Turnovers, penalties cripple Osceola in football regionals

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Turnovers, penalties cripple Osceola in football regionals

Sports

Wednesday, 24 November 2010 08:30

Osceola’s Robert Butler (9) brings down Oviedo running back Anthony Gonzalez (26) as OHS linebacker D.D. Montgomery (34) closes in during the second half of the Region 5A-1 playoff game at Oviedo Friday.

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
For the first time in four years, it was a quiet Thanksgiving week at the Osceola High football practice field after the Kowboys were eliminated from the regional playoffs Friday by Oviedo, 10-0.
Turnovers, crippling penalties and an inconsistent offense conspired to send OHS, 5-6, home after the first round. The Kowboys won at least one playoff game in each of the past three seasons.
The Lions, 9-2, meet unbeaten (11-0) and No. 3-ranked Lakeland, a 56-35 winner over Hagerty in the regional semifinal round Friday.
The Kowboys turned it over three times and crippled themselves with untimely penalties while accumulating just 121 total yards, 13 in the second half.
“We did exactly what we said that we couldn’t do,” Kowboys Coach Doug Nichols said.
The Kowboys actually were penalized only six times for 31 yards, but seemingly every one of those penalties was a killer.

News-Gazette Photos/Andrew Sullivan

OHS senior captains Frank Thomas (3), Terrance Tatume (4), Oscar McGee (8) and Montgomery prepare for the opening coin toss.

A holding penalty nullified running back Frank Thomas’ (14-54) 22-yard run to the Lions 5 in the first quarter, when OHS held the ball for 10 minutes and seemed to be establishing dominance. Instead, the Kowboys punted.
As punishing as that mistake was, it paled next to a fourth-quarter penalty for having 12 defenders on the field as Oviedo prepared to punt on fourth-and-5 from the OHS 42 with eight minutes to play.
The penalty resulted in an Oviedo first down. After that, the energized Lions went on to score the game’s only touchdown on quarterback Sean Long’s 1-yard sneak with 6:52 to play. Scott Harvey, whose 23-yard field goal in the third quarter followed an OHS turnover at its 5-yard line, added the PAT to make it 10-0.
Oviedo, which finished with 170 total yards, managed just 38 in the first half, when the Kowboys defense forced the Lions to punt on all three of their possessions.
OHS squandered another scoring opportunity in the second period when it fumbled at the Lions 30 with four minutes left.
“The defense played one of its best games of the year. We just didn’t do enough offensively to help them out,” Nichols said.
OHS defensive back Oscar McGee snuffed out a Lions scoring threat with an interception at the Kowboys 30 in the third quarter.
OHS quarterback Kieron Williams (5-10-51) hit his first three passes of the game, but the longest completion was 14 yards to Terrance Tatume (4-40), which also was the Kowboys’ longest play of the night.
Nichols said Friday’s game continued a trend where Osceola was effective for half the game, not so in the other half.
“It was like that against Lakeland, where we played a pretty good half, and Winter Park. I thought we did pretty well in the first half Friday. It could have been 14-0,” Nichols said. “I’m not sure what it is; maybe I just have to do a better job coaching.”
Oviedo’s win snapped a three-game losing streak to OHS, including a 34-14 playoff loss last year.
Osceola, which met five playoff teams during the regular season, was blanked in the playoffs for the first time since a 12-0 loss against Fort Lauderdale Dillard in 1990.
While the 2010 season did not extend as far as OHS fans would like, the future holds promise as most of the starters from the playoff game will return.
Nichols said almost the entire offense, including the linemen, will return next season. Nichols said only three seniors started for the defense.
Thomas and Tatume, two of the team’s key offensive components, will graduate, but Williams and running back Reggie Hall return for their senior seasons in 2011, and sophomore Steffon McCray and freshman Scooter Fagan both showed the potential to be explosive in the offensive backfield.
The defense will be hurt by the losses of McGee, linebacker D.D. Montgomery and lineman Andrew Burkard, but most of the starters are back.
The Kowboys also must replace effective kicker and punter Cody Ausherman.
“We have a couple of sophomores backing up the offensive line who played a lot, so there’s little drop off there,” Nichols said. “We’ve definitely got something to build on.”
Nichols said Osceola almost certainly won’t face as difficult a schedule as it played this season. Five playoff teams and four teams ranked in the top five of their respective classes were on Osceola’s schedule.
The three-team district Osceola competes in, 5A-4, with Lakeland and Lakeland George Jenkins, possibly will expand next year
Nichols said it’s possible that the Kowboys may be moved to a district that includes Brevard County programs much like in the late 1990s and early 2000s when OHS reached the regional finals five straight years.
Nichols said he would like to continue playing Lakeland.
“It’s a great atmosphere for our kids to play in,” Nichols said. “But, you don’t need to be playing Lakeland, Dr. Phillips, Winter Park, Mainland and Madison County in the same season.”