By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

There will be the Brass Bugle, the trophy going to the winner of Friday’s game at Longhorn field, on display. There will be a loud, raucous crowd. There will be a spirited, physical football game.

But, unlike the last two seasons, the winner of the St. Cloud-Harmony game won’t find a playoff berth awaiting them.

A 34-7 Longhorn loss to East River (7-0) last week knocked both the Longhorns and Bulldogs out of a 4A District 7 playoff spot, meaning that Friday’s game will be for pride and, in Harmony’s case, a possible bowl game bid. St. Cloud (3-6) forfeited two victories and is not bowl eligible.

The Longhorns (4-4) dropped their third game in a row last week, meaning the first thing on HHS Coach Dayne Brown’s mind this week is righting the ship with a win in the sixth installment of the Soldier City Classic.

“We need this win for no other motivation than it’s Harmony-St. Cloud. We’re not thinking about anything else beyond that,” he said.

With starting quarterback Adam Harvey sitting out with possible post-concussion effects, freshman Alex Britton took over but was handed a 6-0 deficit after the Falcons’ Michael Elder went 70 yards up the middle for a touchdown on the game’s first play. It was 13-0 later in the quarter when, for the second week in a row, East River executed a fake punt. Arnold Lunsby took a hit but not before unloading a 37-yard pass to Chris Streat for another score.

The Falcons scored on their next drive on a 27-yard pass from Josh Jones to Derek Bowen to make it 20-0, and then the Longhorns committed turnovers (two inside the Falcons 10-yard line) on their next three possessions.

“I have to hand it to East River, they’re a really good team, and they did things well that we didn’t do at all,” Brown said. “In a game like that you try to start fast, and we didn’t, and you have to eliminate turnovers, and we didn’t.”

Daniel Foshee had a fourth-quarter interception for the Longhorns, and Austin Ocasio broke off a 42-yard touchdown run with six minutes left.

Harmony outgained East River, 265-230. Britton was 3-of-8 passing for 51 yards and added another 22 yards rushing.

“Overall, Alex did a pretty good job, he made some mistakes but he showed poise and toughness,” Brown said. “We’re really banged up and are playing young in some places, but that’s not an excuse.”

St. Cloud needed Harmony to win and then to beat the Longhorns this week to stay in the playoffs; East River will host Edgewater on Friday to determine the 4A-7 champion.

The Bulldogs are the team with momentum, not just in the Classic series (they’ve won the last two) but overall (they’re the only county team with wins in  the last two weeks). The Bulldogs are off a 23-19 win over Liberty that saw them hold a two-touchdown lead in the third quarter. But, Liberty came back and the Bulldogs needed a goal-line stand to make it hold up.

The Bulldogs led 17-6 early in the third quarter after county rushing leader Irving Huggins, who tallied 192 rushing yards, got 90 of them after taking a pitch and going the distance. But the lead became a 19-17 deficit after Liberty (4-5) scored on its next two drives.

The game came down to a fourth-and-1 in Chargers territory, when quarterback Phillip Steinmetz hit Jordan Reus on a 23-yard touchdown pass, their second connection of the night.

The Chargers got to the Bulldogs’ 4-yard line and faced a fourth-and-1 of their own with three minutes left, but tackle Kevin Ulysses stopped Liberty quarterback Greg Hankerson short of the marker.

St. Cloud failed to gain a first down and punted, then it recovered the muffed return attempt and ran out the clock.

“Phillip did another great job, and our kids made big plays,” SC Coach Bill Buldini said. “After everything that’s happened this year our kids just want to keep on winning.”

Harmony’s Harvey is questionable Friday. The Longhorns got senior wingback Christian Acevedo, who was out three weeks, back from a shoulder injury, and he tallied 50 yards of offense last week.

“They’ll be ready, and we’re going to prepare like they’ll have everybody in there,” said Buldini, who will experience the Solider City Classic for the first time.

“With a game like this I honestly don’t know what to expect, although I coached in the second-longest rivalry in the nation when I was in Massachusetts so I have some idea.

“Harmony’s a good team, solid fundamentally and physical up front. This is going to be one of those ‘Least mistakes’ games. Whoever limits them will win.”

Harmony, who has faced only two spread-option teams this year (Lake Nona and Edgewater), will be tested, Brown said.

“They present a tremendous challenge,” he said. “They have some great players around Phillip.”

St. Cloud visits Gateway and Harmony hosts Melbourne Central Catholic Nov. 12.