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The Harmony defense hopes to disrupt the St. Cloud offense in Friday’s Soldier City Classic rivalry game like it did Tohopekaliga in the Longhorns last victory. PHOTO/KATIE WILLIAMS -
The new turf field is installed at St. Cloud High School. But when can the Bulldogs use it? We’ll let you know. PHOTO/ST CLOUD HIGH SCHOOL
The Brass Bugle Trophy will be up for grabs at 7 p.m. on Friday night when the St. Cloud Bulldogs host the Harmony Longhorns in the 19th edition of the Soldier City Classic.
While St. Cloud had hoped to play the game on the brand new artificial turf at Gannarelli Field, it will not be ready by Friday, so the game will be played at Austin Tindall Park.
While the game doesn’t have the history of 100 St. Cloud –Osceola games, ask anyone associated with St. Cloud football and they will tell you the Solider City Classic is the most important game on their schedule and the school’s true rival.
“Our contest with Osceola has history, but when they started building additional high schools in the county that rivalry started to get really lopsided in their favor. It’s hard to consider it a great rivalry when the same team is winning year after year, mostly by double digits,” Smart said. “Harmony is a different story. From the day it opened, that rivalry was born and it just seems to get better and more intense every year.”
Opened in 2004, Harmony drew roughly half of its new student body from St. Cloud, so that is where some of the natural gamesmanship started. But that factor only held true for the first couple of classes. The real roots of the rivalry have their basis in youth sports, where many students who would eventually be zoned for Harmony High School grew up playing in the many St. Cloud’s youth sports programs.
“These kids are friends 364 days a year, but that changes the one day when they meet on the football field,” Smart said.
Current Bulldogs coach Mike Short says the rivalry is, “The most important game on our schedule, period.”
“This game gets talked about year round. We can be having a great season, an average season or a poor one but when it’s Harmony week, all that doesn’t matter. What matters is beating Harmony. The kids know each other and respect each other, but there’s a healthy dose of pride when it comes to this game. We want to beat them more than any game of the year and I know they feel the same way.”
Harmony head coach Nick Lippert pretty echoes that sentiment.
“As soon as the schedules come out, this game gets circled,” he said. “Win and the elation stays with you forever. If you lose it, it eats at you. Guys who played in this game 10 years ago still talk about what happened. None of the players involved go into the game thinking it’s going to be an easy game, and that’s what makes it a great rivalry.”
Coming into Friday, St. Cloud is on a four-game winning streak and has a 6-3 record – including a 52-0 running-clock win over Celebration last week. Harmony (2-7) lost 41-0 loss to district rival Heritage last time out.
But records can be deceiving. The Longhorns have probably played the harder schedule this season and they have two common opponents with the Bulldogs. Both beat Celebration handily, but Tohopekaliga defeated St. Cloud 41-19 in September; while the Longhorns shocked the Tigers two weeks ago, 23-14.
“I don’t think you can read too much into comparing opponents,” Lippert noted. “We cannot let the emotions of this game get too big for us. We have to play sound football for four quarters,” Lippert said. “When he has time to throw, (Bulldogs QB Logan) King is pretty good so we can’t let him get comfortable and stand in the pocket. Getting our running game going will be paramount and not making mistakes on special teams will also be a key.”
While the series has had some blowouts, including Harmony’s 44-0 win last season, it has had its share of classics too – including a 2-6 St. Cloud team rallying from a 24-7 halftime deficit to upset Harmony, 31-30, two years ago. Eight games have been determined by a touchdown or less, including Harmony’s thrilling 35-33 win in 2017 and St. Cloud’s first win in the series – a 17-14 victory for the 2008 district title. No team has won more than four games in a row and the all-time series record stands at nine wins each.
While most of the focus this weekend will fall on the Soldier City Classic and Poinciana’s annual rivalry game with Liberty, the other four county teams will also be in action in season finales this week. Osceola earned its 17th straight playoff appearance with a 38-0 shutout of Tohopekaliga last week and the Kowboys (3-6) will have a stern test when it travels to West Orange (3-6). Osceola coach Eric Pinellas says West Orange is a very good team that will provide a stern test prior to the start of the post-season. “Like us, they have played a murderous schedule this season. They have three or four Division one prospects on their roster and this will be another great test for us as we get ready for the playoffs.”
Tohopekaliga (5-4) will need a road win against Haines City (5-4) in their season finale to secure a second consecutive winning season under Coach Anthony Paradiso. The game is also an opportunity for sophomore quarterback Sabby Meassick to continue his record breaking passing season. Celebration’s young team will have an opportunity to finish the season on a high note when the Storm (1-8) host Lake Region (4-5). Gateway (0-9) will play Gadsen County (4-5) from the Florida Panhandle in their season finale.
