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Going back to Lakeland

Sports

Tuesday, 22 November 2011 13:26

News-Gazette Photos/Andrew Sullivan

Dwight “Scooter” Fagan, who returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, is grabbed by Ridge Community’s Stephaun Maddox during a punt return.

OHS edges Bolts in overtime to advance

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
The Osceola High football season never seems complete without a trip to Lakeland, does it?

The Kowboys and Dreadnaughts were district rivals for six seasons before redistricting moved Osceola to 7A-6 while Lakeland played in 7A-5. Both teams won district championships.
There was no regular season meeting, but, for the fourth time in five years, Osceola and Lakeland will meet in the regional semifinal round Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Bryant Stadium. Tickets are $8.
The Kowboys, 10-1, earned the trip by edging Davenport Ridge Community, 13-7, in overtime in the regional quarterfinals last week at Kowboys field.

Osceola lineman R.J. Butler stands up Bolts running back Inglesson Sanon.

Lakeland jumped to a 26-0 lead against St. Cloud before giving up three touchdowns over a 10-minute span as the Bulldogs clawed back, 26-21. The Dreadnaughts, 11-0, are No. 1 in Class 7A.
You might expect that the Kowboys would be disappointed that they have to travel to Lakeland for a playoff game, but you would be wrong.
"I want to play Lakeland. I like playing at their field, with that big pyrotechnic scoreboard," Kowboys senior safety Dominique Davis said. "It's fun."
The scoreboard at Bryant Stadium, installed three years ago, cost $400,000 and has an instant replay screen. But, Davis' performance against Ridge Community last week was just as valuable, as far as OHS Coach Doug Nichols is concerned.
Davis jumped a slant route on the first play of the Kansas tiebreaker overtime to intercept Bolts quarterback Shykeem Pitts' pass.
“Coach told us that it was going to be a pass. I was covering the tight end, then I saw that he (Pitts) wasn’t going to throw it there, so I dropped off my man into the middle,” Davis, who was questionable with a pulled muscle, said. “I was looking at his eyes. I knew where he was going with it.”
Nichols said it was a typical effort by the senior defensive back.
"We weren't sure he was going to play at all, and he didn't start," Nichols said. "But (defensive coordinator Scott Spencer) Spence said to me, '’I'm not going to lose this game with Dominique standing next to me.' He was in good enough shape to go out there and make some plays for us, and he sure made a big one at the end."
There still was drama to come after the interception. After three OHS plays from the 10 lost a yard, kicker Cristano Nogueras came on to attempt a 28-yard field goal.
But, holder Deshawn Congreaves was unable to get the ball set up for Nogueras, so with Bolts rushers coming at him, Congreaves jumped up, ran to his left, and saw a lot of grass. Eleven yards later, he was in the end zone, being hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates, and the Kowboys were 13-7 winners.
“The snap was low, and I knew I couldn’t get it down in time, so I picked it up,” he said.
Congreaves played the first half at quarterback for injured senior Kieron Williams, but Williams took over in the second half.
"It wasn't anything Deshawn did or didn't do. It was more a matter of Williams being a senior, and this being a playoff game. We talked about it at the half and decided that if we were seniors, we wouldn't want to be standing on the sideline if there was a chance we could play," Nichols said.
Osceola, which struggled to move the ball against the rugged Bolts defense most of the night, found its rhythm in the fourth quarter and held the ball for 10 minutes. Osceola drove 76 yards in its last possession of regulation before attempting a field goal.
Nichols said OHS committed too many penalties.
“I don’t know how came out of this with a win. We were sloppy, we didn’t play well at all,” he said.
OHS was flagged 10 times for 80 yards.
But, the Kowboys defense yielded just one touchdown, a 70-yard drive by the Bolts, 7-4, on their first possession of the second half that tied the score at 7. Pitts ran in from the 1.
Other than that, the Kowboys defense was solid despite playing much of the game without senior linebacker Akim Francis, the team’s leading tackler, who left the game after an allergic reaction. He also injured his shoulder.
Osceola limited the Bolts to 157 total yards.
“Those guys played a great game,” Nichols said.
Scooter Fagan returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, but the Kowboys couldn’t expand the 7-0 lead despite getting 171 yards rushing from Stafon McCray, the county’s leading rusher (1,450). OHS had 278 yards.
Fagan said his kickoff return was called to the left.
"But, I saw a big hole open in the middle," he said. "It was just like the way it happens in practice."
Two penalties in the first quarter called back a pair of OHS touchdowns.
“If we go up 14-0 there, we have them in a bad situation,” Nichols said.
Nichols said the Kowboys had better step up their intensity for Lakeland.
"The mental mistakes, the penalties, they can't happen down there," Nichols said. "We better play a whole lot better."
Senior offensive lineman Reggie Turner, who will play in a new program at Florida Tech next year, thinks the Kowboys were getting better as the Ridge Community game progressed.
"In the fourth quarter, it felt like were taking over a little. We just have to do a better job of not making so many mistakes," he said.
Defensive lineman Darvin Daniels said playing the Bolts was a good tune-up for Lakeland.
"They are tough, hard-hitting. They're a Polk County team and that's what you expect from those teams," he said.
Lakeland beat OHS, 43-13, last season for the 5A-4 district championship.
Quarterback Raheeme Dumas threw to Miami-bound Riquan Southward for one touchdown against St. Cloud and Taylor Placides, who has rushed for over 700 yards this season, scored three TDs.
The Dreadnaughts defense is led by the school's all-time single-season sack leader, Jalen Stevenson.
But, Turner and Daniels, like Davis, are looking forward to playing Lakeland.
"I love it down there. I like the atmosphere. It's exciting," Turner said.
Daniels said the Kowboys pride themselves on taking on big challenges.
"We know Lakeland and what they're about, and that's why I want to play them," he said. "You always want to put yourself against the best."
Nichols agrees with his players that meeting a premier program on the road in the playoffs is what high school football is about.
"Really, why don't you want to play them? You know they always are going to be good, but we feel like we have a pretty good team ourselves. We'll go down there and give it our best shot and see what happens," he said.