Steinmetz throws 3 TD passes to upend Osceola in wild one

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

As thrilling as St. Cloud’s 41-35 overtime win was against rival Osceola, Bulldogs Coach Bill Buldini said this week’s opponent, Stuart Martin County, won’t be impressed.

“It was a nice win, but that was last week and we have to put that behind us,” Buldini said.

That won’t be easy, because not only did the Bulldogs snap a four-game losing streak to the Kowboys, but the game was one of the most exciting of the series, which dates to 1925.

Over 3,000 fans at Gannarelli Field saw the teams combine for over 850 yards of offense and four scoring plays of more than 77 yards.

“I thought our guys played a great game,” Buldini said. “It was exciting; it was a lot of fun. Both teams should be proud.”

St. Cloud quarterback Phillip Steinmetz overcame two interceptions by throwing for three touchdowns and running in from the 1 in overtime to win it.

Steinmetz threw for 267 yards and rushed for 88, leading a long list of heroes for St. Cloud, 1-0.

“Exhilarating,” was how Steinmetz described the win moments after it was over. “It was a team effort. Body of one.”

Buldini, making his St. Cloud debut after spending the past two seasons on the OHS sideline as an assistant, lauded his players and staff.

“We couldn’t have done this without (offensive coordinator) Mike Short,” he told the team. “He made us believe. When you love your teammates and push through, great things can happen.”

The game, sloppy at times, gained momentum late in the third period. OHS led, 14-6, thanks primarily to a strong ground game featuring senior fullback Frank Thomas (16-124, 1 TD). The Kowboys rushed for 293 of their 347 total yards. Osceola’s Reggie Hall ran 26 yards for Osceola’s only score of the first half. Irving Huggins ran for a first-half TD for the Bulldogs, who totaled 495 yards.

After Thomas scored for OHS early in the second half, the fireworks got under way when St. Cloud’s Huggins (13-179, 2 TDs) raced untouched 85 yards with 2:51 left in the third quarter, making it 14-12. Steinmetz hit Brett Biller for two points to tie the score.

“Irving had a great first step. That was the first time he ran that play the way he was supposed to this year,” Mike Short said.

The lead lasted all of 16 seconds, when Osceola sophomore Steffon McCray took the kickoff at his 20, looked for an opening, then dashed up the middle 80 yards for a TD. Cody Ausherman, who hit all five PATs, made it 21-14.

The Bulldogs appeared ready to tie it when OHS, 0-1, fumbled on its 15 three plays later, but Kowboys linebacker Brandon Jones sat on a Bulldogs’ slant pattern and intercepted in the end zone.

The resilient Dogs came back, moving 70 yards on a drive kept alive by Louis Page’s fourth-and-9 reception at the OHS 15. Steinmetz hooked up with Biller for the touchdown, the first of two TD grabs for the St. Cloud junior.

Alain Moise added the PAT to tie it at 21.

OHS retaliated on the next play, when sophomore quarterback Keiron Williams dashed 77-yards, making it 28-21 after Ausherman’s kick.

Were the Dogs’ frustrated?

“Yeah, a little,” Steinmetz said. “It mentally was tough.”

On the next play, he fixed that by finding Jordan Reus on slant pattern that turned into an 80-yard scoring strike. Moise again tied it at 28.

“Phillip is special, and he has a great bunch of receivers to throw to,” Buldini said. “Those guys are close. They do things sometimes that aren’t planned because they know each other so well.”

The Kowboys, fortunate in the first half when they recovered three of their own fumbles, didn’t have the same luck in the fourth quarter and overtime, losing three of them.

Another OHS turnover led to a Steinmetz-Biller 14-yard TD play to give St. Cloud its first lead, 35-28 with 2:51 left.

The Kowboys came back.

Stuck at the Bulldogs 31 on fourth-and-1, Coach Doug Nichols  called for an option pass. Freshman Dwight Fagan found Terrance Tatume open for a score to make it 35-34 with 36 seconds left. Ausherman delivered the tying PAT.

“We put in a trick play every week. This one worked out and got us back into it,” Nichols said.

But Osceola, many of its players cramping in the hot evening air, made one more mistake, a fumble on its first possession in overtime.

St. Cloud lineman Erol Muratovic fell on the ball.

“My linebackers, Jeff Spelman and Eric Pfeifer, tore it loose. That’s how I got it,” he said.

Steinmetz, who earlier in the game ran through the OHS defense 15 yards for a fourth-down conversion, bulled 9 yards on the Dogs first carry of overtime, and he wrapped it up on the next play, pushing in from the 1.

St. Cloud’s Buldini said he didn’t doubt his team’s resilience.

“When Osceola would score, they’d be like, ‘OK, it’s our turn now,’” he said.

St. Cloud senior defensive back Melvin Manning said last week’s win over the Kowboys sets the stage for a potentially great season.

“It means a lot,” he said. “If I was going to play us, I would be afraid.”

Martin County likes to run from multiple formations.

“They run like a single-wing, Wing-T kind of thing,” Buldini said.

Martin County is 1-0 after a 35-0 win over Fort Pierce John Carroll.

Kickoff at Stuart Friday is 7:30 p.m.