Sam’s 2025 spring football stops: Horizon Hawks

It’s the third week of the 2025 spring high school football session, and although the end of spring ball is just beyond the horizon, this is the week when questions begin to get answered and those speculating on what their teams will be putting on display under those Friday floodlights come the fall can start making more educated conclusions.

In the third edition of Sam’s 2025 spring football stops, we continue our 12-stop journey to take fans of West Orange and Southwest Orange high school football behind the scenes of the spring high school football. 

This week, we’re taking a deep dive into the Foundation Academy Lions, as they prepare for life under new coach Daniel White, the Horizon Hawks, as they look to bounce back from an injury-riddled 2024 season, and what second-year Windermere Prep coach James Hamilton expects to see from his Lakers in 2025.

More from Sam's spring football stops: The First Academy | Foundation Academy | Horizon High | Ocoee High | Olympia High | West Orange High | Windermere High | Windermere Prep

Horizon Hawks

2024 record: 1-9

Spring game: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at Lake Buena Vista High

Coach: Dennis Thomas, fifth season

Key returners, additions: ATH Kaio Oliveira, LB Holden Kubitz, ATH Abishai Smith-Foreman, and ATH Blake Motely

Everything that could have gone wrong in 2024 for the Horizon football and coach Dennis Thomas, went wrong for the Hawks in what ended up being the program’s worst finish in its four-year history. 

Starting with an injury to star running back Jamarie Pierre that sidelined him for the entire season, followed by an uneven schedule that saw the Hawks go on the road for four consecutive games — three of which ended up being one-possession losses — the Hawks’ nightmare season ended with their first-ever loss to bitter rivals Windermere High on a overtime, walk-off touchdown that clinched a perfect 10-0 season for the Wolverines. 

This season, however, with the return of key starters in various position groups, a clean bill of health for its new star running back/quarterback Kaio Oliveira, and another offseason of development, Horizon’s bad luck is going to be flipped upside down in 2025. 

No. 1: Kaio Oliveira is Mr. Do-it-all 

After a breakthrough season in 2024, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound rising senior comes into the spring as the focal point of the Horizon run-heavy, option-style offense — having led the team in rushing last year. This season, however, along with his responsibilities on offense, expect Oliveira to add even more to his load as part of the Hawks secondary. 

“He’s a dude, so we’re going to use a dude to do great things,” Thomas said. “He’s going to spend a majority of his time on offense, but with a player like that, you have to prepare him in every way possible, because you never know if there’s a money down … where I can use a great player like that on defense. You don’t want to just limit a guy like that to one side. You want to use him to the maximum of his potential. I don’t know if he’ll be out there both ways the whole time — that’s not really a thing because guys get tired — but we’ll definitely figure out ways to use him on defense when we need to.”

No. 2: Tackling machines

Led by rising senior Holden Kubitz — and his team-high 114 total tackles in 2024 — rising junior Trace Kulczar — and his team-high four sacks, to go along with 79 total tackles and nine TFLs — and the emergence of Abishai Smith-Foreman, Horizon’s second-level is once again going to give offenses nightmares in 2025.

“I really think our linebackers could be the best group of linebackers we’ve ever had, which is saying something, because we’ve had some great ones come through here,” Thomas said. “These three, I think, could potentially be better than any other group we’ve had there with Kubitz being back. That kid — he just makes tackles. And the guy on his strong side is Abishai Smith; he’s a really good athlete. He was injured quite a bit last season, but he looks great now. He’s a state weightlifting qualifier; he’s just strong, man. He squats like 505 pounds, runs an 11.5 100-meter dash and weighs about 218 pounds. He’s legit and will be a big time guy for us. Just to give you an idea, without much tape he’s already picked up an NAIA offer from Warner just because of how much of a specimen he is.”

No. 3: Bounce-back season

After a tumultuous 2024 season, Thomas has seen enough from his group to be optimistic about what his team will be able to produce on the field come the fall. After the team’s first intrasquad scrimmage of the spring, the Hawks’ only-ever coach is excited to show their fans what they can do in its spring game.

“I thought it was a good back-and-forth scrimmage,” Thomas said. “It was a lot of fun. Sometimes, you’ll see a scrimmage where offense is dominating or defense is dominating, but I saw a lot of back and forth from both sides. … As a defensive guy, I think we want to be better on defense, but we’re trying some different stuff on that side of the ball that I won’t give away just yet. ... We have some good kids out here, and I think we’re going to be a lot better than last year. But, you know, youth is always something we have to deal with. People always ask me if we’re young and I respond with: ‘We’re always young.’ That’s not an excuse for anything, though. We’re going to be solid on both sides of the ball this year. I’m excited for people to see us when we play in our spring game.”