Bill Buldini, continues to make progress, Jackson said.

“Right now we’re a step away from where we will be in the fall, a step away from being in the right place to make the play,” Jackson said. “It’s getting a little better every time we go out there.”

Harmony will be without Adam Harvey, the frontrunner for the quarterback spot vacated by the graduated Jared Beekman, and defensive lineman Will Hastings, due to injuries. A couple of offensive linemen also are hobbled and are questionable.

Ryan Holstein, a rising sophomore who’s one of a handful of young players that Coach Dayne Brown said could play key roles, will get most of the quarterback plays tonight. Running backs C.J. Clayton and Christian Acevedo return.

“We’ve got several real young guys from the last freshman class fighting for jobs,” Brown said.

Osceola Coach Doug Nichols said his players are making the transition to the offense and defense he used at Liberty last season.

“The good thing is that it really isn’t that much different from what they were doing. Our offense is a Flexbone, it has the option and a little triple option, kind of like they do at Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern,” he said. “Defensively, we’re using the 4-3 like we did a little at Liberty, so that hasn’t changed much, either.”

The Kowboys have talent and enthusiasm, Nichols said. Experience is another matter.

“We’re just so young. I can’t say that we lack for effort, because they are working hard and doing whatever we ask them to do, but we don’t have a lot of experience,” Nichols said.

Nichols plans to shift linebacker Frank Thomas, one of the few seniors on the roster, to running back.

“He’s got a lot of talent in the backfield,” Nichols said.

The Kowboys coach said he has several candidates at quarterback, but the depth chart is wide open.

“We’ll have to see what happens in a game before we talk about that,” he said.

The defense has a little more veteran presence with defensive back Oscar McGee and linebackers Akeem Francis and linebacker D.D. Montgomery returning.

“It’s going about as well as it can at this point. We’ll know more after Friday,” Nichols said.

Former St. Cloud defensive coordinator Brad Lennox has joined Nichols’ coaching staff.

Liberty’s interim head coach, David Benson, said the Chargers are making progress as they prepare for Lake Region Friday.

“We’re putting in a spread (offense). We’ve got a young offensive line, and we really need to find a way to get our backs some space,” Benson said.

“We’re going to go three and four wide and spread those guys out, and we have the kind of backs who can make some things happen in space.”

Benson is pleased with the rapid development of rising sophomore quarterback Greg Hankerson.

“He’s catching on a little faster than I thought he would,” Benson said.

The Chargers defense remains the team’s strength, Benson said.

“We’ll rely on our defense to keep us in the games until the offense can get some experience and catch up.”

Ken Jackson contributed to this story.