Osceola OKs practice; Orange adjusts games
Friday night high school football in Orlando and surrounding cities is washed away for a second consecutive week, thanks to Hurricane Irma’s destructive path.
But thanks in part to resilient players at Liberty High School in Kissimmee who begged for a chance to return to the field of play, there will be a kickoff in Osceola County this weekend.
The Osceola County school district is not resuming classes until next week but cleared its schools to hold outside practices on Wednesday and gave the OK for Harmony (1-1) to host Liberty (1-1) in a Week 4 football game on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
“The kids are actually the ones who organized our practice this morning,” Liberty coach Doug Gabriel said on Wednesday afternoon. “One of my seniors [receiver Mario Johnson] kind of led the way. He contacted a bunch of the guys and told me they were going to get together to practice. He had 18 guys on a list at one point when he told me and that number just kept growing.”
Gabriel said he reached out to Osceola Schools athletics coordinator Ryan Adams and his school administrators to request permission for coaches to conduct a practice and it was granted.
Adams said all schools in the district were notified Wednesday that they could hold outdoor practices.
Gabriel said his entire varsity squad showed up at 10 a.m., along with more than 20 JV players.
“The kids want to get out there and work out the kinks. They had it organized. They were really excited,” Gabriel said. “We can’t use anything inside the building, but they allowed us to use the field. I am very thankful.”
Osceola was alone among area school districts in permitting players back on campus before school resumes. All Central Florida public schools are closed through Friday.
Orange County Public Schools announced a district-wide decision to move all Friday football games to Monday, Oct. 9. That encompasses 19 OCPS schools and 10 games, including the Apopka-at-Dr. Phillips matchup of state-ranked teams.
To provide those schools an additional day to prepare for those makeup games next month, the district also shifted all games involving OCPS teams scheduled for Friday, Oct. 6, to Thursday, Oct. 5.
Practices for Orange County teams in all fall sports can resume Monday.
“We want to let our kids return to school before we play,” said OCPS athletics administrator Doug Patterson. “We hope this gives our student-athletes a fresh start on Monday. We want our coaches to have an opportunity to get the kids back into shape where they can prepare for that hard stretch in the schedule.”
Patterson said OCPS sought a solution that would give teams time to regroup while allowing schools room to reschedule games because every week counts in the new Florida High School Athletic Association playoff format.
“Playing those district games is critical,” Patterson said. “We feel that it’s just as important for teams that don’t win their districts to play those other [non-district] games. Those factor into their opportunity to make the playoffs.”
Lake Highland Prep plans to resume football practice today, but coach Ben Bullock said rescheduling of its Friday game at Avon Park is unlikely.
Only one road game involving an area team remains scheduled Friday in the wake of postponements, cancellations and rescheduling. Legacy Charter is still set to play at Vero Beach St. Edward's, according to the host school.
The Master’s Academy at Faith Christian matchup will be played Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Monday night football is a possibility for some area teams, but Seminole County schools administrator Mike Gaudreau said that is not an option for programs in his district.
“We will have no practices before Monday for sure,” Gaudreau said on Wednesday. “We’ll probably make that decision on Friday. You can’t play this Monday when you haven’t practiced.”
Bishop Moore is closed until Monday but the school’s undefeated girls volleyball team plans to play this weekend. The Hornets are set to travel to Tampa to play in the Berkeley Prep tournament.
Among the Friday football postponements was a road trip for Trinity Prep, which counting its preseason Kickoff Classic has finished just one of its five scheduled games so far.
Lake and Volusia county schools are closed through Friday with all extra-curricular activities canceled until Monday.