At the end of the night, Osceola (6-3, 3-0) was simply too big, too fast and too physical as the Kowboys trounced the Tohopekaliga Tigers, 62-7, to claim the Class 4S, District 11 championship.
Tohopekaliga falls to 5-4 on the season and 1-2 in district play.
“The goal was to come out tonight and play four solid quarters of football. We wanted to control the line of scrimmage and eliminate turnovers and I think we accomplished all those goals,” Head Coach Eric Pinellas said.
Osceola dominated all three phases of the game.
Delvin Pryor intercepted Toho quarterback Sabby Meassick on the third play of the game and Taevion Swint ran it in three plays later for a 7-0 lead. On the Kowboys next possession, Swint broke off a 20-yard run, quarterback David Buggs hit Notorious Reynolds on a 14-yard slant and Swint carried it in from the 4-yard line for a 14-0 lead.
Special teams and the defense would extend the lead to 28-0 when Alijah Jenkins returned a punt 42 yards for a touchdown and on Tohopekaliga’s next possession, Jayden Bradford intercepted Meassick and returned it 26 yards for another score.
With 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, backup Gunner Holland entered the game at quarterback and hit TJ Massey on a 48-yard pass down to the goal line where Swint would carry it in for his third touchdown of the game and a 35-0 lead. Later in the quarter, backup running back Jeff Sinophat, another talented freshman, took a handoff and raced 31 yards to make it 42-0. With three minutes to go in the half, Bo Mascoe triggered a running clock for the rest of the game, intercepting Meassick and racing 52 yards down the sideline for a touchdown and a 48-0 lead at the half.
Receiving the second half kickoff, Osceola returned a squib kick to midfield and on the first play, Swint broke up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown. Buggs would add a 52-yard scoring strike to TJ Massey to complete the Kowboy scoring.
Meassick, the young freshman quarterback, came into the game completing 67% of his passes for 2600 yards and 35 touchdowns. But against the Kowboys he was just 11 of 31 for 126 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. His touchdown of 48 yards came on a screen pass to Julian Nasco on the final play of the game against Osceola’s reserves.
“We were able to put a lot of pressure on him (Meassick) but doing that is our goal every game,” Pinellas added. “We want to stop the run and get after the quarterback and when we can do that, it makes it tough for the other team’s offense.”
Swint finished the game with 140 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 12 carries. Massey caught three balls for 110 yards; and Buggs and Holland were a combined 8 of 14 for 173 yards. Overall, the Kowboys finished with 342 yards of total offense on just 27 plays – averaging more than 12 yards per play.
Osceola concludes its regular season next week against Central Florida power West Orange. The Warriors finished 11-2 last year and beat the Kowboys twice, taking a 35-21 decision during the regular season and then ending Osceola’s season in regional semifinals, 16-7. Both games were played at West Orange. The Warriors are 5-3 after defeating Olympia on Friday night. They will play a district make-up game with Ocoee (6-3) on Monday night.
Pinellas said that despite the two losses last year, he did not view the upcoming contest as a revenge game.
“They are in the Metro Division, so we won’t even see them in the playoffs this year. So no, it’s not a revenge game for us. We look ahead and not in the past. They are a great team and a great program and the game is vitally important to us as it will have a direct effect on our regional seeding. If the right things happen we could get a top seed and secure home field advantage in the post-season.”
Kickoff at Markus Paul Stadium for the West Orange game is 7 p.m.
The Tigers will attempt to finish the year with a winning season when they host Haines City (4-3) in their season finale.
