Jones, Lake Howell, Merritt Island among county’s foes
The midpoint of the 2025 season hits Friday with several county teams looking to build momentum when district play begins the following week.
Among the more interesting games this week is Osceola tangling with state-power Jones, a battle of 3-1 teams in Orlando. Resurgent Harmony hosts Lake Howell and Tohopekaliga comes off its bye with a chance to go 3-1 as it entertains Viera.
In all, there are eight games that feature the eight county teams, and five are at home. All games are at 7 p.m.
Osceola at Jones: Trailing 7-6 early in the third quarter, Osceola dominated the rest of the way in beating St. Cloud, 44-7, in the 102nd edition of “The Game.” On Friday. Things get considerably tougher for the Kowboys (3-1) this week. The Tigers are not only one of the top teams in Class 4A, but have also been one of the better teams in the state for most of the last decade. Averaging more than 10 wins a season from 2016-2024, Jones has had made it to six regional finals, four state semifinals and two championship games—including last year where they lost to 41-31 to American Heritage.
This year will mark the fourth consecutive season the teams have played, with the Tigers winning the previous three. All of those games have been close, including last season’s “Instant Classic,” where the Tigers rallied for a 34-28 overtime win. Jones finished 14-1 and lost in the Class 4A championship; while the 12-3 Kowboys did not lose again until the 6A title game against West Boca Raton. Jones quarterback Dareon Coleman (a Miami commit) threw for 488 yards against the tough Kowboys defense and is back for his senior year. Larry Miles (Nebraska) caught four passes for 144 yards and also returns, as does massive left tackle and Colorado commit Xavier Payne (6-7, 345). Although the Tigers lost their top receiver in Vernon Brown (1,508 yards, 11 TDs) who now plays for the Florida Gators, they picked up another 1000-yard receiver in Bucholz transfer DJ Hicks.
“Offensively they have Division I talent all over the field and they are fast and athletic on the defensive side of the ball,” Osceola Coach Eric Pinellas said. “Coleman is a terrific talent, who has a lot of weapons around him.”
Osceola counters with its typically good running game (201 yards per game), a quarterback who can throw the deep ball when needed and a defense that has allowed just two offensive touchdowns this year and forced eight turnovers, 15 sacks and 43 tackles-for-loss; all while allowing less than 150 yards of total offense per game.
“Our defense has been outstanding all year and we will need their best effort Friday,” Pinellas said. On offense, we need to run the ball and sustain drives to limit their possessions. But more importantly, we must finish those drives. Avoiding turnovers and drive killing penalties will be vital.”
Viera at Tohopekaliga: Although he says their bye week came at a good time after losing a physical 49-20 game to a rugged Hagerty team, Tigers Coach Anthony Paradisio said they’ll be short-handed for Friday’s match-up with Viera.
The Tigers will take a 2-1 record into the clash before starting district play next week at Harmony. The keys for Tohopekaliga will be for its defense to stop dual threat quarterback Eric Nelson (520 passing yards, 285 rushing) and running back Duke Butler (88 yards per game). Tohopekaliga will counter with its recordsetting senior quarterback Sabby Meassick, who is completing 67% of his passes, while averaging more than 360 yards per game with 13 touchdowns and just one pick.
“They (Viera) are a talented team and we because of injuries some inexperienced young players will have to step in. But we will do what we always try to do—focus on ourselves and controlling what we can control,” Paradiso said.
Lake Howell at Harmony: The game pitting two 3-1 teams may be one of the more entertaining games of the week. Since an ugly 42-3 loss to Windermere in Week 1, Harmony has reeled off three straight victories—including a 39-6 win over Clewiston last week where quarterback Landon Hayes threw for a school-record five touchdowns, two each to Bryce Berry and Damarion Moore. Harmony’s offense has scored 115 points in their last three games, the highest threegame total since scoring 124 combined points in consecutive games against Gateway, Viera and Liberty in 2021.
“It was a total team win, we played well in all three aspects of the game,” Coach Don Simon said. “What has been really encouraging to me is that this team has shown improvement each and every week.”
Lake Howell features an outstanding sophomore passer Bryden Mabrey who is both accurate (63%) and will spread the ball around.
“We need to be methodical on offense and sustain drives to limit their possessions,” Simon added. “He (Mabrey) likes to throw the ball all over the field.”
St. Cloud at Merritt Island: Heading into 2025, Bulldogs Coach Michael Short called the three-game stretch against Osceola, Merritt Island and Lake Nona as the “meatgrinder” portion of the schedule. Although the Dogs (3-1) lost big to the Kowboys last week, they were able to take a lot of positives away—the Bulldogs’d defense stopped potent Osceola on all five first-half possessions and actually led 7-6 early in the third quarter.
It was the type of effort Short will need from his defense this week as they travel to play the 2-2 Mustangs who’ve losses have come against defending 2A State Champion Cocoa (30-24 OT) and undefeated Deland (57-51). They are led by quarterback Kevin Verpaele, a 63% passer who averages just under 300 yards per game.
In other action, Haines City (1-3) travels to Poinciana (1-3), Liberty (1-2) is at Freedom (04), where the Chargers will meet their former coach Brandon Pennington, Celebration (03) hosts Space Coast (3-1) and Winter Springs (3-1) is at Gateway (1-3).
Under veteran Coach Marlin Roberts, Gateway is sporting one of its best defenses in a decade and is allowing just 10 points a game. But the Panthers have had a tough time scoring. In their three losses to date they have tallied just nine points.
The first team to 10 may win the Eagles-Hornets game.
