Osceola-News-Gazette_477603

By Ken Jackson Editor You play to win the game. You try to go 1-0 every week. And, at the end, you hope to be in the … playo s? You kiddin’ me, playo s? Football is rife with clichés. (Bonus points if you can name who said those coach-isms above.) Eight public schools in Osceola County take to the eld this week in the 2025 football season. (Next year it will be nine when the Nova Road school comes online.) Five are in districts that make them eligible for the FHSAA playo s. ree independents will be eligible for a postseason bowl game should they reach ve wins through nine games. Rivals St. Cloud, Harmony and Tohopekaliga are together with neighbor Lake Nona in District 7A-10, Celebration is in 7A-9 with Orange County’s Dr. Phillips and Olympia and Lake County’s East Ridge, and Osceola landed in District 6A-5 with Brevard’s Melbourne and Viera. 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 has two new head coaches who aren’t so new. At Liberty, Janko Beras took over on an interim basis late in 2024 and was named the full-time lead Charger prior to spring practices. And Don Simon returns to the Harmony sideline a er the leading the Longhorns from 2017-22. Yet still, it’ll all feel familiar again Friday when Poinciana hosts Celebration. Next week features Osceola, St. Cloud, Gateway and Tohopekaliga hosting for the rst time. ( e answers from above: Herman Edwards, Josh Heupel and Jim Mora gave us those words of wisdom.) 2025 OSCEOLA COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL KICKING UP HEELS, KICKING OFF THE SEASON FOOTBALL SEASON PREVIEW