On Friday night, the Gateway Panthers will travel east just a few miles to meet the St. Cloud Bulldogs on the football field for the 40th consecutive year. Kickoff at St. Cloud is 7:30 p.m.
It is the second oldest rivalry in the county behind Osceola-St. Cloud, and much like that series it is tilted toward one team.
St. Cloud holds a 29-10 edge in the series and has won the last six in a row. And although the Bulldogs (4-2) may be favored once again, Coach Mike Short is not taking anything for granted.
“They may not have the depth, but they definitely have some dudes over there,” Short said. “Their defense is actually pretty good and their running back (Nydrell Thigpen) is explosive. Coach (Marlin) Roberts always does a good job getting his team ready. You know they will play hard.”
The Bulldogs are riding high after beating Lake Nona (25-17) last week in their District 7A-10 opener. Sophomore QB Jeremiah Lattier threw for one TD and ran for another, but it was the St. Cloud defense that made a statement— forcing five turnovers—as the Bulldogs avenged a 23-10 loss last year that eventually cost them the district title.
Independent Gateway (2-4) downed Liberty, 20-0, Friday but Roberts says the team has still not played a complete game this season.
“We still have had problems throwing the darn ball and penalties continue to be a major factor,” the veteran coach said.
Thigpen (six touchdowns, 85 rushing yards per game) has been Gateway’s most productive offensive player, while junior Dory Thimote continued his outstanding season against the Chargers with a touchdown reception and a pair of quarterback sacks.
Meanwhile, Tohopekaliga (3-2, 1-0) will travel to Lake Brantley (4-1) in a non-district game that could have playoff implications for the Tigers. An upset win would certainly help Tohopekaliga’s playoff resume for an at-large spot if they do not win District 7A-10 outright.
“They are one of the better teams in the region and we’re playing them on the road,” THS Coach Anthony Paradiso said. “We are approaching this game like we do every week—try to be better than we were the week before.”
The game should be a showdown between two of the area’s better signal callers. Lake Brantley sophomore Jackson Stetcher suffered his first loss of the season last week, 43-21, to an outstanding Seminole team. He is an excellent dual threat quarterback who had 10 TD passes with no interceptions and six rushing touchdowns in his first four games. Davon Washington (26.4 yards per catch) is his deep ball threat.
Tohopekaliga will counter with senior Sabby Meassick, already Osceola County’s all-time leader in passing yards. He threw for 405 yards and four touchdowns with no picks in a Sept. 19 win at Harmony. Halfway through the season, Meassick has thrown for 1,700 yards with 20 touchdowns and only five interceptions.
The Tigers’ ability to run the ball in recent weeks (240 yards in last two games) could take some pressure off the Tigers’ passing game.
After its bye week, Poinciana (2-3) will attempt to get back to .500 when it travels to Lake Region (3-3). Coach Taron Mallard says last week’s bye came at a great time after his team beat Haines City, 3613, back on Sept. 19.
“It gave us a chance to heal up and recharge our batteries,” Mallard said. “We lost a couple of disappointing games that we won last year (Harmony and St. Cloud) but we also beat Haines City for the first time. Some of our goals this season were to match last year’s win total (8-3) and win a bowl game and those certainly remain in reach.”
When Liberty (0-5) plays
Celebration (0-5) on Friday night, one team will come away with their first win of the year. Both rebuilding programs were on the wrong end of lopsided games last week, as the Storm dropped a 48-7 District 7A-9 game to East Ridge; while the Chargers were shut out by Gateway.
Meanwhile, Osceola (4-2, 1-0) and Harmony (3-3, 0-1) hit their bye weeks. The Kowboys can punch their ticket to the playoffs by clinching the district championship with win over Viera (3-2) next week. They had a surprising tough district opener last week against Melbourne, in an 18-10 road win.
Last year, the Kowboys beat Melbourne 48-7, and on Friday Osceola jumped out to an 18-0 lead in the first quarter but missed three extra points and had a touchdown called back that would have made the lead bigger. After that, Melbourne rallied, scored 10 unanswered points and had a chance in the fourth quarter to tie the game before the Kowboys defense came up with a big stop. Melbourne rushed for 165 yards against Osceola’s normally stout defense.
“It was sort felt like we were in the Twilight Zone,” Coach Eric Pinellas said. “They were much improved from last year and frankly I can’t remember the last time a team gained 100 yards rushing on us. We sat out Jakyri Watson and we lost running back Jaxson Hardnett (high ankle sprain) on the first play of the game. We still had a really good opportunity to put the game away in the first half and failed to do so. Although we did not give up a defensive touchdown (Melbourne had a scoop and score on defense), I just don’t think we played a very good game.”
Pinellas added that Watson and other dinged up players should be back for the Viera game, but Hardnett may be out until the playoffs.
Harmony, who dropped district game to Tohopekaliga last Thursday, returns to action on Oct. 10 with a district game against Lake Nona. It will be a must win for both teams if they want to stay in the district race, as each dropped their district opener.
“We’re still in the district race, we have a game against our biggest rivals (St. Cloud) and a winning record are still in front of us. We will use the bye week to heal up, get back to work and try to get better.” Harmony Coach Don Simon said.
