Orlando (FL) Metro Conference High School Football Rebrand (19/22)

[kb105]

This process started back in 2020 during the pandemic, but I kinda shelved it when I started my AUIA series. The idea is pretty simple, Orange County (FL) has 22 high schools, all ranging from 1,500 to 4,200 students, meaning all of them play in either the 3M or 4M classifications (the two highest metro classifications, more info on that here). Having been born and raised in Orlando, I have many ties to most of these schools, including having played against many of them either in high school or against their feeder AAU programs. The goal is to create an update of every school. This ranges from simple updates and corrections that follow previous uniforms and traditions, but update from teamwear designs that most high schools are confined by, all the way to total brand overhauls  that introduce new logos and branding (read as getting rid of "borrowed" college and pro logos). As mentioned over in my AUIA series, the uniforms will be on templates using self branded uniforms, something inspired by raysox's Danger Brand concepts. Since the county has only 22 schools, I tried my best to create unique looks for each school, especially in using different helmet colors. This of course wasn't entirely possible, but teams with same color helmets will still have differing color blocking from one another to create a good balance of looks across the conference. 

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Apopka

Boone

Colonial

Cypress Creek

Dr Phillips

East River

Edgewater

Evans

Freedom

Horizon

Jones

Lake Buena Vista

Lake Nona

Oak Ridge

Ocoee

Olympia

Timber Creek

University

Wekiva

West Orange

Windermere

Winter Park

 

Spoiler

Depending on how this goes, after I finish the county schools, I might go ahead and do some local private schools and/or some schools in the state that I've either heard of or if there are any requests for certain schools. 

 

[kb105]

Team #1: Boone Braves

Est. 1952

Last Season: 6-5 4M-4 Champions (Lost 1st Round to Apopka)

Best Finish: 2007 State Runner-Up

Notable Alumni: Johnny and Tommy Townsend, Marvin Bracy, Stacy Mack, Cody Allen

Main Rival: Edgewater Eagles

 

 

This is the school I went to, so this is the one that really started it all. Under the previous head coach, Phil Ziglar, Boone was always blank orange helmet, orange and white and maybe some light grey or black number outlines. Under the current coach, the team and the school has branched out. Helmet decals have been used, changing either every year or every other year, a different color shells (orange was last used in 2018), and dark grey and light blue alternates were introduced. This concept looks to go back to the roots of the program that led to its height in the late 2000s while keeping up with the past few years of new looks. A few years ago, it probably would have looked closer to Florida State, putting spears on the helmet and some native American-inspired patterns on the jerseys. However, in 2019 the school rebranded and updated their old brave head logo. Along with the rebrand was new style guides that prevented  any weapons or direct native American iconography (like spears and tomahawks and arrows) along with other changes concerning the mascot issue. So, I decided on a feather design based on the new branding. The helmet stripe is both a feather as well as a mohawk, which most players don when they play their rivals, Edgewater in the last game of the season. The logo is inspired by the 2014 helmet, which in turn was a copy of the Ohio Bobcats helmet. Below the neck, the uniforms follow a three stripe design, similar to the current three jerseys worn. There are breaks in the stripe using the aforementioned rebrand design element, a la the Wisconsin Badgers "forward" stripe. Ideally, the uniforms would be O/O/W at home and O/W/O away with the blue pieces mixed in here and there. The last uniform shows what this design would look like with current or previous helmet colors, in Boone's case being a blue shell with a grey mask and a white shell with an orange mask.

 

Excited to hear what y'all think, especially any of those that live or have lived in the area that might be able to give some insights to your high school.

[PrimalCookie]

On 4/20/2023 at 8:08 PM, kb105 said:

Excited to hear what y'all think, especially any of those that live or have lived in the area that might be able to give some insights to your high school.

A series like this is exactly what I've wanted to do for a long time, but never got around to it (I think did Timber Creek and Apopka, but nothing after), so needless to say I'm very interested! Boone looks great, I don't really have much to say about them.

