When Lakeland fumbled the opening kickoff and Bo Mascoe recovered, things started great for the Osceola Kowboys in their Class 4 Suburban state semifinal game against the undefeated and nationally-ranked Dreadnaughts.
But on the Kowboys first play from scrimmage, quarterback David Buggs was intercepted at the goal line by University of Pittsburgh commit Shadarion Harrison. Unfortunately, the play would turn into a harbinger of things to come as the Kowboys would turn the ball over three more times in the game and Lakeland would rally for a 14-7 win, ending Osceola's season at 10-4, one game away from the state championship game.
“There’s not really a lot to say,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said right after the game. “Our kids fought their guts out tonight and three or four bad plays on our part cost us the game. We held a team that was averaging 40 points a game and – and blowing out every opponent in the process -- to just 14 points. That effort should have been enough to win the game.”
It was the second time this season the Kowboys lost a heart-breaker to Lakeland, who went to 13-0 this season with the win and will face Venice for its eighth state championship in two weeks down in Fort Lauderdale. On Sept. 16, OHS spotted the Dreadnaughts a 14-0 lead and rallied back, only to lose 25-22.
Despite that first turnover, the Kowboys dominated first half action. They took a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter when Buggs capped off a 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Mascoe. Osceola limited Lakeland to 48 first-half offensive yards, and took that seven-point lead into halftime.
The turning point in the game took place early in the second half. Osceola received the second-half kickoff and drove the ball into the red zone. But threatening to take a two-score lead, Buggs was intercepted at the goal line on second-and-1 from the 19 by Comari McClain to end the threat.
“His initial target was covered and rather than throwing it away, David tried to make something happen," Pinellas said.
From there, Lakeland would put together its only sustained drive of the game. Behind the running of Markell Johnson and D’marius Rucker, Lakeland drove the length of the field, and on second-and-goal Omari Mixon hauled in an 11-yard scoring pass from Zach Pleuss to tie the game up at 7-7.
The Lakeland defense would force a quick three-and-out and on the the Dreadnaughts' next snap, wide receiver Tyler Williams took a direct snap and raced 61 yards for a touchdown for a 14-7 advantage.
“It’s about the only breakdown we had on defense all night,” Pinellas said about the play. “In all of the game film we watched they hadn’t shown that formation. Until I see the tape, I won’t know for sure, but I suspect we did not line up properly on that play.”
Still, Osceola had its chances to tie or take the lead in the game. Buggs and running back Taevion Swint — who finished the game with 108 yards rushing on 25 carries against the stout Lakeland defense -- made big play after big play as the Kowboys drove from their own 37 to inside the Lakeland 10-yard line. But on a fourth and goal from the 8, Osceola ran a double reverse but failed to handle the second pitch, and Lakeland recovered.
“It was supposed to be our version the of the Philly Special, where on the second pitch Terry Cruz would stop and throw the ball back to David Buggs, who was all alone in the right corner of the end zone. It’s a play that we have practiced and executed every week since the beginning of the season and were saving it just for this occasion. It would have worked but the pitch was a little high and Terry just could not handle it.”
With Lakeland’s offense taking over with less than four minutes to go, the Osceola defense again answered the bell, forced another three-and-out and took over at midfield with less than two minutes remaining. But Buggs pass was again picked off by Harrison, and the game ended with a couple of kneel downs.
“The hardest part to this game was knowing that we were good enough to win and get to a state championship,” Pinellas said. “We played one of the toughest schedules in the state to prepare ourselves for this moment and unfortunately, we simply did not execute the plays we needed to in order to win.”
The turnovers would prove to be the downfall of the Kowboys both in this game and during the regular season. In three of Osceola’s four losses this year the Kowboys turned the ball over 16 times – including four Friday and four in the September loss to Lakeland.
The loss also marked the end of era as several outstanding Osceola athletes played their last game, including Division I recruits: defensive linemen John Walker (a UCF oral commit) and Derrick LeBlanc (Oklahoma) and defensive back Ja’Keem Jackson (Florida) and Bo Mascoe (Rutgers).
