Osceola-News-Gazette_417134

FOOTBALL PHOTOS KATIE WILLIAMS 2024 OSCEOLA COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL SEASON PREVIEW SPOT THE BALL AND TURN ‘EM LOOSE– FALL FRIDAYS MEAN FOOTBALL! FOOTBALL! THE REALLY, REALLY BIG 2024 OSCEOLA COUNTY FOOTBALL GAMES–REALLY! Aug. 23–Poinciana at Celebration Matchup of the county’s two rst-year coaches Aug. 30–Lyman at Tohopekaliga Home debut of high-powered Tiger offense Sept. 6–Poinciana at St. Cloud Bulldogs undefeated all-time against Eagles Sept. 13–Osceola at St. Cloud Meeting No. 101 in state’s fth-longest active H.S. rivalry Sept. 20–Jones at Osceola Powerful Orlando team comes south to test the Kowboys Sept. 26–Harmony at Tohopekaliga Budding rivals meet for a Thursday district showdown Sept. 26–Liberty at Gateway Two rebuilding county teams meet on a Thursday Sept. 27—Melbourne at Osceola, St. Cloud at Lake Nona Simply put, huge district games Oct. 4–St. Cloud at Gateway Rivals separated by just a few miles Oct. 18–Tohopekaliga at St. Cloud District 7A-10 title may come clearer for winner of this one Oct. 25–St. Cloud at Harmony Winner of Soldier City Classic gets Brass Bugle– and a district win Oct. 25–Poinciana at Liberty Eagles have claimed last two “Battles of the Boulevard” By Ken Jackson Editor Around these parts, they’ve been playing high school football for, like, nearly a hunnert’ years. Know how we know? Osceola and St. Cloud met up for the 100th time in 2023. Even Celebration and Harmony, considered “new” by those standards, enter their third decades of games in burnt orange and purple this year. What is new in high school football this year is still kind of old. e FHSAA scrapped Metro/Suburban way of designing districts and went back to assigning all schools by enrollment numbers. at put rivals St. Cloud, Harmony and Tohopekaliga together with neighbor Lake Nona in District 7A-10, Celebration in 7A-9 with Orange County’s Dr. Phillips and Olympia and Lake County’s East Ridge, and Osceola landed in 6A District 5 with Brevard’s Melbourne and Viera. Meanwhile, Poinciana, Liberty and Gateway, along with a number of Orange County programs, have all chosen the independent route, in order to schedule more games they’ll be competitive in. e county features two new head coaches. Administrators at Poinciana and Celebration tabbed Taron Mallard and Chris Blanton to take over those programs–and they meet in their regular-season opener on Aug. 23. Harmony’s Nick Lippert and Liberty’s Dee Hart embark on their second seasons. With all of those changes, everything gets back to what we’re used to Friday night with games at Osceola, St. Cloud, Gateway, Celebration and Harmony. A er a hunnert’ years, why change a good thing?