 

As for specific high school suggestions, I went to Timber Creek so I have some on them. In the past, we used to break out the black pants for big games like Clemson does with their orange pants. That tradition ended over the last few years, with all black becoming much more common, but I'd love if that was brought back because the blackout game (usually against either Winter Park or University) was always the best attended and most fun to be at. However, despite going on that whole tangent about the blackouts, might I suggest that the primary color be changed to purple? A bunch of other OCPS schools use black but IIRC no one else uses purple, and the branding of the school aside from the football team is always purple first. It'd give us a much more unique identity in football than right now.

[kb105]

19 hours ago, PrimalCookie said:

A series like this is exactly what I've wanted to do for a long time, but never got around to it (I think did Timber Creek and Apopka, but nothing after), so needless to say I'm very interested! Boone looks great, I don't really have much to say about them.

 

As for specific high school suggestions, I went to Timber Creek so I have some on them. In the past, we used to break out the black pants for big games like Clemson does with their orange pants. That tradition ended over the last few years, with all black becoming much more common, but I'd love if that was brought back because the blackout game (usually against either Winter Park or University) was always the best attended and most fun to be at. However, despite going on that whole tangent about the blackouts, might I suggest that the primary color be changed to purple? A bunch of other OCPS schools use black but IIRC no one else uses purple, and the branding of the school aside from the football team is always purple first. It'd give us a much more unique identity in football than right now.

Appreciate the feedback and the insight. What's funny is that all memory of TC was purple helmet, black jerseys, and black pants. I agree that purple should be used more, but a new school that opened up in 2021 uses heavy purple with orange accents, so I had went in the direction of Purple/Black/Purple for the primary home with the thought of purple outs being used for the East River game as a color on color matchup. And since you mentioned them I guess I'll reveal them next.

[kb105]

Team #2: Timber Creek Wolves

Est. 2001

Last Season: 5-5 4M-3 3rd Place

Best Finish: 2011 State Quarterfinals

Notable Alumni: Chris Board, Jacques Patrick, Lemuel Jeanpierre

Main Rival: East River Falcons

 

 

My personal experience with Timber Creek is playing them twice in high school, and if not for covid, a third. From what I've witnessed and gathered from rather rudimentary research is that the home look is almost always purple helmet and the rest black. The away look mixes the pants up with purple, white, or black. The helmets have mostly been purple, but recently the finish is much darker than previous shades. Another main design element of recent uniforms is sleeve caps to introduce more purple. I actually kinda like the use of them in the situation, so I kept them. Along with the sleeve caps, I used a purple to black gradient rather heavily on the helmets and shoulders sort of to emulate a coming out of the darkness feel. The overall direction I wanted the uniforms to go, especially the home, was a badass, no nonsense, smash mouth feel - or basically a Baltimore Ravens feel. Another feature is the TC logo, something borrowed from the baseball teams use of the now outdated Twins logo. This TC is heavily inspired by the Twins, but tweaked just a bit to create a more traditional sports typeface. The overall branding, as mentioned by @PrimalCookie would be purple centric, and honestly the ideal uniform scheduling would be a healthy mix and match of purple and black at home. For teams like Apopka and West Orange who use royal blue heavily, or the aforementioned new school in the previous post, Horizon, black would create a better visual balance whereas black and dark-colored teams would necessitate more purple.

