But first, Kowboys travel to Manatee Friday
Let’s try this again.
The annual Osceola-St. Cloud rivalry football game will — finally, we hope — take place for the 98th time on Monday at OHS at 7 p.m.
The game was supposed to be played in Week 1 on Aug. 27, but COVID-19 tracing protocols forced a postponement.
But before they can worry about the Bulldogs, the Kowboys will travel to Bradenton on Friday to play perennial state power Manatee. It will be the start of a tough week for Coach Eric Pinellas’ team, who will then host St. Cloud Monday then play a District 8A-9 game Oct. 1 against Windermere — which will give them three games in eight days.
Although Manatee is 0-3 this season, two of those losses came to state powers Lakeland and Palmetto. Osceola’s earlier loss came on the road to Cocoa, another stateranked team. The trip to Bradenton could mimic a decent-length road trip that could be required if the Kowboys make another deep playoff run like last year, when they played in the Class 8A state title game.
“Scheduling has always been difficult for us, in that is tough to find teams that will play us,” Pinellas says. “To get a full schedule, we often have to arrange games with teams two or three hours away. On the other hand, I think the success we have had in the post-season is because we have played good teams in the regular season.”
Pinellas said his team is getting close to hitting on all cylinders, especially on defense, after Friday’s 40-14 win over Olympia. Cornerback Bo Mascoe intercepted three Titans passes — all in the second quarter — when the Kowboys (2-1) scored 21 points in less than five minutes. He returned the first 70-yards for a score that broke a scoreless tie. A minute later, he pulled another C.J. Brooks pass out of the air at the Titans’ 19, and three plays later Ja’Randy Swint scored from 11 yards out. After a John Walker sack forced a punt, Jeremiah Wilson blocked it, giving Osceola the ball at the 1, and Taevion Swint took it in on the next play, and the Kowboys were off and running toward their first district win of the year.
“Bo is a great kid that works hard at his craft in practice, and what you saw on the field was the fruits of his labor,” Pinellas said. “He kept us afloat when we were hurting ourselves on offense with turnovers and penalties.” Drevon Lee would score
Drevon Lee would score another for the defense on a 80-yard fumble return scoop-and-score to put the game away late.
A young offensive line of juniors Jimarion McCrimon and Damian Williams, sophomores Brandon Rosa, Joseph Sweet and Joseph Green and lone senior Corey Vega cleared the way for Osceola to rush for 254 yards at over seven yards per carry.
“Going into the season we had questions on the offensive line and a little at linebacker,” Pinellas said. “Our offensive line is young but probably played their best game of the season on Friday. Our linebackers are finally coming around and are starting to play well. Overall our team is starting to play really well in all phases.”
St. Cloud (1-2) has a bye this Friday before Monday’s game at Osceola. The Bulldogs dropped a 28-6 decision to Melbourne and has also had trouble scoring points this season with just two touchdowns and 15 points in three games.
“We were thin going into this year to begin with and we were down 11 starters last Friday,” Coach Bryan Smart said. “I don’t like using that as an excuse, but it’s hard to get any consistency, especially on offense.”
Part of the issue for Smart was the fact that six St. Cloud players were suspended one game due to an altercation during the Sebastian River game a week earlier. Sebastian River had 15 players suspended from the scuffle that occurred right at the end of the contest.
Still, Smart said he was pleased with his team’s effort. “We had three defensive
“We had three defensive guys in Noah Carr, Trey’von Taylor and Ryan Clancy that came over to offense and played every snap in the game on both sides of the ball,” Smart said. “There’s been no quit in our team and I am so proud of how hard they have fought in some extremely difficult circumstances.”
Editor Ken Jackson contributed to this story.
