Coveted Orange Belt Conference team championships will be on the line this week, as titles will be determined in boys’ soccer, girls’ basketball and girls’ weightlifting. Soccer and basketball will be a week-long tournament with championship games being played at Harmony and Tohopekaliga respectively at 7 p.m. Friday night. The girls’ weightlifting meet is slated for Harmony at 5 p.m. Friday.
After years of domination by Celebration, the boys’ soccer tournament promises to be wide-open. The Storm, who have won the last two OBC Tournaments and five of the last six, enter the event as the No. 4 with a 4-2-0 record. They will host fifth seeded Osceola (5-2-2) in Monday’s opening round.
“All you really need to know about this year’s tournament is Harmony – a team that is perennially one of the two or three best teams in the county -- is a six seed this year,” Celebration assistant coach Chad Boudreaux said. “Six teams are capable of winning this tournament and I can’t remember ever saying anything close to that before. It’s going to be wild week.”
Led by strikers Jose Calderon and Nic Quintero, Gateway 9-2-1 is the top seed in the tournament and will host eighth seeded Liberty in the first round. The Panthers, under Coach Sagar Patel, were runners-up last year and are looking for its first Orange Belt Conference title since 2015.
“Our key this week is that we must get back to fundamentals. We started the season 7-1 and our only loss was to defending state champion East Ridge in overtime,” Patel said. “I think we started getting a little over confident but that changed with the Toho game (a 4-0 loss) and that was a wake-up call for us. We were able to rebound against a really good Horizon team (2-2 tie) and that hopefully put us back on track.”
After that tie with Horizon, the Panthers added two solid wins last week.
Should they both win Tuesday, Gateway would host Celebration in a Wednesday semifinal in a rematch of the 2023 championship game.
The lower half of the bracket finds second-seeded Tohopekaliga (10-4-0) hosting seventh seed Poinciana and sixth seeded Harmony (5-9-0) traveling to number three St. Cloud (10-2-2). That will be a rematch in the same venue of a Jan. 5 game, where the Bulldogs slipped by their arch-rivals, 2-1.
What makes this year’s tournament particularly interesting is that there have already been several results that contradict the tournament seeding. For example, third seeded St. Cloud beat second seeded Tohopekaliga, 3-2, in November and top-seeded Gateway took a 4-0 loss to second seeded Toho on Jan. 5.
Celebration, long a state power, normally plays more of a regional schedule and has yet to face a county opponent – making it difficult to predict where they actually fit into the tournament through comparative scores. Although having somewhat of a down year, Harmony (5-8-0) has shown of fight this year by evidence of the close loss to St. Cloud. Harmony always plays tough in the OBC tournament – winning in 2020.
“It’s going to be a great tournament,” Patel said. “I honestly believe there are five or six teams that can actually with this thing. Celebration has dominated in recent years and although they lost some talent to graduation, you know they are going be a disciplined, well-coached team. Tohopekaliga beat us earlier this season and even Osceola, who we handled fairly easily last season, played a great game against us this year (a 1-0 Gateway win). You absolutely will not be able to take anyone lightly this week.”
The girls’ basketball tournament could come down to a rematch between Gateway and St. Cloud. The Lady Bulldogs have won five OBC titles in a row and seven of the last nine.
Determined by state ranking as of last Monday, Gateway (9-4) earns the top seed in this year’s tournament, despite losing close games to Holy Trinity Episcopal and Cocoa last week. The Panthers will host Liberty (4-9) during Tuesday’s first round. If they win, they will host the winner of No. 4 Harmony (5-5) and No. Celebration (5-5) on Thursday.
The Panthers have put together a solid season despite missing top player Malayna Stevenson for the last several weeks with a severe ankle injury. Stevenson is not expected back for the OBC Tournament. Instead, coach Justin Marino will rely on sharp-shooting sophomore guard Alyssa Marino and forwards Karyna and Evana Rivera to carry the load.
“Without question, the key will be our shooting,” Marino said. “In the past, it seems like every time we play St. Cloud our shooters go cold. We have played and beaten some teams this year that are on their level, so it is just a matter of doing what we are capable of doing offensively.”
St. Cloud is 13-6 after a tough 41-39 loss to Timber Creek last week. The Bulldogs feature a veteran lineup that includes Emily Lockey (16.0 ppg) and center Haley Collins (10.9 ppg and 6.5 rpg). The Bulldogs beat Gateway in last year’s OBC championship game, 44-31.
