Harmony, Toho, Gateway try to build on wins playing county foes
Possible “Game of the Year” status may be on hand Friday night when the Osceola Kowboys host state power Seminole at Markus Paul Field at 7 p.m. in a rematch of the 2020 FHSAA Class 8A state championship game won by Seminole 38-10. The contest is expected to be a strong test for both teams.
“I can’t really say enough about the type of program Eric (Seminole head coach Eric Lodge) has going over there,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said. “As usual, they have big, fast strong kids on both sides of the ball. Their quarterback (Luke Rucker) can spin it pretty good and they have a lot of depth at running back. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge for us.”
Both teams turned in impressive performances Friday. Osceola’s defense held 2021 state seminalist Treasure Coast out of the end zone in a 14-5 win, while Rucker completed 10 of 13 passes for 179 yards and a pair of scores in an impressive 49-0 dismantling of Sarasota Riverview – another perennial playoff team.
Harmony, fresh off a big 33-20 road win over Eustis, looks to keep that momentum going with a 7 p.m. game at Celebration. The Storm dropped a 28-14 decision to Ridge Community in its opener last week.
Longhorns Coach Don Simon said that despite some early sloppy play, he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Eustis is a really solid team, they won (eight) games last year and will probably do the same this year. To go on the road and win by two scores against a quality opponent is a big plus,” he said.
A solid running attack led the way for Harmony, as Tyler Emans (23-129-1 TD), Cooper Richards (10-91-2 TD) and Jonathan Stout (9-44) all had big game as Harmony ran for 277 yards. Sophomore linebacker Dalten Phelan got Harmony off to a great start when he had scooped and scored on a fumble recovery on the first defensive series of the game.
Jeremy Palmer’s Celebration team played a solid game but could not overcome ve turnovers, including three fumbles and two interceptions.
“Given the field position we gave them with turnovers, I thought we played really well on defense to only give up 28 points,"Palmer said. “Offensively we were also pretty good. Our young offensive line – especially sophomore Gavin Konopka – gave us an exceptional performance. “
Palmer added that Harmony’s running game would present a huge challenge in Week 2. “You have to focus on stopping Emans, but (Richards) compliments him so well,” Palmer said. “Coach Simon runs sort of an older style running game but has so many modern wrinkles in it. Regardless of their record, whenever you play Harmony you know they are going to be physical and play hard the entire game.” The new-look
Tohopekaliga Tigers, under first year head coach Anthony Paradiso, opened the season with a 49-0 win over Liberty. Freshman quarterback Sabby Meassick began his Tiger career by hitting 16 of 24 passes for 205 yards and five touchdowns. Paradiso down played the victory, calling it, “Good, but just first step,” as he begins the rebuild from last year’s 2-8 season
“It simply is the first game in what is going to be a long process. We did some good things out there on Friday, but we also know there are going to be some bumps in the road,” he said. “My coaches and I have really spent the last six or seven months trying to build a culture and make the players understand what is expected of them. Our only goal at this time is to try to get better each week.”
Tohopekaliga will look for its second win of the season on Friday, when they host Gateway. The Panthers won their first opener since 2016, when quarterback Hector Perez scored a late touchdown to give Gateway a 27-20 win. The Panthers led for most of the game, but a lack of depth caught up to them in the second half.
“As has been the case the last couple of years, we are just playing way too many players both ways. We jumped on top early we started getting gassed in the second half,” GHS Coach Marlin Roberts said. He cited the play of sophomore running back Josh Fuller (2 TDs, including a 34-yarder), Perez, and lineman Aiden Cooper (three sacks); while also stating freshman linebacker Dashawn Reese played an outstanding game and could be a future star.
Liberty will host Eau Gallie at 7 p.m. Friday as they look for their first win.
St. Cloud struggled in its 54-27 opening loss to Central Florida Christian Academy. “Sort of my worst fears heading into that game came to pass,” Bulldog coach Mike Short said. “They are a small private school but they are loaded with outstanding players on both sides of the ball. They had most of their players back from a really good team last year. Still I thought both our offense and even defense played well but special team errors put us in some bad positions.”
For the Bulldogs, sophomore quarterback Logan King completed 12 of 23 for 149 yards and two scores, including a 23-yarder to Jake Dabrowski and St. Cloud moved the ball well on the ground with about 120 rushing yards.
St. Cloud will attempt to get on the winning track this week, when it travels to Deltona to face Pine Ridge, a 42-0 loser to Mantanzas in their season opener.
“Despite the score, I know Pine Ridge is a solid team and well coached. I just hope the weather will give us a break so we can get full practices in this week,” Short said, noting twice last week the Bulldogs were forced inside because of lightning and a third practice was also shortened by storms.
Poinciana lost its season opener to Parrish Community, 39-15, but Coach Randy Beeken took some positives away from the game. “We dug ourselves into a pretty deep hole early in the game, but our players never quit and frankly we won the second half.” Beeken praised the play of Will Nezious, who scored a touchdown on his first career touch and Dekwan Bradley, who threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Raymond.
“Hopefully things will come together when we meet Discovery on Thursday,” Beeken said. “The slow start was disappointing last week but the promise is there.”
