Osceola-Tohopekaliga meet Thursday at St. Cloud for OBC volleyball title
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Big events this week in volleyball, swimming, football in Osceola County
In a light week for football — three county squads have bye weeks — the first two Orange Belt Conference team championships will be contested.
Swimmers take to the Makinson Aquatic Center Thursday beginning at 9 a.m. (diving is Wednesday evening). The Harmony girls seek to continue recent domination with their fourth straight team title and ninth in the last 10 years. The Longhorn boys will be looking to defend their championship after breaking Celebration’s three-year reign.
Thursday night, St. Cloud hosts the OBC volleyball finals where Osceola (16-5) entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and favorite to win. The Kowboys defeated Liberty in Monday's quarterfinal and Gateway in Tuesday's semifinal in straight sets. It set up a 7 p.m. championship match with Tohopekaliga (18-3), who beat St. Cloud and Harmony in 3-0 fashion to make it there.
In the other OBC matches Thursday, St. Cloud hosts Celebration in the 5th place game at 5 p.m., Harmony hosts Gateway for 3rd place at 5 p.m. and Liberty travels to Poinciana for the 7 p.m. 7th place game (JVs will play at 6).
Class 7A Osceola has been on a roll with victories in 12 of their last 14 matches – including a straight-set road win over state-ranked Class 4A Bishop Moore. The only losses since early September where to 7A top 5 teams Hagerty and Timber Creek on the road.
Coach Carrie Palmi may be building something very special at Osceola, as her attack is led by a trio of sophomores in Cate Palmi (315 kills), Jordin Southall (246 kills) and Sophia Spivey (98 kills). Middle blockers include 6-4 freshman Brooklyn Sippio (46 total blocks) and sophomore Mikayla Mathews (51 total blocks). Top Libero Dari Bravo (246 digs) is also just a sophomore.
In football, the most intriguing game of the week is a Friday night non-district matchup at Tohopekaliga between the Tigers (4-1) and Orlando Christian Prep (6-0). Behind a career-high 587 passing yards and six touchdowns by sophomore Sabby Meassick, Toho blanked Celebration, 42-0, to remain undefeated in the 4S, District 10 race. Meassick hit Julian Nasco (156 yards) and Delvin Pryor (176) twice each for scores.
Friday’s game with Orlando Prep will feature Toho’s passing attack (427 yards per game) against a Warriors running attack averaging more than 225 yards per game. The teams have played two common opponents with similar results — The Tigers outscored Liberty and Foundation Academy 10527, with OCP Prep winning the two games 84-20.
Harmony (1-4) will have its hands full at Hagerty (3-2). Hagerty lost to undefeated and stateranked Winter Park, 14-0, last week.
Longhorns coach Nick Lippert describes the Huskies as a solid opponent, big on both lines and a very capable quarterback.
“They have a ton of veteran depth,” Lippert said. “They graduated something like 27 seniors last year and have 24 on the roster this year.”
The Longhorns dropped a 14-0 road decision to Melbourne last week. Lippert praised his defense in that loss noting that both touchdowns allowed came on short fields with drives of just 25 (set up by a turnover) and 2 yards (off a long punt return).
“Our defensive line did a great job getting after their quarterback and Ian Brigham was outstanding at linebacker,” Lippert said. “Unfortunately, that defensive effort was spoiled because we simply could not get anything going on offense. It seems like every time we got a big play, we followed it with a negative play or a penalty.”
Poinciana (2-3) travels to Davenport to try to get back to .500. After two wins last week, the Eagles lost 53-18 to Foundation Academy. Poinciana committed four first-quarter turnovers to dig an early hole.
For the Eagles, Ernest Nunn (60-yard TD reception), Elijah Bowser (80-yard TD reception) and Will Nezius (12-yard run) scored.
“If we play like we’re capable of, I would have a lot of confidence of a win this week, but if we play like we did last week, it could be another long night,” PHS Beeken said.
In the only game involving county teams, Gateway (0-5) will play St. Cloud (2-3) at 7 p.m. at Hickory Tree Park. The Bulldogs have won the last four games, and both teams are coming off losses. St. Cloud had no answers for Osceola in the 100th playing of that rivalry, losing 49-3. Gateway managed to score a season-high 28 points but lost to Liberty, 35-28.
Liberty, Osceola and Celebration all have bye weeks. The Chargers hit their bye week after defeating Gateway for their second win in a row. Head coach Dee Hart said he was extremely pleased with his team’s effort as they built a 28-7 lead after three quarters and cruised to the win.
QB Jeremiah Pierre-Louis ran for one score and threw for another. Josh Alezi had a 70-yard pick-six and 60-yard touchdown reception in the second half after sitting the first for disciplinary reasons.
“I was so proud of Josh because I was interested in seeing how he would accept sitting in the first half. He stayed engaged in supporting his teammates from the bench and then came out and made big play after big play in second half,” Hart said.
By building a lead, Liberty was able to play a lot of their younger players in the fourth quarter, “Getting them some valuable experience,” according to Hart.
