Oviedo football draws 70 players for spring drills in Florida

Lions hope to make another playoff run with experienced group in 2025

Oviedo High wide receiver Emiliano Galarza (0) looks for running room against Hagerty in a 2024 regular-season game. Galarza is one of multiple key returnees this year for the Lions. / Acovan Schild

It may be only mid-May, but the Oviedo Lions are ready to roar this high school football season.

Oviedo coach Greg Odierno announced that 70 players have turned out for spring drills, with varsity and junior varsity players drilling together. Odierno said the Lions won’t break into teams until fall camp in August.

The team opened drills on Monday, April 28, with the first two days in helmets. The Lions then went to shells for the next three days before going to full pads.

Oviedo caps spring drills with a game at Ocoee on Thursday, May 15, at 6:30 p.m. “We look good,” Odierno said. “We have quite a few players that are primed for major seasons.”

The Lions return a nice mix of players for the 2025 season, especially on offense. Oviedo will have a new quarterback in rising junior Sebastian Galeano, who threw for 293 yards and four touchdowns in limited action last season.

Galeano will have arguably one of the best 1-2 punches at wide receiver in rising junior Jordan Donahoo, who caught 34 passes for 701 yards and six TDs – all team highs – and rising senior Emiliano Galarza, who caught 17 passes for 303 yards and one TD.

Oviedo also returns superb athlete Brock Joyce, a rising senior who can play nearly every position on the offensive side of the ball. A rising senior, he rushed 74 times for 529 yards (second on the team) and 13 TDs, leading the squad in the final category,

Micah Thorpe, a 6-foot, 255-pound rising senior, will on the line again at center or guard.

Defensively, the Lions have a major force in rising senior linebacker Samari Chisolm, who had 52 tackles (11 for loss), five sacks and one interception last season. He also came up big on special teams with 348 kickoff return yards.

Fellow rising senior Kyle Olson also is back on defense after having made 47 tackles and two interceptions in 2024. Rising junior wide receiver/free safety Carmari Solomon, who made 28 tackles and two interceptions, and rising senior Steven Malone, who made 13 tackles, also are back for Oviedo.

Oviedo went 8-3 and advanced to the Class 6A playoffs in 2024, marking the third consecutive year that the Seminole County school won eight or more games. The Lions have advanced to the postseason for three straight seasons.

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