Osceola is 2 wins away from Class 6A state championship game
Osceola’s dynamic duo of Taevion Swint and Jeff Sinophat ran around, through and over Durant’s defense on Friday night to lead the Kowboys to a 35-6 rout of the Cougars.
The win, Osceola’s seventh in a row, lifted the Kowboys to 10-2 on the season and earned it a spot in the Class 6A, Region 2 Championship game next Friday night. Osceola will travel to Seffner to face Armwood (12-0), the region’s No. 1 seed. Armwood needed two fourth quarter scores, including a touchdown in the final minute, to survive its semifinal game against Plant (8-4), 21-17.
In Kissimmee, there was no such drama Friday. The Kowboys’ first two series ended with a missed field goal and a punt, but it was total domination after that. Osceola scored touchdowns on its next five possessions, starting with a 49-yard scoring jaunt by Swint. A blocked punt set up a 20-yard scoring run by Sinophat to make it 14-0.
Osceola blocked Durant’s next punt, and Swint ran it in from the 5 one play later to push the lead to 21. The Kowboys defense picked up another quick three and out. Taking over on the Durant 35 after a short punt, Sinophat ran untouched on the very next play to make it 28-0.
The kicking woes continued on the next series for the Cougars. The punter fumbled a snap, picked it up but was immediately tackled at the 10 by Elijah VanSickle. Swint carried to the 1 then Elijah Hickson barreled over from there to push the lead to 35-0 before halftime and insure a running clock for the entire second half.
“Ton a credit goes to our defense and (defensive coordinator) Brad Lennox,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said. “He told me he saw something on film in their punt formation and he thought we could exploit it. In fact, he said he felt we could block a couple of kicks.”
The running clock limited each team to a couple of possessions in the second half. Durant avoided the shutout when Jayden Cornelius intercepted Osceola’s Camren West in the fourth quarter and returned it 83 yards to the Osceola 10. Three plays later Cornelius bulled over from the 1 for Durant’s lone score.
“We were moving the ball all game, so I doubt it would have made a big difference in the game but field position certainly helped us tonight,” Pinellas said when informed that his seven first half possession on average started on the Durant 35-yard line. “It took us a couple of series to figure out how they were defending us, but once we did, we were able to run the ball effectively.”
Osceola amassed 307 rushing yards on just 30 plays (10.1 per rush) Friday. Those totals included 152 yards and two rushing touchdowns for Swint; and 86 yards and two rushing touchdowns for Sinophat. The two combined for six carries of 20+ yards. The defense limited the Cougars to just 89 yards of total offense. Osceola held Durant’s 1,000-yard rusher Emmanuel Lee to just 14 rushing yards on nine carries.
