A house divided: A Winter Garden family puts the 'war' in War on I-4

When Alec Holland took to the field for the final time as a member of the University of Central Florida cheer team, he knew his family would be there to support him.

And there, sitting with his parents, was his sister Abigail — a freshman on the co-ed cheer team at the University of South Florida. Though she couldn’t participate with her squad — freshmen don’t travel for games — she was there supporting both her Bulls and her brother. 

For the Holland family of Winter Garden, this year has become one of playful division in a house divided between UCF, USF and Florida Gulf Coast University — where Parker, the family’s middle son, plays soccer.

But it’s the War on I-4 where the rivalry heats up. Though if you ask Alec Holland, it’s hard for it to be a rivalry when you consider the history of both programs.

“I think I’m on the better sidelines since I’ve been here — I’ve never lost to USF,” Alec Holland said. “I did not see this coming out of high school because I played soccer and she did gymnastics. I didn’t think she was going to take it to the college level like I did, and then she did and she went to my rival — it’s funny how it worked out.”

Going into the Black Friday matchup, Alec Holland said he believed the Knights would win by 45, while Abigail Holland said she thought the Bulls had a chance. The Knights wouldn’t win by 45, but they would dominate in a 34-7 victory — pushing UCF to 9-3, while the Bulls dropped to 4-8.

FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO THE BIG TIME

Both Alec and Abigail Holland started their cheer careers at West Orange High in their own unique ways.

In the case of Alec Holland, who had played soccer, it was unorthodox — he and a buddy were approached by members of the team looking for guys to compete in competitive cheer. 

“There were a couple of girls in high school and they were like, ‘Are you trying to do cheerleading?’ and I was like, ‘What?’” Alec Holland said with a laugh. “Then they asked my friend — they would always ask the bigger guys at the school, because you have (to) lift up the girls.

“So we went out there and it was a bunch of my good buddies, and every practice we were just messing around,” he said. “We just kept doing it and kept doing it, and then the season was fun, and then I actually ended up getting quite good and colleges started talking to me.”

While he joined the sport to hang out with girls on the team, Abigail Holland’s intro was a bit more traditional.

A gymnast for most of her life, Abigail Holland stepped into cheer during her sophomore year when an injury sidelined her from the gym floor. It was then when a cheer friend’s mom told her to give cheer a shot — from there, it was on.

“I just really loved it,” Abigail Holland said. “My senior year I decided I didn’t want to be on a team in college, so I decided to start going to clinics at USF, FSU and all around trying to get better.”

Needless to say, Abigail Holland got better that final year, and then she made it onto the USF all-girls cheer team as a freshman. And it’s been there, on the sidelines during the football season, where she has grown and experienced a lot in only seven games.

The transition from West Orange High to USF was tough — tougher than she had anticipated — but she worked and did everything she could to prepare for the opening game of the season. 

“The first game we played Wisconsin, and it was a really hyped-up game and there was projected to be 50,000 people,” Abigail Holland said. “I was really nervous, because we had been practicing for game days on what we should do — during timeouts and all this stuff — but you have to be there to know how to do it.

“Then, when we walked out there, there were so many people in the stands,” she said. “The nerves kind of went away and it was just more like excitement.”

Abigail Holland’s early experiences reflect the kind of moments that Alec Holland had as an underclassman, but whether she gets to have the highlights that Alec Holland has had is still up in the air.

Over the last four years, Alec Holland has experienced a “golden era” of football for the Knights — which includes a perfect 13-0 season in 2017 that was capped off by a win in the Peach Bowl over Auburn, and a 12-1 season in 2018.

And though the football season is coming to an end for both schools — with one last bowl game for the Knights — there’s still nationals coming up for both UCF and USF to get ready for. There’s also basketball to root for, as well.

“I’m excited to see how far me personally and my team will have come by (nationals),” Abigail Holland said. “I’m excited to work through school and I actually don’t have a major yet, so I’m excited to pick a major and start growing.”