Osceola’s Nathaniel Barnett returned an interception on the third play of the game 20-yards for a touchdown and the Osceola Kowboys never looked back in a dominating 56-0 District 4S-10 win over Celebration on Homecoming Night at Markus Paul Stadium.
The final stats really told the story of the game. Osceola’s defense held the Storm to minus-13 yards of total offense on 27 plays. The Kowboys had three takeaways and 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Celebration’s three first downs came on Osceola penalties.
While the Osceola defense was shutting down the Storm, its offense was having its way—scoring often and quickly. Playing second teamers as early as the second quarter, Osceola scored touchdowns on all seven of their offensive possessions, averaging more than 18 yards per play and gaining 273 yards on just 15 offensive plays.
Even its special teams came up big, forcing several short punts with pressure and gaining close to 90 yards on three punt returns.
The game was marked by quick scores by the Kowboys offense after Barnett’s defensive score. On Osceola’s first play of its first offensive possession, Taevion Swint took a swing pass from Cameron West 38 yards for a touchdown. A block in a back wiped out a punt return for a touchdown but on the first play of their second possession, Swint broke loose on 38 yards sweep to a touchdown and a 21-0 lead. Swint watched the rest of the game from the bench.
Even with its biggest weapon on the bench, Osceola would roll on offense. West needed four plays to drive Osceola 55 yards into the end zone – with freshman Zavon Gooden covering the final 15 yards on a reception.
Another punt return for a touchdown was called back but West fired his third touchdown pass of the night, this time 25 yards to Notorious Reynolds. Sophomore Jamario Bradford intercept Celebration’s Landon Yaw on the very next play and Zion Mathews – another sophomore—scored on a 15-yard run to make 42-0 at the half.
With a running clock in effect the rest of the way, Osceola only had two offensive possessions the rest of the game but took advantage of both as Alijah Jenkins and Isaiah Brutus, two more underclassmen, caught touchdown passes of 6 and 28 yards.
Osceola finished the game with seven different players scoring eight touchdowns. West finished the game 9-of-9 passing for 163 yards and five touchdown passes.
“This game was what it was; our goal was to take care of business and get ready to play undefeated Daytona Beach Mainland next week,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said of the team ranked No. 2 in the state across all classes in the FHSAA rankings. “They tried to cancel our game last year and after we beat them I am sure they are licking their chops and looking for revenge because they kept calling us this week to make sure we were going to honor the contract. For the last three weeks I have been telling our guys that this game is the start of the season for us and we have a great challenge but also a great opportunity in front of us.”
Osceola convincingly beat Mainland last year, 33-6, but the Buccaneers won on to be the Class 3S state runner-up, losing a close 32-30 decision to Lake Wales. With a 65-0 win over Deltona Friday night, Mainland moved to 7-0 this season.
Osceola dropped its first five games of the season to all highly-ranked state teams but has now won two in a row, improving to 2-5 on the season and 2-0 in district play. The Kowboys can make the playoffs by claiming a district championship with a road win over Tohopekaliga (5-2, 2-0) in two weeks.
Celebration fell to 1-6, 0-2 in the district and will play Flagler Palm Coast (2-4) next week.
“We had a rough week of practice with a dozen kids fighting the flu and we had to leave six of them at home tonight,” Celebration head coach Jeremy Palmer said. “No excuses though, this was a case of us having to play a bigger, faster, deeper and more experienced team, so it would not have mattered. I was proud of the fact that we were playing a bunch of freshman and sophomores today and they gave us a great effort for the entire game.”
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
O: Nathaniel Barnett 20 pass interception (Adam ElBaraka kick) 7-0
O: Taevion Swint 38 pass from Camren West (ElBaraka kick) 14-0
O: Swint 25 run (ElBaraka kick) 21-0
Second Quarter
O: Zavon Golden 25 pass from West (ElBaraka kick) 28-0
O: Notorious Reynolds 25 pass from West (ElBaraka kick) 35-0
O: Zion Mathews 15 run (ElBaraka kick) 42-0
Third Quarter
O: Alijah Jenkins 6 pass from West (ElBaraka kick) 49-0
Fourth Quarter
O: Isaiah Brutus 38 pass from West (ElBaraka kick) 56-0
