By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

St. Cloud’s stunning 41-35 overtime win Friday at Gannarelli Field over arch-rival Osceola rates Instant Classic status.

Ask any of the 3,000 or so in attendance.

The teams combined for 830 total yards and four scoring plays of 77 yards or more, with all of those big plays coming in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Harmony favored to repeat in OBC

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

Harmony won its first Orange Belt Conference and district titles last year, and since its biggest contributors were underclassmen, the Lady Longhorns are favorites again.

Heritage Christian was one game away from reaching the Florida Christian Conference championship game.

Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Welcome to the smashing debut of the Osceola News-Gazette Picks of the Weak for 2010.

There seems to be a societal obligation for sports writers to pick football games, so here we are.

How did we arrive at our NFL and BCS picks? I flipped paper squares, and Young Jackson channeled Jimmy “The Greek.” We’re cautiously optimistic.

Sports Editor

With the college football season officially under way, several Osceola County graduates may play key roles at their Division I schools.

Auburn defensive back T’Sharvan Bell, a redshirt sophomore, has received glowing reviews from the Tigers coaching staff as the team prepares for its opener today against Arkansas State.

“He’s played as good as anybody out there in the secondary,” Coach Gene Chizik told the Opilika-Auburn News after a scrimmage last week. “That leaves some good options with him right now.”

Preds fundraiser

The Poinciana Predators flag football team will hold a car wash and yard sale Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at CenterState Bank on Cypress Parkway.

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
St. Cloud vs. Osceola is a football series of fits and starts.
St. Cloud has a fit and wins a game or two, then Osceola starts on another lengthy winning streak.
At least, that’s the way it has been over the past five decades of the series that began in 1925.

Sports Editor

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

While they both took lopsided losses in their Kickoff Classics, either Poinciana or Gateway is going to start the regular season 1-0 when the two meet at the Ridenour Athletic Complex at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The Panthers fell 48-7 to Satellite Beach, while the Eagles lost to First Academy, 34-6, in a game that was called in the third quarter due to lightning.