[kb105]

Team #3: Edgewater Eagles

Est. 1952

Last Season: 12-1 3M-3 District Champions (Lost in Quarterfinals to Jones)

Best Finish: State Runner-Up (2003-2004, 2019-2020)

Notable Alumni: Mike Sims-Walker, Karl Joseph

Main Rival: Boone Braves, Bishop Moore

 

          I've got nothing nice to say about this school. While at Boone, we never were able to beat them and there were definitely some calls that aided them a few times in those games. Outside of that, they are one of the original schools in the area. They and Boone were actually one school until 1952, when Orlando High School (now Howard Middle) was split into Orlando South (Boone) and Orlando North (Edgewater). The last principal of Orlando High and who was supposed to be the first principal of Orlando South, William R Boone died before the schools were finished. Thus South was named William R Boone High School and North was named Edgewater, after the road the campus was to be built on. Since then, Boone and Edgewater have always met the last week of the season for the Spirit Barrel in the battle for the Barrel. The first game is also a rivalry, this time against Bishop Moore, who are literarily a hop, skip, and a jump apart from one another, in the Battle of College Park.

          On to the aesthetics! The eagles have been traditionally just red and white, with a sprinkling of silver/light grey and black. They have also long used a recolored Philly logo, but the helmets have been a mix of Alabama-esque numbers, the ripoff logo, and some form of an E. Logo-wise, this is the first team I've fully rebranded. I really like the slanted E they've used the past few years, and it's also been apart of their resurgence from the Chris Leak debacle.  With that in mind, I wanted to keep that look.  I also though that the extended period of use of the Philly logo warranted an eagle head logo. The font is meant to be block-ish, but roundness their 2020-21 uniforms.

          The uniforms I envisioned for them are simple and traditional for one of the older schools who are looking like they will be a force to be reckoned with while their current coach stays. The design is similar to the Eagles/Dolphins with the logo on the sleeves. Touches of silver are also used, but not too heavily as there is another Red and Silver team out east. The main helmet is essentially the same as the one they've used recently with the candy-apple red finish, just with the logo replaced with the updated E. The alternate is a fauxback to their 1968 season, their first district championship, that mixes their home and road uniforms from that year. Ideally, this uniform would be broken out for home rivalry games (usually Bishop Moore and Boone games are never both home or away) and in playoff games. 

 

As always, let me know what y'all think!

[kb105]

Team #4: Ocoee Knights

Est. 2005

Last Season: 9-5  4M-5 3rd Place (Lost in Semifinals to Miami Columbus)

Best Finish: State Semifinals (2022)

Main Rival: Apopka Blue Darters, West Orange

 

 

          I really don't have a lot of experience with Ocoee, having only played them once in a preseason game and then doing game film my freshman year when they came to Boone. The current iteration of Ocoee is relatively new, having been re-opened in just 2005. They don't have much of a football history, having only 7 winning seasons (3 playoff appearances, 1 of which being 2020 when anyone could get in, literally). They traditionally are black heavy and use the Oregon O logo, sometimes with a knighthead from their school mascot. Recently, they've branched out and used more gold and have used also used an Ocoee wordmark for their helmet logo while placing their knight in the middle stripe. They actually introduced a whole new set of uniforms after using old templated Nike uniforms. These new duds are a lot more simple than the previous mash of different looks, but leaves a lot to be desired. 

          I wanted to differentiate Ocoee from another black and gold knights team, East Ridge in Clermont. East Ridge uses a more yellow gold and a darker grey in their uniforms, and overall are dark in their scheme. So, I leaned heavily in the metallics and pale gold, similar to the Saint's shade. I also really like their knight head and decided to make that the focal point, logo-wise, and just slightly altered it to get away from the illustrative-ness of the current form.  The helmet design is almost exactly the same as the 2021 helmets, just with the logo and font updated to match the rest. The jerseys borrow from the Knights east of I-4, placing a blown up logo on the sleeve cap, but more noticeable in metallic silver. The white and gold jerseys would be rather interchangeable on the road, especially versus teams that wear dark or cool colors.

 

As always, let me know what y'all think!

