Hurricane Milton turned Friday Night Lights into a Tuesday Night Title, as Osceola won District 6A-5 with a 49-9 win over Viera.
Alijah Jenkins returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and Taevion Swint rushed for four touchdowns as the Kowboys (5-2, 2-0) rolled to their 54th district win in their last 55 games.
The Hawks did keep it close in the first half, using a touchdown and field goal to trail 21-9 at intermission.
“They caught us off guard a little bit and did a pretty good job with their run-pass option,” Osceola Coach Eric Pinellas said. “But we settled down in the second half and pretty much dominated.”
Meanwhile at Harmony, turnovers combined with the inability to generate much offense proved too much for the Longhorns to overcome in a 27-0 loss to Lake Nona. Harmony (1-6, 0-2) is now out of the District 7A-10 title race with one game left (the Soldier City Classic Oct. 25 against St. Cloud).
Harmony's defense came up with an outstanding effort in the first half – only to wear down in the second half from being on the field for extended periods of time.
Harmony won the toss and elected to defer and after giving up some early yardage, its defense held the Lions to a 47-yard field goal by Trey Butkowski. One play later an interception gave Lake Nona the ball on the Harmony 3, but again the defense came up strong – allowing just a 29-yard field goal to Butkowski. A fumble on the next series set the Lions up in the red zone again, but this time Malik Allen scored on a 18-yard run to make it 13-0.
Harmony crossed the 50 on the last play of third quarter on a 31-yard pass from Landon Hayes to Ivan Ramos. In the fourth quarter the Longhorns recovered a Lake Nona fumble on the Lions 15 and drove to the 1-yard-line but turned the ball over on downs.
“In any season, the offensive line is always the last thing to come together and we have been snake bit this year with injuries,” Harmony Coach Nick Lippert said. “We have not had the same starting five together since the first week of the season. We get one guy back on the offensive line and get two hurt, we get two back and lose another one. It’s been that way all year and has been extremely frustrating. But we don’t like making excuses. We have to get better and I have to do a better job coaching.”
Harmony returns to action Saturday at 11 a.m. at Celebration. The Storm (2-5, 0-2) fell 17-9 in a District 7A-9 game to Olympia. The game was tied at 7 at the half, and despite trailing 17-7, Celebration got back in it when the defensive pressure of Josh Berry and David Shockley's back-to-back sacks forced a safety and got the Storm the ball back in a one-score game. A long pass from James Wise-Pauley to Kobe Orr gave Celebration the ball at the Titans' 34 with under two minutes to play, but the drive stalled.
Osceola's win sets up a Friday night match-up at Apopka (3-3). Although a non-district game, it will be important one as Osceola tries to build a resume and gain in the rankings to possibly host one or more playoff games.
“Absolutely we anticipate a tough game,” Pinellas added. “Apopka is an extremely sound team, and although they have struggled to score points this year, you know they will play great assignment defense. It will definitely be a challenge.”
Coming off a bye week and a missed game from Milton, Apopka has not played since Sept. 27. They are averaging just 11 points a game, but have played a rugged schedule that has included Evans, Dr. Phillips, Edgewater and West Orange.
