On a night when they named its stadium after a former legend, the Osceola got a legendary effort from its defense as the Kowboys won their sixth straight game with a 26-6 district win over Dr. Phillips on Friday night.
Osceola, 6-1 overall and 3-0 in District 8A-9, relied on its record-setting defense and the arm of quarterback Chad Mascoe after the Panthers (2-6, 1-2) show down its normally potent running game.
“It really didn’t surprise me too much,” Osceola Head Coach Eric Pinellas said. “Dr. Phillips has a really stout defense, particularly up front. This was a team that has played a ridiculously hard schedule and even though they were blown out a few times, it was because their offense had a bunch of turnovers and put its defense in bad situations. We knew going in we were going to have to rely on our defense and our passing game and both came through tonight.”
But despite four turnovers, three missed extra points and a shanked punt, the Kowboys were never in danger of losing. Mascoe completed 17 of 22 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns.
Osceola built 20-0 first-half lead. Mascoe sandwiched a pair of touchdown passes to Donald Cummings and Ja’Keem Jackson around a 17-yard fumble return for touchdown by his brother, Bo Mascoe. While that was happening, the Kowboy defense was simply giving fits to the Dr. Phillips offense and its quarterback Curtis Argroves.
Led by a fierce pass and run defense led by Derrick LeBlanc and John Walker, the Osceola defense allowed just 57 yards of total offense to the Panthers on six possessions and 29 plays – for an average of less than two yards per play. LeBlanc came up with several big plays in the first half, including a fumble recovery and batting down two passes; while Bo Mascoe had an interception to go with his fumble return.
The Kowboys threatened to blow the game wide open midway through the third quarter as Mascoe led a seven-play, 69 yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 20-yard pass for Perry Garrett.
Since losing to Cocoa and starting the six-game winning streak, Osceola has recorded three shutouts and have outscored opponents 328-27.
“Overall we made a lot of mistakes tonight with the fumbles and special teams errors,” Pinellas said. “But when I looked up at halftime and saw a three score lead I sort of relaxed a little. Our defense has been playing really well and I felt it would be pretty hard for anyone to come back from that far down.”
The win set up next Friday night’s showdown with West Orange (7-1) for what most likely will be for the 8A-9 championship. The Warriors defeated Celebration, 55-8, Friday and is also 3-0 in 8A-9. Like Osceola, West Orange’s only loss this season was to a state-ranked team and they have outscored opponents 318-45.
“They are a lot like us,” Pinellas said. “Real good defense, explosive offense. It will be a great challenge for us to go on the road and face them.”
In an emotional ceremony before the game, the Kowboys dedicated and named their stadium after former Osceola football and basketball legend Markus Paul, who led Osceola to a state championship game in football and was a starter on Osceola’s undefeated state championship basketball team in 1983. Paul was an All-American at Syracuse, played several years in the NFL and won five Super Bowl rings in an NFL coaching career that spanned 20 years before his untimely passing last November.