[kb105]

Team #5: Olympia Titans

Est. 2001

Last Season: 6-5  4M-5 4th Place (Lost in First Round to (Tarpon Springs) East Lake )

Best Finish: 2nd Round (2011)

Main Rival: Dr. Phillips Panthers, West Orange Warriors

Notable Alumni: Chris Johnson, Trevor Siemian, Deondre Francois, Joe Milton

 

 

          Prior to my time in high school, I never had much interaction with Olympia, and therefore don't have much memory prior to the past few years of them. They were placed in our district my sophomore year, which lasted for two years which is when we played them. When I played them in 2020, their uniform was a dark grey/black color and used the teal and silver/white as accents. Traditionally, they have worn silver helmets with their O lightning logo on the side. They more recently have switched up their helmets, using white, black, and a faded white to black shells. They also don't have a traditional design element, like helmet stripes or uniform design, going one templated look to another. They have seemed to embrace teal more, which is a welcomed sight.

          For this redesign, I wanted to make the look more unique. So, I elevated teal to primary and wanted to highlight the lightning imagery. I also opted to make the font type evoke Greek/titan imagery instead of basic catalog blocks and times new roman/Oregon knockoff. The helmet doesn't have a side decal, instead the lightning bolt would be painted in metallic silver outlined in the charcoal grey on the teal, allowing that bolt to really shine under the Friday night lights. And finally, like Boone, the last uniform shows what the uniform would look like with other shell options that the team has used in it's recent past.

 

As always, let me know what y'all think!

[kb105]

Team #6: Wekiva Mustangs

Est. 2007

Last Season: 5-6  3M-3 3rd Place (Lost in First Round to Jones)

Best Finish: Semi-Finals (2017)

Main Rival: Apopka Blue Darters 

Notable Alumni: Tyler Davis 

 

 

          This is actually the first team so far that I never got to play, although my freshman year we were supposed to before the game got called off due to weather. They actually played Boone in the playoffs my 8th Grade year when they made the semi-finals with Tyler Davis, now a really good DT at Clemson who'll probably make his way to the NFL.

          Wekiva has a unique color scheme of Maroon, Gold, and Navy. They usually would just use maroon and gold, but this past year they introduced a new maroon jersey that used navy quite a bit, too, but had no white jersey from what I can find (all of these are away games for Wekiva). They also paired this new uniforms with a plain gold helmet, the first since 2012. Usually, the helmet has been maroon as of late, with either a recolored Broncos look or a basic block W logo or even plain. I couldn't let the recolor Broncos logo stand, so I repurposed an AUIA logo and updated it a bit to better suit the side of a helmet. The overall design is a mix of their last two uniforms. With them being the only team in the county who uses maroon, that would be the helmet base with white and gold sharing the secondary accents and navy coming in at the tertiary trim. 

 

As always, let me know what y'all think!

[IceInMyVeins]

Cant wait for evans!

[kb105]

On 5/7/2023 at 3:41 AM, IceInMyVeins said:

Cant wait for evans!

Well, I guess wait no more!

 

Team #7: Evans Trojans

Est. 1958

Last Season: 3-7  4M-2 5th Place

Best Finish: State Champions (1991)

Main Rival: Jones Tigers, Oak Ridge Pioneers 

Notable Alumni: Kenard Lang, Leon Searcy, Brandon Siler, Tony McCoy, Jamie Dukes

 

 

I haven't had much if any interaction with Evans, either through football or just being in Orlando in general. My only knowledge of the school is that they and Jones are bitter rivals and that Jones has largely become the "big brother" in the rivalry over the past decade. With this lack of knowledge, I decided to try to call upon the history of Evans. I decided to go way far back to the 60's when the football program started and based the look off of that. I kept what has become their signature black helmet, but gave it a satin finish, like the current Atlanta Falcons helmets. The uniforms have a different look home to away, with home utilizing a more cuff-centric design and the aways using UCLA stripes. I also changed the logo, going from the current trojan head, that just seems too thin for use in athletics, especially when green on a black helmet. The goal of the new logo was to look similar, but be beefier and unmistakably Evans instead of a generic trojan head logo that would work for a certain latex company.

