The Osceola Kowboys showed they are the team that won five straight heading into Friday's playoff opener, and not the team that last year lost the playoff opener.
Taevion Swint and Elijah Hickson each scored three touchdowns and Alijah Jenkins added two more as the Kowboys (9-2) throttled Viera, 58-14 at Markus Paul Stadium Friday. The Kowboys will host Durant (8-3), a 35-17 winner over South Lake, in next week's Region 2 semifinal.
Osceola pounded the Hawkins 49-9 a month ago in a district game, and the result was much the same Friday. Swint ended up scoring seven TDs in two games against Viera.
The Kowboys scored on their first three possessions and led 21-7 after one quarter and 38-14 at the half. Quarterback Camren West connected on touchdown passes to Swint and Jenkins in that first half. Hickson helped put the game away in the second half, when he scored all three of his touchdowns. The first one was set up by an interception by Jeff Banks, which he returned deep into Viera territory.
DR. PHILLIPS 49, TOHOPEKALIGA 21: The Tigers' first experience in a true football playoff left the program seeing what it takes to be an elite program.
Dr. Phillips (11-1), with 17 playoff appearances in the last 19 years and a 2017 state championship on its resume, played the role of the elite team on Friday, and came away with a 49-21 win over the Tigers (6-5). Tohopekaliga qualified for the playoffs for the first time; the team played in the 2020 playoffs in the COVID-affected year when all teams that wanted to participate were able to.
THS quarterback Sabby Meassick was 25-for-43 passing for 301 yards Friday in his junior year finale, reaching 2,900 yards for the season and 9,800 yards passing for his career. But the Panthers held Toho to just 45 other yards.
But Toho Coach Anthony Paradiso wasn't overly bitter or disappointed.
"Our kids deserved to be there, and had nothing to lose, the pressure was off," he said. "We competed and moved the ball up and down the field against a top-caliber team. The kids now see what it takes to get to that level."
But in the same breath, he recounted mistakes made that would have made it a competitive game had they not happened. Dr. Phillips scored on a touchdown drive and interception return in the span of a minute in the first quarter that turned a 7-7 game into a 21-7 affair.
The Tigers trailed 7-0 just 71 seconds and five plays into the game, but Toho answered immediately. Will Deitch returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield, and Toho marched to the end zone in six plays, and Jaxson Hardnett took a toss pitch and scored from seven yards out to tie it.
Dr. Phillips scored on its ensuing drive, and the pick-six quickly made it 21-7, The Tigers pulled within one score when Sabby Meassick hit Tre Punter on a three-yard scoring strike to pull to within 21-14, but Dr. Phillips answered in just three plays. Stanley Anderson-Lofton hit Mykel Calixte from 25 yards out to make it 27-14 with 45 seconds left in the first quarter. The PAT was blocked.
The Tigers trailed 35-14 at the half. They scored late when Meassick hit Bradley Weck in the flat, and the sophomore raced 68 yards to the end zone.
