Staff Writer

Osceola faces perhaps its biggest test of the regular season Friday when Palm Bay visits Kowboys field at 7:30 p.m.

Palm Bay was one of only two teams to beat OHS last year and the only one to beat the Kowboys in the regular season. The Pirates, 1-1, are coming off a 14-12 loss to Fort Pierce Central Monday in a game that was postponed three days because of rain.

It is also the home opener for Osceola, 2-0, which shook off another slow start, critical first-half mistakes and a wet Memorial Stadium field last week to claim a 28-14 victory over Bishop Moore in a non-district contest.

Senior tailback Stefan McCray, who missed much of the second quarter while trainers tended to a shoulder stinger, scored a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to rally the Kowboys from a 14-7 halftime deficit.

The Hornets slipped to 0-2.

McCray (10 carries, 95 yards) said OHS may have been guilty of having Friday’s matchup with Palm Bay on the brain early on against the Hornets.

“We’ve started slow, I don’t know why, and we know we can’t do that, especially (Friday), that’s a big game,” he said.

Osceola rolled up 295 yards, 231 of it on the ground, on the muddy track. The Kowboys defense held Bishop Moore to 78 second-half yards and three first downs (two on the game’s final drive when the outcome was clear).

But it was a pair of mistakes – a dropped punt snap on the game’s first series, and a fumble late in the first quarter, that defined the first half for OHS, as Bishop Moore made the Kowboys pay by turning both miscues into touchdowns.

“I praised them last week for having no turnovers, and then we came out doing just that,” OHS Coach Doug Nichols said. “We can’t turn it over, we can’t make mistakes. But I loved the fight these kids showed, how they saw adversity and just stared it in the face and fought right back.”

In between the Hornets’ TDs, the Kowboys assembled a seven-play, 65-yard scoring drive that took just over three minutes. Quarterback Daequan Harrison’s 29 run on third-and-6 from the Hornet 38 set up his 6-yard scoring keeper. Cristano Nogueras’ PAT tied it at 7.

It took a stretch of just four plays in the third quarter after Osceola forced a Hornet punt to turn the halftime deficit into a lead. McCray went 60 yards up the middle on a trap play for a touchdown on the Kowboys’ initial second-half snap to make it 14-13. Then, Hassan Childs intercepted a Danny May pass and returned it to the Hornets 41. Harrison hit a wide open Santiago Hoffman, who nearly scored before being dragged down at the 1. McCray scored on the next play, and Davante Small ran for the two-point conversion for a 21-14 lead the Kowboys never relinquished.

Defensive end Jaqwaun Dockery halted Bishop Moore’s next drive, stuffing Jak Ramsberger on fourth-and-2 near midfield. Small scored on a 24-yard run three plays later to essentially salt the game away.

Nichols is wary of a Pirates squad which can match OHS both talent- and tradition-wise.

“We spot them 14 points and it could be over quick,” Nichols said of a Palm Bay team that beat Osceola, 9-0, last year.

The Pirates appeared in good shape Monday, leading 12-0 when the game resumed midway through the second period. The Pirates drove to the Central 1 in the waning moments, but they couldn’t get a potential game-winning field goal off before time expired.

Joel Berry rushed for over 220 yards for Palm Bay.