Celebration is again the high school lacrosse champion of Osceola County.
Granted, just two teams play in the county, and they met Thursday for a de-facto county title, but it marks what coaches of both programs hope is the start of more players picking up a basket stick.
Celebration has been at it for nearly a decade, and Tohopekaliga is in just its third season. It showed as the Storm dominated the girls contest, 26-1. The boys game was a “rubber match” of sorts — CHS and the Tigers split the last two years — but the Storm won a competitive 15-7 match.
The Celebration girls program was the innovator for the sport in Osceola County, and saw quick success. The team formed in 2014, and by 2017 won its first district title. It’s won them all since (the Storm led the 2020 standings when COVID-19 cut the season short), but the team is still looking for its first regional playoff win.
Laura Jones became the head coach in 2019.
The Storm boys team followed suit in 2015 and hasn’t won a district yet, as they’ve faced stiff competition in them.
Adding lacrosse has meant adding college opportunities — six Celebration players have or are playing at that level, Jones said.
“There are three or four juniors on this team hoping to play at the next level, and three or four freshme n as well,” she said. “We have six freshmen on the varsity this year, all of whom have played for rec or club programs, who are adding depth and strength to the program. Most of the rest of the varsity program are juniors, so the next couple of years look very strong for us.”
Showing the youth movement, freshmen Ayla Moffitt (15 goals) and Abby Locher (14, 7 on Thursday) and juniors Erin Balbontin (15) and Adriana Giuliano (9, 4 Thursday) led the team in goals through five games. They form a dominant midfield. Junior Olivia Fabbiani and senior Cate Mcaulay anchor the defense. Jones was able to substitute liberally at Tohopekaliga, and 14 players scored.
The girls are 4-2, including first-ever win against Winter Park Trinity Prep, and play at a strong East Ridge (4-1) team tonight at 6 p.m. Solid Lake Brantley and Lake Nona squads are also on the schedule.
On the boys side, The Zelmanski brothers, senior Zach (five goals Thursday) and sophomore Zarek (nine goals in five matches), juniors Davin Gonzalez and Foster Searcy, the latter part of the Storm football program, form the scoring punch. The boys team is 2-4, but have played the likes of The First Academy and Windermere Prep, programs that make annual deep runs toward a state title.
“This was a good win and a motivator for us, we’ve had a tough string,” Coach David Shearer said. “We’re doing our best every year to improve. Our girls team provides quite a bit of motivation.
By playing in the spring, he gets guys that would be playing baseball or running track, and a handful of wrestlers, but with football coaches emphasizing track for their players in the spring, that’s a tough sell.
“There’s benefits to them, like playing man-on-man defense. We do that all the time, it’d help the defensive backs,” Shearer said.
For Tohopekaliga, Daunte Riggins, Lonnie Flores, John Ilemsky, Ayden Lightner and Quentin Palascak. Lauren Schira scored the girls’ goal.
When Coach Rob Weilert came to Tohopekaliga three years ago, starting a lacrosse program was one of his first missions. The bulk of his roster are three-year players.
“When they first came out, I told each of them to give me two weeks of practice. If they wanted to quit, I’d thank them for the effort and be fine,” Weilert said. “I’ve been blessed with kids who’ve bought in totally, without having to tell me anything after those two weeks.”
The Tigers are 6-2 after regrouping from Thursday with a 9-6 win over Lake Wales Friday, and played district foe Olympia Tuesday night. Freedom (who THS beat 13-5), Celebration, Dr. Phillips and Lake Nona also dot the schedule.
As a sign of the game’s local growth, the teams played the county’s first JV game earlier Thursday. If two more county teams — St. Cloud has a club team — official Orange Belt Conference competition can begin.
“Coach Weilert’s is whispering in people’s years,” Shearer said. “We’ve played Freedom every year, but we don’t have that rival beyond these guys. We’d love to see it expand.”
Coach Jones echoed that. “We are excited to see Toho’s program developing. We are hopeful to have two or three more teams in the county within the next couple of years,” she said. “Having more high schools adopt lacrosse programs will help the sport grow at the middle school level for recreational teams.”
