After narrowly avoiding playoff upsets the past two weeks while facing difficult-to-defend single-wing offenses, the Osceola Kowboys are preparing for a more traditional spread offense this week when they travel to Vero Beach to face the Region 4S-3 top seed Indians (11-1) Friday. A win would advance OHS (9-3) to the Class 4S semifinal game.
Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
Osceola’s trip to the regional final has been tight. DeLand took the Kowboys to the limit before falling 30-28 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal game, Osceola needed a fourth down, 18-yard touchdown pass from David Buggs to Taevion Swint to get by Treasure Coast, 10-7.
Kowboys Coach Pinellas is happy the Kowboys will be a facing a more traditional offense this week. And although Vero Beach lost starting quarterback Tyler Aronson (1685 passing yards, 22 touchdowns) to a broken thumb on his throwing hand late in the season, Pinellas warns that Vero is still a dangerous offense.
“The good news is we don’t have to face the single wing offense this week,” Pinellas said. “The down side is that we are facing a very capable offense and perhaps one of the best wide receivers in the state.”
That player is Florida State commit Vandrevius Jacobs. In 12 games, he has 84 receptions for 1,353 yards and 19 touchdowns. Although Aronson is out for the rest of the season, Vero has been alternating quarterbacks with Jake Wheatley and Efrem White – and still getting the ball to Jacobs with regularity.
Wheatley is the more effective passer (68-92, 667 yards, four touchdowns); while White is more of a scrambler, who plays a multitude of different positions.
“Trying to contain Jacobs has got to be our top priority, he’s a threat to score from anywhere on the field and we need to keep track of him on every play,” Pinellas said.
Although they do not run much, Vero can be effective on the ground as Quincy Rodgers, Jonathan Hillsman, Jaquone Jean and White have collectively run for 1100 yards and 14 touchdowns. Defensively, Pinellas says Vero is on the small side but they are very athletic. He said they “use a lot of stunts and blitzes to confuse offenses.”
Defensive linemen Kenzi Brown (55 tackles, 15 TFL) and Matt Bacon (15 TFL, 4.5 QS) are enjoying big seasons, as is linebacker Keyshawn Campbell (22.5 TFL and 6 QS).
“We are going to need to run the effectively, finish our drives and most importantly take care of the football,” Pinellas said.
Osceola has not announced a starting quarterback and its possible that both Buggs and Gunner Holland could alternate action. Defensive back standout Bo Mascoe will also most likely also see action at wide receiver as he has made several big plays on offense in recent weeks.
On the down side, Elijah Palermo – Osceola’s standout nose tackle – will most likely miss the game with a shoulder injury.
“Elijah has had a great season and there’s a chance he could be back if we make it to the finals,” Pinellas said. “But we always say next man up and sophomores Jaquille Knox and Josh Alamo got the job done last week when Elijah went down. We have a lot of confidence in those guys.”
Kowboys drop hoops opener to Centennial: Joe Lezeau scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the second half as Centennial – the 9th ranked pre-season team in Florida — defeated Osceola, 77-61, on Tuesday. Centennial, who was the top seeded regional team last season, used its superior height in pulling away from the Kowboys, who started three sophomores in their lineup.
“Our shot selection was not always the best,” Osceola coach Steve Mason said. “But they just took advantage us on the boards on both ends. We were getting one shot off and on the other end they were getting two or three shots off their misses.”
But Mason said he did see positives, as the Kowboys rebuild from last year’s 20-6, region finalist team.
“We’re not very big right now and because of that we are trying to play fast. That would explain some of our bad decisions with shot selection. But as soon as football is over, we are going to get some bigger players back and that should negate of the height advantages other teams will have on us right now.
“Still no excuses for the loss, they were better than we were tonight and frankly this scenario may repeat itself in the next couple of weeks. We will get better. Last year, Wellington beat us by 40 in the December but when the playoffs came around, we beat them. We will learn from this loss, get better and move forward. We play for late February and March and not November.”
Senior Chris Rios led Osceola with 18 points, sophomore Alex Springs had 17 and Ryan Rivera added 12.
