Winter update: Bulldogs narrow Harmony’s OBC All-Sports lead

With the conclusion of Orange Belt Conference boys and girls wrestling tournaments last week, the standings for the coveted OBC All-Sports Trophy have narrowed.

Thanks to wins in competitive cheer and girls’ soccer, as well as second place finishes in boys and girls wrestling and girls weightlifting, Harmony tallied 50 team points in the winter and now has 95 for the year. But the lead is now narrow over St. Cloud (90) and Celebration (82). Tohopekaliga (74) remains in striking distance.

Rounding out the standings are Gateway (70), Osceola (49), Poinciana (29) and Liberty (19).

Harmony has dominated the award of late, winning the last three and claiming 11 titles in their 19-year history.

“Having a well-rounded total athletic program is something we take a lot of pride in and that’s reflected by our performance in the annual race for this trophy,” Harmony Athletic Director Dan Kerr said. “We had a really solid winter season with two championships and three second place showings. But we also understand we are going to need a similar effort in the spring to hold off the challengers—especially St. Cloud.

“The Bulldogs are having an excellent year but the thought of turning the trophy over to my good friend Smarty (St. Cloud AD Bryan Smart) would really bother me,” Kerr added with a smile.

While the Longhorns will be highly favored to win the girls’ flag football title this spring, the overall championship could very well be decided by the results from softball (Apr. 8-12), baseball (Apr. 8-12), and track (Apr. 13) championships— three sports where both St. Cloud and Harmony traditionally field solid teams. Celebration, third in the standings, will be favored to win both tennis titles—which could lead to an extremely tight race down the stretch.

It’s also possible that the sport of bass fishing could play a key role. Points from that sport (Apr. 13 championship at Neptune Road Pond) would count towards the championship if the mandatory five schools enter teams. Currently, four teams have committed to compete.

St. Cloud stayed within more than striking distance with 46 points earned in winter sports. The Bulldogs won the OBC girls basketball tournament and kept their decade-long domination of weightlifting alive, but they also picked up a surprise boys basketball championship, upsetting top-seeded Harmony in the semifinals before clipping Poinciana in the championship game. That continues a remarkable turnaround for St. Cloud and first-year coach Tommy Billiteri, who at 19-5 has secured St. Cloud first winning season and playoff berth in 20 years.

In addition to their three team championships, St. Cloud finished no lower than third in seven of the eight contested sports. “We were close to them after last winter but Harmony just had a huge spring and ran away with the title,” Smart said. “Like AD Kerr, we also strongly believe a wellrounded sports program is important and we certainly would like to claim the All-Sports championship for the first time since 2020. I can’t help but think baseball and softball will be the deciding factors.”

Osceola accounted for the other winter sports championships in girls and boys wrestling.

The OBC consists of Osceola County’s eight public schools. To be included in the All-Sports standings, each sport must be contested by at least five of the eight schools. Points are earned on the results of either an OBC tournament or championship event, or from round-robin results for team sports. Because of the nature of football, where county teams play in assigned districts and compete in different classes —the sport is not included in the OBC All-Sports results.

Since the founding of the conference in 1987 as a group of schools along the Turnpike up into Lake County, Osceola High is the all-time leader in All-Sports titles won with 14, St. Cloud and Harmony have each won 11.