Poinciana gets in game, beats Avon Park 28-16
Much to the coaches’ chagrin, thunderstorms forced the cancellation of nearly all Kickoff Classic exhibition games, meaning most county public schools will enter the regular season without the benefit of a tune-up.
Seven of eight games involving Osceola teams and 31 of 35 games across Central Florida were cancelled.
“It’s really disappointing for us,” new Tohopekaliga coach Anthony Paradiso said about getting cancelled at Oak Ridge. “Between freshmen, transfers and new kids who came out, we simply do not have the same team this fall that we did during the spring. We absolutely were planning on using the Kickoff Classic to make roster decisions on starters and backups.”
The Tigers open their season at home on Friday at 7 p.m. against Liberty. One starting spot that has been determined is quarterback, where highly regarded freshman Sabby Meassick won the job.
“He’s so intelligent for a 14-year-old. What’s really impressive is that he’s only a freshman so he is not very big, but he can make throws you simply don’t think he should be able to,” Paradiso said.
The one team that did get its Kickoff Classic in was Poinciana, and defeated Avon Park, 28-16 — and even that game had a one-hour lightning delay at halftime. Coach Randy Beeken said he was pleased with his team’s performance. Like Tohopekaliga, the Eagles have a bunch of new faces on the team and this was their first game together.
Perry Garrett, a transfer from Osceola, ran for a touchdown and had an interception, returning cornerback Michael Centeno had two interceptions and D’kwan Bradley, a transfer from North Carolina, has apparently won the starting quarterback job in fall camp, as he threw a 30-yard touchdown pass and also ran for a score.
The Eagles open on the road Friday against Parrish Community, a team that defeated Poinciana, 33-8, a year ago. “It will absolutely be a challenge for us,” Beeken said. “They dominated their Kickoff game (a decisive 42-8 win over Anclote). It will be a good test for us.”
Harmony will open its regular season on the road against Eustis, a team that went 7-3 last season. “They are a really solid team. They have a kid who is a Division I prospect at receiver, a big defense and judging from their spring game tape they have a quarterback who can sling it pretty good,” Simon said. Certainly this is one of those many games on our schedule where we will have to play well to have a chance to win.”
Osceola, which saw its much-anticipated preseason game with state power Apopka cancelled, opens its ‘Murderous Row’ schedule when they host Treasure Coast, a state semifinalist last year, Friday.
It will be the first of seven Osceola regular season games that will come against 2021 playoff teams – including – including traditional powers Seminole, Lakeland and Sarasota Riverview.
Coach Eric Pinellas was hoping to use the game to help settle his quarterback position. Gunner Holland started the spring game but David Buggs – a transfer from City of Life’s 8-man football program – has been challenging him this fall. Pinellas said both should play Friday.
“We hoped to get a running back rotation and the defense settled in,” he said of last week. “We’ve got an offensive line group we feel good about.”
St. Cloud’s pre-season game with Windermere was also cancelled but it did not damper the enthusiasm of new Bulldogs coach Mike Short.
“We had a great camp and outstanding week of practice heading in. The kids are super enthusiastic and are really excited to get the season underway,” he said.
Short said one major, pleasant surprise popped up during pre-season camp with the emergence of freshman Bryce Williams, the brother of former Bulldogs standout Tyler Williams. Bryce was not sure he even wanted to play football but came out in August and immediately started to turn the head of coaches.
“We stick him at corner, safety and even linebacker and it doesn’t matter,” Short said. “The young man is not intimidated or fazed at whatever we throw at him. He has a chance to be a really good football player.”
St. Cloud opens Friday against Central Florida Christian Academy, who returns most of their skill people and starting defense.
“They are typical, good private school,” Short said. “They may not have numbers for depth but their starters are extremely talented on both sides of the ball. They will present a challenge.”
Gateway (at Horizon), Celebration (hosting Davenport) and Liberty (hosting Lake Buena Vista) also saw their Kickoff Games lightninged out. The Panthers host Lake Buena Vista Friday, Celebration travels to Ridge and Liberty goes to Tohopekaliga.
First-year Storm coach Jeremy Palmer said he was disappointed by the cancellation. “Our kids are ready to hit someone new,” he said. “We would have liked to get that practice game in, especially since Ridge was able to get their exhibition game in.”
He added that the key to the upcoming season would be how quickly his offensive and defensive lines develop.
“We have a lot of upperclassmen, who have a ton of experience at the skill positions,” Palmer said. “But we are really young on both the offensive and defensive lines. We need to get those players some experience.”
The Storm went 7-4 and posted just their second winning season in school history.
