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Metro
FOOTBALL
As mentioned in the Liberty spring football wrap-up last week, Brandon Pennington resigned his head coaching post after three years at the helm. Pennington will return to St. Cloud High School, where he will become the defensive coordinator for head coach Bryan Smart, a position he held prior to moving to Liberty.
SOCCER
Covid had a major impact on the soccer season as many matches were canceled and the results were not included in the Orange Belt Conference (OBC) team standings. However, county coaches did select an all-conference team and here are the first team members:
GIRLS ALL-OBC Soccer
Lyan Casamalhuapa (Celebration, Jr.); Erin Ozyureck (Celebration, So.); Ortencia Abreau (Gateway, Sr.); Nicole Ramirez-Parra (Gateway, So.); Abbey Johnson (Harmony, Sr.); Krystal Cruz-Torrez (Harmony, Sr.); Reinna Scott (Harmony, Jr.); Zoie Young (Liberty, Sr.); Loredana Aleman (Osceola, Sr.); Karina Rodriguez (Poinciana, So.); Raegan Turner (Poinciana, Jr.); Rylie Pyewell (St. Cloud, Sr.); Zebrina Helmer (St. Cloud, Sr.); Makenzie Baylis (Tohopekaliga, Jr.); and Stephanie Davis (Tohopekaliga, Sr.).
For guiding his team to an 8-4-3 record, Gateway’s Jeremy Swartz was selected as the OBC Girls Soccer Coach of the Year by his peers.
BOYS ALL-OBC Soccer
Oscar Newman (Celebration, Sr.); Nicola Romano (Celebration, Sr.); Mohamed Toumi (Celebration, 12); Juan Gonzalez (Gateway, Sr.); Anthony Polanco (Gateway, Jr.); Elijah Delgado (Harmony, Jr.); Kevin Lavigne (Harmony, Jr.); Alex Tuyo (Harmony, So.); Christian Aragon-Ruiz (Osceola, Sr.); Antonio Espinoza (Osceola , Sr.); Jesus Ramos (Osceola, Sr.); Joshua Gammons (Liberty, So.); Marlon Escobar (Poinciana, Jr.); Fabrizio Lucia (St. Cloud, Sr.); and Kevin Prado (St. Cloud, Sr.).
Celebration’s Chad Boudreaux, who led his team to a 10-3-5 record – including a 5-0-2 mark against county opposition – was selected as the OBC Boys Soccer Coach of the Year.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Ettie Singleton’s St. Cloud team finished its campaign with an 18-10 record. It included a thrilling 25-16, 25-19, 26-28, 22-25, 15-12 win over county-rival Celebration as the Bulldogs claimed the 1A, District 9 crown. The season ended on May 4 with a 3-0 loss to Palm Beach Dwyer in the regional quarterfinals.
The Bulldogs were paced by outside hitters Anthony Gonzalez (Sr.) and Skyler Tutor (So.), who led the team in kills with 383 and 121, respectively. Junior Anthony Gutierrez posted 143 total blocks, while underclassmen Armando Rivera (So.) and Jan Sandoval (So.) combined for 683 assists.
WRESTLING
Harmony wrestling coach Vic Lorenzano was recently honored and recognized for reaching his 500th career win as a varsity wrestling coach. Lorenzano will be beginning his 40th year as a high school coach in 2021-22. In addition to his five-plus years at Harmony, he has coached the wrestling programs at St. Cloud, Liberty, Poinciana, Gateway and Celebration; as well as several schools in Indiana.
Lorenzano has coached Harmony to back-to-back Orange Belt Conference championships (2020-21), breaking Osceola High School’s long-time stranglehold on that trophy. Under Lorenzano, Harmony also won a district title this past season and sent 10 wrestlers to the Class 2A Championships where they finished sixth in the team race with 83 points. Five Longhorn wrestlers earned All-State honors by placing in the top six at the state meet.
