Friday night's scores:
Osceola 69, Tohopekaliga 0
Gateway 13, Liberty 8
Celebration 48, Lake Region 8
Sebastian River 20, St. Cloud 2
Palm Bay 20, Harmony 16
Mulberry 7, Poinciana 6, game called in the 1st quarter
Eric Pinellas had to wait until Week 3 to get his first head coaching win with the Osceola Kowboys.
Osceola scored the first three times they touched the ball Friday and dominated in all aspects of the game, giving Pinellas his first win by a 69-0 count over Tohopekaliga.
“Finally got a win out of the way,” Pinellas joked after the game. “But seriously, this was a contest where we knew we had an edge in personnel. The main thing was that we wanted to go out and execute our offense, get our younger kids some reps and try to stay healthy and I think we checked all those boxes.”
Did they ever. The Kowboys scored six plays into the game. Freshman Taevion Swint did the heavy lifting on the drive, ripping off runs of 18 and 14 yards before capping the drive with a four-yard touchdown run.
Tohopekaliga would take the ensuing kickoff and quarterback Kam Davis-Roberts would pick up 18 yards on the first play on a quarterback keeper. That was about all the good news the Tigers offense would have in the game as it was the longest play of the night and would account for almost half of the total yards they would gain all game.
After the run, Osceola would force a fumble and Chad Mascoe would up the Kowboy lead to 14-0 three plays later on a six-yard touchdown run. Mascoe helped himself on the drive, overcoming an offensive holding penalty with a 25-yard run.
Kaylon Walters would then pick up the first of his two interceptions on the next Tohopekaliga possession. Mascoe needed just four plays to get Osceola in the end zone, hitting Ja’Keem Jackson on a 15-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-0.
The Kowboys kept the pressure on in the second quarter, tacking on four more scores. Walters’ second interception gave Osceola the ball on the 15 and two Ja’Randy Swint runs later, Osceola was in the end zone and up 28-0.
After a short Toho punt and long return set Osceola up on the Eagle 43, Taevion Swint would take a jet sweep around right end and run untouched for a touchdown. Mascoe’s night would end just five minutes later, when he again needed just one play to get Kowboys into the end zone, firing his second touchdown pass of the night to Isaiah Jean-Baptiste from 37-yards out. Back-up quarterback Gunner Holland added a late second quarter touchdown as Osceola built a 49-0 halftime lead.
Playing second and third team players and going with a running clock the entire second half, Osceola only had two second half possessions and still managed three more scores. Jackson returned an interception for a touchdown, back-up defensive lineman Maleek Blanton returned a fumble 11 yards for a score and back-up running back Cornelius Walls broke a 42-yard touchdown run for the 69-0 final.
Osceola limited the Tigers to 39 yards of total offense, forced five turnovers and blocked a punt. The Kowboys only ran 22 offensive plays in the game but gained 277 yards. Taevion Swint finished with five carries for 77 yards and two touchdowns; while Mascoe had three total touchdowns and 94 yards of total offense on just five plays.
District play begins next week. Osceola, (1-1), will travel to Olympia (1-1) next Friday; while Tohopekaliga (1-2) travels to Oak Ridge (0-2). Next week's other games include Melbourne at St. Cloud, Eau Gallie at Gateway, Lake Region at Poinciana, Dr. Phillips at Celebration, and Liberty at Melbourne Central Catholic.
Harmony will host Heritage Wednesday in a make-up games from Sept. 3 postponed due to COVID-19 contact tracing concerns.
