Regional playoffs begin Wednesday; see where
Thursday was a busy one, as three local teams earned district championships.
At St. Cloud, Ismael Rivera came out of the bullpen to pitch five innings of four-hit baseball and the Harmony Longhorns came from six runs down to beat Lake Nona, 15-6, in the District 7A-9 championship game.
“I’ve been saying all season long that this was a resilient bunch,” Harmony coach Heath Williams said. “When a lot teams fall behind 6-0 in a high school game it becomes easy for them to shut down and just go through the motions. This team will never do that. They will fight and claw and battle to the end.”
The win, Harmony’s eighth in a row, puts them 21-6 and the No. 2 seed in Region 3. The Longhorns draw — again — No. 7 Lake in Wednesday's 7 p.m. regional quarterfinal. Lake Nona (16-11) beat second-seeded St. Cloud, 3-2, in a district semifinal on Tuesday, but the Bulldogs (17-7) earned an at-large playoff bid and will travel to No. 3 Jupiter on Wednesday.
Rivera relieved starter Alexavier Lebron in the first inning and after a scoreless second, Lake Nona solved him for two runs (one earned) as Marco Solorzano and Fabrizio Sangronis delivered a sacrifice fly and run-scoring double.
The Harmony comeback started in the bottom of the third. Matt Grau led off with a walk, Jadiel Perez singled and Samuel Castillo walked to load the bases. Angel Medina swatted a sacrifice fly and Perez scored on a throwing error as Harmony cut the lead to 6-2.
In the fourth inning, Harmony sent 11 batters to the plate against Lions pitcher Logan Inman, scoring six times to take an 8-6 advantage. Alexander, Grau and Perez loaded the bases with a hit. Castillo was hit by a pitch, Medina drove in two with a double, and Jose Scrofani followed with a two-run single.
Harmony added three more in the fifth as Grau reached on an error and Perez hit a home run to left field. One out later, Medina hit a towering shot over the center field fence to make it 11-6.
Meanwhile, Rivera was dealing, finishing the game by working five innings—striking out six and allowing just the one earned run. Westin Thompson came in with one out and one on in the sixth and struck out Santiago Guillen to end the threat.
Harmony put the game away in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four insurance runs. Castillo had an RBI single and Lebron drove the ball off the left-centerfield fence for a two-run double.
“Alexavier is a prime example of the nature of this club. He gets touched for four runs in the first and when we pulled him off the mound, I told him to go play first because we needed him to help us come back and win. He responds with two hits and scores two runs.”
A walk and error gave Lake Nona two on with no outs in the seventh, but Thompson recorded a pair of strikeouts and got Luke Ramsey to fly out to end the game.
Harmony pounded out 12 hits, including three by Medina – who led the Horns with six RBI. Jadiel Perez had three RBI and Castillo and Scrofani had two each. Every Harmony starter reached base at least once, and the Longhorns pounded out six extra base hits.
“It’s a tough region and we’ve had a couple of upsets. When that happens, some worthy teams like Lake Nona and St. Cloud (17-7) may get left out, it’s a shame,” Williams said.
FLAG FOOTBALL: Harmony’s flag team joined the baseball team Thursday in putting a trophy in the HHS school case — like they’ve done for years.
The Longhorns (13-4) won their third title in four years Wednesday, downing a feisty Celebration (14-3) team, 25-6, with a complete performance.
In another complete domination, Gateway (11-5) posted its second shutout in three days, beating Brandon, 25-0 after knocking out county foe Liberty, 32-0, to defend its District 2A-7 championship.
Thanks to seeding, No. 4 Harmony will again host No. 5 Celebration on Wednesday in the Region 3 quarterfinals.
Harmony’s quarterback, fourth-year starter Martha “Smalls” Edwards was surgical in moving the offense, completing 14 of her first 18 passes and ending up with 204 yards and three touchdown passes.
Sophomore Jada Bloodworth, repping the future of HHS’ most consistent program over the years, caught two of them, and intercepted a fourth-quarter pass that sealed the win.
“We were prepared, we stayed focused in practice Wednesday (after a 16-6 semifinal win over Davenport Tuesday), and this is an amazing feeling to do with this team,” Edwards said. “We’ll probably have to play Celebration again (in next week’s regionals), but we’re ready for next week.”
Harmony scored on its opening drive, with Edwards going 4-for-4 to four different receivers, reaching the 1-yard-line. On fourth down, blocker Yenilyz Santiago took a direct snap and scored, and Kinzie James added the extra point.
The defense forced a punt, and Edwards hit Bloodworth the first time on third-and-goal from the 15 to up the lead to 13-0. Jess Olesen ended the Storm’s next drive with an interception that turned into points on Bloodworth’s second TD catch.
Celebration closed within 20-6 when Isabel Meadows hit Emma Viola from six yards out on the last play of the third quarter, but CHS got no closer in the fourth, when Bloodworth’s interception halted the Storm’s last chance, and Khloe Cook Osani’s five-yard TD catch sealed it.
Longtime Coach Paul Strauch said having Edwards and receiver/safety James — two of just three seniors — is “like having a cheat code.”
“Yeah, the way they see the whole field,” he said. “When you have good kids, this happens, making plays when you need to. If we don’t score on the fourth down on that first drive, who knows what happens?”
Gateway (11-5) leaned on its defense during the tournament, intercepting nine passes in two games. Evana Rivera snared three of them and Kaelyn Stubbs had two, including a pick-six in the fourth quarter that ended any Brandon comeback.
"We lost to them in the regionals last year, so the girls were focused on getting revenge," GHS Coach Travis Hill said. "They all played great assignment football. (Defensive coordinator) Ryan Logan deserves some of that credit. This will be the first time we host a regional game. Playing Harmony and Celebration and St. Cloud really helped our strength of schedule."
That game will be Wednesday at 7 against Hillsborough (6-7) in Region 3, which features Tampa Robinson, ranked No. 4 in the state.
