Yael Estevez provided Liberty's offense Friday, scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown. (Photo/Michelle Kostuch)
In a pair of in-county games, St. Cloud kept its momentum from a big district win last week with a 27-0 win over local rival Gateway.
And Celebration got its first victory of 2025 with a 24-6 home win over Liberty.
The Bulldogs (5-2) got a touchdown run from quarterback Jeremiah Lattier, who also threw touchdown passes to Gunner Freeman and another to Stacy Taylor in the back corner of the end zone through a tight window in triple coverage.
St. Cloud gets an off week before a huge District 7A-10 game Oct. 17 against Tohopekaliga. Gateway (2-5) will try to regroup next week in a road game against Lake Placid.
At John Bushey Stadium in Celebration, two winless Osceola County teams fought it out, with the Storm (1-5) getting their first win, 24-6 over Liberty (0-7).
With 8:53 left in the second quarter, Celebration got on the board first with a 12-yard touchdown run by Jayden Rodriguez, his first of two scores. The Storm added another score on a fourth-down 16-yard pass by quarterback Landen Yaw to Noel Aristor-Nubin with 21 seconds left in the second quarter.
After halftime, the Storm defense stayed strong, and extended the lead with 6:06 left in the third quarter when Celebration’s Diego Escebedo kicked a 24-yard field goal.
Liberty came to life in the fourth quarter, largely on the efforts of senior Yael Estevez, who rarely left the field, serving as quarterback and kick returner and making appearances on defense. On a drive of 70 yards, Estevez scored on a goal-line quarterback keeper, preventing a shut-out.
"I think it just clicked tonight for us. I mean, we still made some mistakes, but tonight it just clicked,” said Celebration Coach Chris Blanton. “They saw that we can do it and they just had the confidence to do it tonight.”
Next week Liberty takes on Space Coast at home while the Storm visits Olympia for a District 7A-9 matchup.
In preparing for the next game, Blanton said, “I’m gonna remind them what this feeling feels like. And tell them, if you want it again, we have to play together again and we have to keep doing it.”
