Coming off two narrow playoff wins, Osceola left little doubt they were the top team in Class 4S, Region 3 on Friday night, using big plays on offense and forcing four turnovers in a convincing 31-7 win at the region’s top-seed, Vero Beach.
With the region championship secured, the Kowboys (9-3) next travel to Lakeland to face the undefeated Dreadnaughts (12-0) in a Class 4 Suburban semifinal game. Lakeland, who is the state’s top-ranked team in 4S, advanced to Friday with a big 41-6 victory over Lake Minneola.
The game will be a rematch from Sept.16 in the regular season, won by Lakeland, 25-22, after a lengthy thunderstorm delay.
“We had a great week of practice and I felt confident going into the game,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said about the Vero Beach win. “We wanted to accomplish three things – win the turnover battle, finish drives with touchdowns and contain Vero’s star wide receiver (Vandrevius Jacobs). Despite leaving some things on the table in the first half, we managed to check all three boxes.”
Osceola needed little time to jump out to a first-half lead Friday as David Buggs hit TJ Massey on a deep seam route for 34 yards on the game’s first play. One play later, Taevion Swint took a handoff, broke loose and rambled down the left sideline for a 38-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The Kowboys failed to capitalize on a long drive on its next possession, as a false start penalty on the Vero 10 cost them five yards and Delvin Calhoun was wide right on a 32-yard field goal attempt.
Vero tied the score early in the second quarter, taking advantage of an Osceola pass interference penalty before quarterback Jacob Whiteley avoided a sack and picked up 21 yards on a keeper down to the Osceola 10. Two plays later, Whiteley hit Jacobs across the middle, and the senior broke a tackle and spun into the end zone to knot the game at 7-7.
Osceola would see a 65-yard punt return for touchdown by Jakari Watson get erased by a block in the back penalty -- that occurred clear on the other side of the field -- and back-to-back penalties stalled another drive and the Kowboys would have to settle for a 35-yard Calhoun field goal as Osceola led 10-7 at the half.
‘We certainly left way too many scoring opportunities on the field in the first half despite pretty much dominating play,” Pinellas said. “I’m not sure whether we just thought it was going to be easy or whether we just got lackadaisical, but we got on them pretty good in the locker room at halftime.”
Whatever was said, worked, as the Kowboys dominated all three phases of the game in the second half. After getting a quick stop on defense, Buggs led a six-play, 71-yard drive that was capped with a perfectly set up screen pass to Swint. The play covered 19 yards and gave Osceola a 17-7 lead.
Osceola all but put the game away at the 4:21 mark of the third period, as Ja’Keem Jackson stepped in front of a Whiteley pass and returned the interception 69 yards for a touchdown. They would cap the scoring midway through the fourth, when Buggs hit Bo Mascoe on a 67-yard touchdown pass for the final margin of victory.
Jackson’s interception was one of four turnovers the Kowboys forced on the night, getting two interceptions to go with two fumble recoveries. The defense also recorded four sacks and limited Jacobs – who came into the game with 84 receptions for 1,350 yards and 19 touchdowns -- to just seven receptions for 33 yards and the one score.
“The one thing that really stood out on film was how teams were playing off Jacobs and trying to keep them in front of them," Pinellas said. "Basically he would just run drag routes across the middle and turn short passes into long plays. We challenged our defensive backs to make him fight to get off the line. No doubt, he’s a Division I talent, but we have some division one talent in the defensive backfield and we weren’t afraid to challenge him.”
Offensively, the Kowboys gained more than 450 yards of total offense. Swint rushed for 175 yards and Buggs passed for 220 yards and two touchdowns.
