By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

In a breathless, confusing finish, Osceola’s defense stopped Ridge Community running back E’Shawn Davis inches short of the goal line on a 2-point conversion attempt with no time left to preserve a 29-28 victory at Kowboys field Friday.

The win lifts the Kowboys (12-0), into the Region 7A-2 finals next Friday at Kowboys field against Lithia Newsome, a 21-14 winner over previously unbeaten Plant City Durant.

It will be Osceola’s first trip to the regional finals since 2007 and their seventh since 1997.

But, it may take the Kowboys and their fans a day or two to digest the victory over the Bolts (9-3), who repeatedly fought back despite turning the ball over three times and after trailing by scores of 15-7, 22-15 and 29-22.

The Kowboys thought they clinched the victory with 15 seconds left when quarterback Daequan Harrison hit running back Davante Small on a 15-yard TD pass play and Cristano Nogureas added the PAT to make it 29-22.

Harrison took the Kowboys 79 yards in less than two minutes, scrambling for key gains on runs of 10 and 6 yards for first downs to keep the drive moving.

But, Ridge Community quarterback Shykeem Pitts (6-11-146, 2 TDs), playing his last game for the Bolts, electrified the Bolts fans and stunned Osceola’s with a 65-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jamari Butler on the last play of regulation.

There was confusion when officials threw a penalty flag on the play, which turned out to be a penalty against Osceola for grabbing the facemask.

That made it 29-28, and because the penalty moved the ball to the 2 for the conversion attempt, Ridge coach Richard Tate elected to go for the victory by running Davis off tackle. He seemed to have enough momentum to crash his way into the end zone, but the Kowboys didn’t yield and Davis was held just short of the goal line.

Tate could have kicked the PAT and played for overtime. Last season, OHS won 13-7 in overtime against the Bolts in the first round of the playoffs.

“We stole one,” was the way Osceola Coach Doug Nichols described the victory. “At the half when we were up 15-7, we figured we were in pretty good shape, but we were terrible offensively in the second half. They were blitzing, selling out, in our face. Until that last drive, we couldn’t get anything going.”

Osceola defensive back James Farley, who returned a Pitts fumble 35 yards for a touchdown with 9:36 to play to give OHS a 22-15 lead, said the Kowboys didn’t execute properly on Pitts’ last-second touchdown pass.

“We didn’t get deep enough,” he said.

When Ridge elected to go for the win, Farley said the Kowboys feared that Pitts would try to find tight end George Rosell, who caught a 2-point conversion pass and who had a big 42-yard reception in the fourth quarter to key a Bolts scoring drive.

“We thought they would be looking for the tight end on a turn out, but that was just a decoy,” he said. “We knew what kind of game it was going to be, a blood bath.”

After the teams traded punts in the first quarter, Tate successfully gambled on a fake punt early in the second quarter and that led to Pitts' 11-yard TD pass to Codaryl Pandolfo to make it 7-0 with 7:20 left in the half.

That energized the Kowboys offense and running back Stafon McCray (20-75, 1 TD) scored on a 1-yard plunge to cap a 57-yard drive that was sparked by Small’s 34-yard run on the first play. Nogueras tied the score at 7 with his PAT.

OHS got the ball right back when Nazaha Brown fell on a Bolts fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Small (11-31, 1 TD) capped 36-yard drive with a 9-yard run with 1:46 left in the second quarter. Scooter Fagan’s (6-60) 11-yard run on fourth-and-5 from the Bolts 19 kept the drive alive. Laderrien Wilson ran for two, making it 15-7.

A great play by Kowboys defensive back Hassan Childs prevented a Ridge TD just before the half. Childs grabbed a long pass away from Butler at the OHS 20 for an interception.

“I’ve been saying it all season, but these guys are a special group. You don’t always say that, but these guys play together, they really care about each other, and you see that week after week. That’s how we’re here,” Coach Nichols said. “Daequan did a great job on that last drive. That’s a guy who never played quarterback before May 1, and he wasn’t having a great night until that last drive. He made some huge plays for us.”

Nichols said he was going to give Harrison two chances to throw a touchdown pass on Osceola’s last possession with the score tied at 22 before calling on Nogueras to try a field goal.

“It’s a play we call Tide Quick. We send a couple of guys to the middle and  try to look the safety over, and we got him to move just enough for Daequan to squeeze it in there,” he said.

Harrison said Nichols told him to understand the situation.

“He told me to be smart. If it wasn’t there, I had to throw it out of the end zone,” Harrison said. “I knew I had to make a play to win this game because it was so important. I have a lot of confidence in our receivers and all my teammates that they are going make the plays when they have to.”

Although Pitts made some big pass plays in the fourth quarter, for the most part the Kowboys defense contained him through the first three quarters. Defensive lineman Peter Bailey had two sacks for the Kowboys.

Ridge edged OHS in total yards, 273-227, but that is of little solace to the Bolts, who have never advanced past the second round of the playoffs during their eight-year history.

“We knew the best team was going to win,” Farley said.

The win may prove costly as defensive lineman Darren Brackbill was helped off the field in the fourth quarter with what might be a significant knee injury. He is the fourth Kowboys defensive regular to either be injured or suspended since late October.

Osceola will host Newsome in the regional finals next week because the Wolves (8-4) are a district runner-up. The Kowboys beat Newsome in the regional quarterfinals in 2008.

The Kowboys would also host the state semifinal on Dec. 7, meaning the only road trip OHS would make this postseason would be to the Citrus Bowl for the state championship game Dec. 14.

Oviedo will meet Tallahassee Lincoln in the 7A-1 regional final next week.