It’s toe-to-leather time under Friday’s lights
The regular season doesn’t start for another week, but this week’s preseason Kickoff Classics may go a long way to make final lineup evaluations.
Most county teams are on the road, with the longest trip likely the most interesting when Osceola (9-3 last season) plays at Apopka — another state power — to start a grueling schedule to talk about later.
Although the Kowboys return multiple senior Division-I prospects or signees like Bo Mascoe (Rutgers), Ja’Keem Jackson (Florida), Derrick LeBlanc (Oklahoma) and John Walker (UCF), there are some questions, such as who wins the quarterback battle between junior Gunner Holland and former City of Life passer David Buggs.
It will also give Coach Eric Pinellas a first opportunity to see Celebration transfer Oniel Senatus (1,800 rushing yards, 27 total touchdowns last year) added into a backfield that includes Taevion Swint, who led the Kowboys in all-purpose yards (1125) and touchdowns (12) as a freshman. Harmony will travel to Freedom. Three years ago, Don Simon’s team as Harmony featured a ton of talented sophomores, like running back sensation Tyler Emans and stable mate Cooper Richards. They’re now seniors. “We’re in a tough district and playing a very competitive schedule this season, but it’s a fair schedule,” Simon said. “I don’t think there’s a game on it that we can’t win if we play our best but yet every team on the schedule is also capable of beating us. We have a lot of senior athletes that have played a lot the past couple of years, and this is their opportunity to shine.”
Four new Osceola County coaches will debut Friday. Mike Short will lead the St. Cloud Bulldogs into action at Windermere; first-year coach Antony Smith will lead Liberty at home against Lake Buena Vista, Tohopekaliga’s Anthony Paradiso – who comes a successful run at Lake Nona — takes the Tigers Oak Ridge, and Jeremy Palmer takes over at Celebration, where he will guide the Storm at home against Davenport.
The Tohopekaliga game should emphasize the progress and enthusiasm that Paradiso instilled in the Tigers, a program with upwards of 90 players in uniform during pre-season camp.
He’s turned the offense over to freshman quarterback Sabby Meassick, who was offered a scholarship by the University of Florida as an eighth grader. Meassick, along with a slew of talented transfers, could result in an immediate turnaround to the Tigers football fortunes.
Short took over as head coach when Bryan Smart was promoted to AD last spring, and says his team is young but is talented and extremely enthusiastic. Veterans Noah Carr and Joe Clukey will lead the Bulldogs; while sophomore Logan King is a big-armed quarterback who has become a team leader.
“We are going to be young again this year and depth may be an issue, but we have some young talent that we can certainly build off of.”
With the graduation of several key players and the transfer of Senatus, it may make it difficult for Celebration to repeat last year’s 7-4 mark, but Palmer said he hopes to continue the momentum that former Coach Rich Pringle began building last year.
“We all know the history of this school’s struggles in football,” Palmer said. “Coach Pringle came in here last year and did a great job of changing the culture and expectations. It’s going to be a challenge to build on that, but we have a lot of dedicated seniors with great attitudes and they have bought in to the idea we can be a good football team.”
Smith, the other new coach, has perhaps the toughest job — he did not have an opportunity to take over until Aug. 5. Brett Munroe stepped down in the summer to deal with health issues.
Smith joked that he spent the first two days trying to learn the names of his players and assistant coaches, but said, “Liberty has always had some good athletes and Coach Munroe did not leave the cupboard bare. We got a late start, but I am confident in what we can build here.”
At Gateway, Marlin Roberts, the dean of Osceola County coaches starting his 14th year, has seen devastating injuries hurt his team in the last three years. That unfortunate trend continued this spring when starting quarterback Eli Azize broke his leg and will miss at least a month of this season.
The Panthers do have some talented players including senior linebacker Jamare Owens, junior DE/ DT Pierre Julien and a sophomore transfer DE/DT Chris Martin-Charity from Virginia.
“He’s a big, young kid who can play end or tackle,” Roberts said. “He has a real chance to be an exceptional player.”
Gateway will play at Horizon Friday.
It could be a pivotal season for Poinciana, who will play its preseason game at Avon Park. Last year Coach Randy Beeken made a difficult decision to dismiss several disruptive seniors from the team during an 0-7 start. The Eagles rallied and won two of their last three games and that momentum has carried over to the spring and fall camp.
Six talented players have transferred in, including WR/DB Perry Garrett, WR Donald Cummings and Dav’rell Cohn, all from Osceola. That infusion of talent, along with senior quarterback Jahmari Corbett and WR Ernest Nunn returning, may be enough to push Poinciana to its first winning season in school history
“Technically they are transfers, but a lot of them were originally zoned to play here to begin with,” Beeken said. “I would prefer to think of them as athletes coming home.”