[kb105]

Team #8: West Orange Warriors

Est. 1975

Last Season: 7-5  4M-5 1st Place (Lost 2nd Round to Ocoee)

Best Finish: State Semi-Finalist (2015)

Main Rival: Ocoee Knights, Olympia Titans, Dr. Phillips Panthers 

Notable Alumni: Stone Forsythe, Dexter Williams, Jayden Gibson

 

 

          West Orange has consistently been inconsistent. They usually see periods of success for 4, 5, 6, or 7 years followed by the same number of years of poor performance. Unluckily, I happened to play against them during one of their more successful periods. I also played against their AAU feeder program for 6 years, so I have quite a bit of experience with West Orange. 

          They currently use a modified Minnesota Vikings Logo, stylized in a WSU Cougars sorta way. They are a Blue first team, but tend to let orange act as as sort of a co-primary color in both their uniforms and branding. They also have gone through a bunch of different helmet colors and designs. They've even revived the ugly Ohio State Pro Combat helmet from 2011, but in blue and orange with the logo on one side, number on the other decal set up. This led to a question of what color the helmet should be. Ultimately, orange won out based on a few reasons. First, they have a tendency to go to the blueberry look; second, there is some historical precedent as their 9-1 season in 1978 (which was their most regular season wins until 2014) wore orange helmets; third, there is three other blue and blue adjacent helmets in their district; fourth, they are using orange for this spring and likely for next season. 

          The uniforms replace a set that has been in use since 2014. The current set heavily uses grey/silver in the orange and blue jerseys, so that stayed along with orange and blue sharing on the aways. The striping pattern uses a Nordic design inside a northwestern-esque stripe. The WOW Minnesota logo was also replaced with a new, forward facing Viking, as their twitter hashtag is #Valhalla. The WO logo and font comes from baseball, replacing the basic block version the school and football team has been using.

          As for the uniform usage, I'd actually like for them to continue using their blue and orange interchangeably, and they usually do a good job of wearing orange against blue or purple teams. As mentioned before, their district is heavily blue, so I'd even like to see them wear orange against some of those blue teams along with other ones like Apopka or Timber Creek.

[BengalErnst]

Are these their actual logos or are you redesigning those as well? 

[kb105]

1 hour ago, BengalErnst said:

Are these their actual logos or are you redesigning those as well? 

It's a mix of both. Some schools use direct copies of college/NFL logos, so I did create logos for them (i.e. Edgewater, West Orange) or their logo just needed to be updated in my opinion (i.e. Olympia, Evans). In the description of the teams that I designed new logos for, I explain the logo and/or the reasoning for the new logo.

[IceInMyVeins]

On 5/11/2023 at 11:22 PM, kb105 said:

Well, I guess wait no more!

 

Team #7: Evans Trojans

Est. 1958

Last Season: 3-7  4M-2 5th Place

Best Finish: State Champions (1991)

Main Rival: Jones Tigers, Oak Ridge Pioneers 

Notable Alumni: Kenard Lang, Leon Searcy, Brandon Siler, Tony McCoy, Jamie Dukes

 

 

I haven't had much if any interaction with Evans, either through football or just being in Orlando in general. My only knowledge of the school is that they and Jones are bitter rivals and that Jones has largely become the "big brother" in the rivalry over the past decade. With this lack of knowledge, I decided to try to call upon the history of Evans. I decided to go way far back to the 60's when the football program started and based the look off of that. I kept what has become their signature black helmet, but gave it a satin finish, like the current Atlanta Falcons helmets. The uniforms have a different look home to away, with home utilizing a more cuff-centric design and the aways using UCLA stripes. I also changed the logo, going from the current trojan head, that just seems too thin for use in athletics, especially when green on a black helmet. The goal of the new logo was to look similar, but be beefier and unmistakably Evans instead of a generic trojan head logo that would work for a certain latex company.

new logo is a major upgrade

[kb105]

On 5/14/2023 at 11:28 PM, IceInMyVeins said:

new logo is a major upgrade

Appreciate the praise from a fan of the school. It was an idea I've been working for quite some time, trying to make it look god in either side of the helmet. I'd assume either you went there or are from the area, would love to get some insight to some teams you have experience with or at least some things you've seen in real life youd like to seen kept or changed.

