The Osceola Kowboys football team will gather on Monday, but it will be to turn in equipment.
Returning to the site of their first district loss since 2010 in a Region 8A-3 semifinals, the Kowboys were met by a steady rain, a stern wind, and a tough West Orange defensive front.
Like on Oct. 22, Osceola left with a loss, but this 16-7 defeat ended a season, that had promise of returning to the Class 8A championship game, at 9-3 in Coach Eric Pinellas' first season wearing the main headset on the sideline.
The Warriors (11-1) move on to face Venice in the Region 3 championship next week.
Osceola lost the regular-season game because of giving up big plays on defense. Friday's loss came in part due to losing four fumbles that halted any sustained drives.
"You can't be minus on turnovers and hope to win against a team like (West Orange)," Pinellas said. "They have a great scheme on defense."
Osceola fumbled a wet football twice in the first half, and otherwise couldn't sustain drives. But neither could West Orange as the game headed to halftime, thanks in part to OHS cornerback Ja'Keem Jackson, who picked off a pass in the end zone.
But Osceola would find itself quickly in a hole, as the Warriors went 65 yards in seven plays to open the third quarter and took a 7-0 lead on Terrell Walden's four-yard scoring run.
"Last time we played the scored coming out of the half; they did it to us again tonight," Pinellas said.
Osceola's ensuing drive went three-and-out, then a an errant punt snap went into the end zone for a safety and a 9-0 Warriors lead. The Kowboys seemed to find their mojo on the next drive and moved the ball past midfield, but their third lost fumble thwarted that.
At that point, Osceola quit digging the hole and started pulling the rope together. On a drive that went into the fourth quarter, quarterback Chad Mascoe (10-of-16 passing, 108 yards) hit Jackson on a 33-yard sideline route and Taevion Swint ran around the left end for 20 more. It set up Swint's seven-yard TD run that made it 9-7 with 4:54 left. And then the defense forced a Warrior 3-and-out, giving the Kowboys the ball back at the 20 after a touchback punt with 2:41 to work with.
A C.J. Walls 12-yard catch moved the chains once, but after three incompletions, Mascoe could only scramble for five yards on 4th-and-10. The Kowboys did get the ball back with one last-ditch effort to go the length of the field with 20 seconds left, but it ended with another fumble that the Warriors scooped up and scored on to give a tight battle a two-score winning margin.
Osceola did outgain West Orange, 208-141, with about half of the Warriors coming on its touchdown drive. But Pinellas said it was a case of breaks not going Osceola's way.
"You can't come out and make mistakes against the great players they have," he said. "A little of the weather when we wanted to throw the football while the defense was playing well. We waited for the break to come, and they started to late, but it wasn't enough. To beat good football teams you can't give them extra possessions and good field position. On offense we played behind the sticks too many times."
