A collision of teams that made it to state championship games a year ago highlight the Week 2 slate for Orlando area high school football.
Lake Mary, the No. 4 team in the Sentinel’s Super 16 Coaches Poll, will travel to Kissimmee on Friday to battle No. 6 Kissimmee Osceola. The Rams were the Class 7A runner-up, losing to Venice in state title game a year ago. Osceola lost the 6A championship to West Boca Raton.
It’s a rematch from last year’s game, which saw star Osceola running back Taevion Swint, now at UCF, injured on the first series. Lake Mary went on to win 24-7.
This year’s matchup features quite different teams. Lake Mary has 10 new defensive starters and a completely new group of receivers to go around star quarterback Noah Grubbs. The Rams have 25 new transfers. Osceola has a new quarterback in Amaree Rutland, a transfer from Wekiva, and a trio of running backs in Alijah Jenkins, Jeff Sinophat and Tohopekaliga transfer Jaxon Hardnett looking to offset the loss of Swint to UCF.
Senior quarterback Carter Emanuel leads Edgewater into a battle with NFL Academy Europe on Friday night at Edgewater. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Elsewhere, a big Lake County showdown between Tavares and No. 16 South Lake could give the winner the upper hand on Lake supremacy. But Tavares enters having lost star linebacker Izayia Williams to a preseason knee injury. The FSU commit is out for the season.
No. 2 Edgewater will be hosting NFL Academy Europe in a rematch of last year, when Edgewater traveled to England and won a wild 51-45 game.
The Academy roster has players from Austria, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal and Scotland, Siria, Spain, and Sweden. It’s head coach, Steve Hagen, was an NFL assistant for 16 seasons.
Week 2 schedule
All games are set for 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
OPEN DATE: Kissimmee Liberty, Umatilla, West Oaks Academy
Thursday
Mount Dora (0-1) at East Ridge (1-0)
Friday
Super 16 Games
No. 1 Jones (1-0) at Timber Creek (1-0)
NFL Academy (1-0) at No. 2 Edgewater (1-0)
No. 3 West Orange (1-0) at Wekiva (0-1)
No. 4 Lake Mary (1-0) at No. 6 Kissimmee Osceola (1-0)
Phenix City (Ala.) Central (1-0) at No. 5 The First Academy, 8 p.m.
Orlando Christian Prep (1-0) at No. 7 Bishop Moore (1-0)
Orlando University (0-1) at No. 8 Dr. Phillips (0-1)
New Smyrna Beach (0-0) at No. 9 DeLand (1-0)
No. 10 Ocoee (1-0) at Olympia (0-1)
No. 11 Winter Park (0-1) at Berkeley (1-0), South Carolina, 7:30 p.m.
No. 12 Lake Brantley (1-0) at East River (0-1)
Sickles (0-1) at No. 13 Oviedo (0-1)
Apopka (0-1) at No. 14 Evans (0-1)
Tavares (1-0) at No. 15 South Lake (1-0)
No 16 Seminole (0-1) at Palm Bay Heritage (1-0)
Elsewhere
Boone (1-0) at Hagerty (1-0)
Pine Ridge (0-1) at St. Cloud (1-0), 7:30
Orange City University (1-0) at Matanzas (0-1)
Celebration (0-1) at Winter Springs (1-0)
CFCA (1-0) at Marco Island Academy (1-0)
Colonial (0-1) at Lake Buena Vista (1-0)
Orangewood Christian (2-0) at Cornerstone Charter (0-1)
Cypress Creek (0-1) at Windermere (1-0)
Deltona (1-0) at Viera (1-0)
Eustis (0-1) at Port Orange Atlantic (0-1)
Faith Christian (0-1) at Master’s Academy (1-1), 7:30
Foundation Academy (2-0) at Lake Highland Prep (0-1), 6
Freedom (0-1) at Satellite (1-0)
Astronaut (1-0) at Gateway (0-1)
Harmony (0-1) at Poinciana (1-0)
Horizon (1-0) at Lake Nona (1-0)
Innovation (1-0) at Oak Ridge (0-1)
Lake Howell (0-1) at Flagler Palm Coast (1-0)
Ocala Vanguard (0-1) at Lake Minneola (1-0)
Leesburg (1-0) at Wildwood (0-1)
Tohopekaliga (1-0) at Lyman (0-1)
Taylor (0-1) at Mount Dora Christian (1-1), 7:30
St. Joseph Academy (1-0) at Geneva School (0-2), 6:30
Windermere Prep (0-0) at Trinity Prep (1-1)
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