Regardless of the seeding, it could be argued that St. Cloud should be the favorite -- especially with Stevenson out of the Panther lineup – but Bulldogs coach Chad Ansbaugh quickly spins that notion the other way.
“It’s great they are the top seed, because the target is squarely on their backs,” the veteran coach joked. “But seriously, they earned the top seed. "Justin always does a great job with those kids and they continue to win with a small roster and without one of their best players. If we are fortunate enough to meet them in the final, it should be a great game.
“When our kids play hard, we can be pretty good. Other than the Palm Bay game, I thought all five of our other losses were definitely winnable. The important thing is that we use the experiences of tough losses to get better.
The other OBC Championship will be contested in girls’ weightlifting at Harmony’s gym beginning at 4:30 p.m. Under head coach Cory Aun, the St. Cloud Bulldogs will be heavily favored to win their 13th consecutive title in the traditional (bench press plus clean and jerk) and their third straight title in the Olympic discipline (clean and jerk plus snatch).
In six previous meets this season featuring both St. Cloud and perennial runner-up Harmony, the Bulldogs have come out on top each time. They are led by Emily Deluca (100-pound. class), Ashley Aun (110), Sophia Recio (129),Belen Gonzalez (154) and Jaylonie Mejia (183).
“We’ve competed against the other top teams in the county this year and have done well against them, so we will probably go in as favorites” St. Cloud coach Cory Aun said. “Still we will take nothing for granted. Although this championship doesn’t mean anything as far as the post-season, it means a lot to our athletes. It’s for bragging rights in the county, so I know we will be excited for the competition.”
Tohpekaliga, led by Emily Martinez (119) and Morgan Pascual (169) and Harmony, paced by Alexa Woodman (139) and Yazreal Martinez (119), pose the biggest threats to St. Cloud’s long-standing dominance.
In addition to the OBC titles, Harmony and Osceola will compete for a state championship as the Kowboys will host the 7th Annual FHSAA State Dual Meet Championships, Jan. 19-20. Both the Longhorns and Kowboys advanced in Class 3A by winning sub-regional tournaments last week.
Osceola will take on Palmetto and Harmony will wrestler Wellington in quarterfinal matches that begin at 6 p.m. Friday night (Jan. 19). If the Kowboys win, they will take on the Gainesville Bucholz vs. Timber Creek winner in the semifinals. If victorious on Friday, Harmony would take on Wellington in the semis. Those matches are slated for 9 a.m. Saturday with the finals at 2 p.m.
Girls Basketball OBC Tournament Schedule
Tuesday, Jan. 16
Game 1: #8 Liberty at #1 Gateway, 6:00 p.m.
Game: 4 #5 Celebration at #4 Harmony 6:30 p.m.
Game 3: #6 Poinciana at #3 Tohopekaliga, 6 p.m.
Game 2: #7 Osceola at #2 St. Cloud, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 18 (At Higher Seed)
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 1
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 1
Game 8: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 2
Friday Jan. 19
7th Place Game: Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 (at higher seed)
5th Place Game: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (at higher seed)
3rd Place Game: Loser Game 8 vs. Loser Game 6; 5:30 p.m. at Tohopekaliga
Championship Game: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6; 7 p.m. at Tohopekaliga
Boys Soccer OBC Tournament Schedule
Tuesday, Jan. 16
Game 1: #8 Liberty at #1 Gateway, 6 p.m.
Game 4: #5 Osceola at #4 Celebration, 6:30 p.m.
Game 3: #6 Harmony at #3 St. Cloud, 6:30 p.m.
Game 4: #7 Poinciana at #2 Tohopekaliga, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 17 (Games at Higher Seed)
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 1
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 1
Game 8: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Friday, Jan. 19
7th Place Game: Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 (at higher seed)
5th Place Game: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (at higher seed)
3rd Place Game: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 5 p.m. at Harmony High School
Championship Game: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 7 p.m. at Harmony High School
FHSAA State Dual Meet Wrestling Championships
Friday, Jan. 19
3A Quarterfinals at Osceola High School
Harmony vs. Wellington, 6 p.m.
Osceola vs. Palmetto Ridge, 6 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 20
3A Semifinals, 9 a.m. at Osceola High School
Osceola/Palmetto Ridge Winner vs. Timber Creek/Bucholz Winner, 9 a.m.
Harmony/Wellington Winner vs. South Dade/Plant City Winner, 9 a.m.
3A Finals, 2 p.m. (Osceola High School)
