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Freshman kicker Brayden Buehler got Harmony on the board with a 31-yard fourth-quarter field goal Friday. PHOTO/KATIE WILLIAMS
Tohopekaliga, the only victorious team from Osceola County last week, will look to go to 2-0 when it hosts Fort Meade (1-0) at 7 p.m.
A small school from Polk County, the Miners still should provide a better test for Anthony Paradiso’s Tigers as they defeated Sarasota in their season opener and are coming off a 7-4 year where they qualified for regionals.
Tohopekaliga needed just 26 offensive plays Friday to beat Liberty, 560. Sophomore quarterback Sabby Meassick continued to pile up numbers, going 14-of-21 for 292 yards and six touchdowns. Naeem Woulard (5-135-2 TD) and Tre Punter (3-53-2 TD) were his main targets. Senior Cherandy Duval scored on a 26-yard run.
“With only 26 offensive plays, it was tough to get a good idea on where we stand,” Paradiso said. “I thought our defense played solidly, creating turnovers and playing good assignment football.
“Really don’t know what to expect with Ft. Meade,” the veteran coach said. “We’ll just put together our game plan and then try to execute it.”
Liberty will host Orlando Christian Prep at 7 p.m., OCP is coached Guerschom Demosthenes, who coached Chargers Coach Dee Hart when he was a star running back at Dr. Phillips.
“He has been a great mentor to me and continues to provide inspiration and ideas on the proper way to build a program,” Hart said. “These athletes are starting to buy in to the culture we are starting to establish. Right now the goal is to get better every day and that happens at practice.”
After dropping a tough road game to talented Treasure Coast, the Osceola Kowboys must regroup in a hurry as they take on Class 4 Metro state power Seminole in Sanford Friday.
The Seminoles have won 33 of their last 38, including a 28-27 win over Osceola last year and a 38-10 victory over the Kowboys in the 2020 FHSAA Class 7A state championship game.
And, the Kowboys will not be at full strength for the game. Running back Taevion Swint remains out, and several other players were hurt in the 22-8 loss to Treasure Coast, including star linebacker Elijah Melendez, who was lost for the season with a broken foot that required surgery. Larenz Walker left the game with a possible concussion.
“A slow start on defense really hurt us,” Coach Eric Pinellas said. “I thought we fought back pretty well and when Jeff Sinophat broke a 32-yard run to make it a 14-8 game, the momentum really shifted to us. Offensive consistency ended up being the real issue. Our offensive line struggled more than I thought it would and a few series after we cut the gap on Jeff’s score, we give up a sack, fumble, scoop and score and that pretty much spelled the end of the game.”
After a tough 41-12 road loss to Baron Collier, St. Cloud hosts Pine Ridge at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Austin Tindall Park Coach Mike Short is expecting a more challenging game Friday than the 47-7 win his team collected last year.
“They won their first game in three seasons and did it in impressive fashion,” Short said of the Panthers 19-7 win over Winter Springs. “We certainly won’t take them lightly.
Our goal will be to clean up our mistakes from last week, win the game and get back to .500.”
Logan King completed 24 of 42 passes for 200 yards and a score. Alex Springs grabbed 11 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. Running back TJ Griffin had a nice game on the ground with 50 yards on 13 carries and added 39 reception yards.
Celebration lost to Ridge, 46-0, and Harmony lost to Eustis, 45-3, but someone will come away with a win when the two meet Friday at “The Ranch” at 7 p.m.
Harmony’s defense did play well in the early going, recording eight tackles for loss. But the Longhorn offense, which graduated more than 95% of its production from a year ago, could not sustain drives and turned the ball over five times. Freshman kicker Brayden Buehler got Harmony on the board in the fourth quarter with a 31-yard field goal.
Celebration coach Jeremy Palmer said he was proud of the effort his over-matched and underexperienced team gave in the loss to Ridge. “We’re playing a ton of young kids and there’s always a chance that the deeper, more-experienced teams are going to wear you down. We will continue to grow and fight.” Palmer said the Harmony game would be another tough test. “I was just watching their film of the Eustis game and although they lost they are still Harmony. They are a physical team that will take it to you and it will be another stern test for our young team.”
The county’s other two teams, Gateway and Poinciana, hit an early bye week. Both dropped their season openers, Gateway lost 24-0 at Lake Buena Vista; Poinciana gave up a 14-12 fourth quarter lead to Nature Coast and lost 35-14. Akeem Knox had a big night for the Eagles, rushing for 95 yards and a pair of scores.
Eagles coach Randy Beeken said his team was still trying to find it stride. “We have a new quarterback and new players at several key positions, right now we just have to establish an identity,” Beeken said. “I thought our defense played pretty well but that go ahead score they had in the fourth sort of knocked the wind out of our sails.”