[kb105]

Team #9: Apopka Blue Darters

Est. 1885

Last Season: 11-4  4M-2 District Champions (Lost in Championship to Miami Columbus)

Best Finish: State Champions (2001, 2012, 2014)

Main Rival: Wekiva Mustangs, Dr Phillips Panthers, West Orange Warriors 

Notable Alumni: Jalen Carter, Trey Hendrickson, Martez Ivey, Brandon Meriweather, Warren Sapp

 

 

          Apopka is the program that every school in the county hopes to be. They have been good since the 80s and have consistently produced not just college athletes, but pro players and even hall of famers. They've had four losing seasons since 1978, and none this since 1998. It looks like they haven't missed a  playoff since 1999. They are the Alabama of Orange County, without a doubt.

          The logo situation is a bit weird. They have recently placed an A logo on their sleeves, rotating between a variation of the Auburn A-Eagle logo and this A within a bird head logo. Personally, I prefer the latter, as it is simpler for numerous applications as well as being more identifiable as Apopka, not an A named school with an eagle mascot. It is also the logo used at midfield, allowing for more brand cohesion. The A within the logo led me to create a typeface that matched it and placed the stylized A within the wordmark. 

          The uniforms don't deviate from past designs. The blue and white winged helmets have been worn since 2007, being a gloss finish until 2018 when helmets were made matte. Here, they go back to the gloss finish as it was the helmets they won two of three state titles in and just feels classier for the top of the class team. The uniforms borrow from their 18-19 set. The shoulder stripes allow for a design element the Darters can all their own without being too busy and remain a no-nonsense look. The pants do away with templated or gimmicky bird feather stripes and use a simple spike at the knee. For the alternates, I went with black as it actually utilized in their color scheme, unlike the various grays and light blue they've used in the past.

 

Let me know what y'all think!

[kb105]

Team #10: Horizon Hawks

Est. 2021

Last Season: 7-3  3M-3 Last Place

Best Finish: 7-3 (2021)

Main Rival: Lake Buena Vista Vipers, Windermere Wolverines

 

 

          Along with LBV, Horizon is the youngest school in the county having been opened up in 2021. What is interesting is that these two schools opted for two completely different looks. Lake Buena Vista uses black, baby blue, scarlet, and a bright yellow along with the Vipers nickname. Horizon is more reserved with purple and orange, the Hawks mascot, and traditional uniforms. And on top of all that, they have a beautiful helmet they've been using the past two seasons. So, this is more of an update rather than a redesign. The striping is made to be consistent on the purple mediums, opting for the jersey's w/o/w pattern, and the helmet remains the same from the 2022 season, aside from the stripe change. The away jersey and pants changes from a purple double stripe to the triple stripe to include more orange. The other major change is the font used for both the wordmark along the chest and the numbers. With their branding package is these wordmarks they use, so I created a font based on them instead of the basic block numbers and Agency-adjacent chest wordmarks. 

 

Let me know what y'all think!

[FamousAtticus]

Great work so far!! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for Winter Park HS (2001 alumni).

[IceInMyVeins]

On 5/16/2023 at 6:53 PM, kb105 said:

Appreciate the praise from a fan of the school. It was an idea I've been working for quite some time, trying to make it look god in either side of the helmet. I'd assume either you went there or are from the area, would love to get some insight to some teams you have experience with or at least some things you've seen in real life youd like to seen kept or changed.

We sucked all four years I went there I didnt get around to attending much games  but what I can say is the only game that mattered was the game vs Jones, and also at some point the Edgewater game too. And in terms of the uniform its spot on.