Eagles must wait for first win over OHS after 34-7 setback
The Osceola Kowboys (1-1) used a dominant end of the first half to beat Poinciana (1-1), 34-7, for their first win of the season on Friday night. The Eagles are still winless against Osceola.
Osceola dominated the first half and finally broke through midway through the second quarter with an 8-yard touchdown run by Javontay Barnett. The previous play was a 21-yard pass from quarterback Jabari Coombs Jr. to Barnett for 21 yards.
“[The team] was missing me last week,” said Barnett who rushed 16 times for 110 yards after missing last week’s loss to St. Cloud after being ejected in the Kickoff Classic two weeks ago.
“It felt great to score today. I wish I could have done it last week.”
Pinellas said the 127-pound Barnett is the key to the Kowboys offense.
“I think last week, some of the guys looked up, like, well, Javontay’s not going to be here. ‘What are we going to do’ type deal?,” Pinellas recalled. “Well, Javontay was here tonight and you can see the difference that made. Whether he was at wing, whether he was at fullback, we could throw it to him, we could hand it inside, we could run a jet, we can do everything with him.”
Once the Kowboys got going they ended up scoring 28 unanswered points in less than 6 minutes to take a commanding lead. A Poinciana bad snap on a punt turned the ball over to Osceola and led to another Barnett score – the time from 2 yards out to put the home team up 13-0. On the Poinciana drive Lewis had consecutive sacks of Poinciana quarterback Lucas Minenok to set up the endzone punt.
“When I execute every single play, great things happen, Lewis, a Syracuse commit who had three total sacks against Poinciana, said. “I’m a pass rusher. I go get sacks. I set the tone.”
Pinellas said the Osceola football stresses the importance defense is for a winning team.
“Our defense is how we kind of hang our hat a little bit,” Pinellas said. “Our philosophy here is play great defense, control the ball, limit the opponents’ possessions, especially when you get those fast break high octane offenses. We try to hold on to the ball as much as possible.”
The special teams defense didn’t stop there. Osceola’s Dory Thimote blocked the Eagles’ Gregory Stambaugh’s punt and the Kowboys’ Jakai Pratt picked up the ball from 10 yards out to score. Zylin Garret scored on the 2-point conversion to put the Kowboys up 21-0.
The defense kept shining as Dorian Wright Jr. picked off Minenok (10-for-12 passing for 137 yards and 2 interceptions) for a 45-yard interception return for yet another touchdown with 56 seconds left in the half.
Poinciana coach Taron Mallard said he should have not tried to force the action in the final minutes of the first half which set up great field position for Osceola to score.
“We were trying to get back into it,” Mallard said. “Instead of taking it into the half, a couple turnovers led to them getting points. This is just a learning point for me as a coach, to take it into the half and make those adjustments.”
Osceola’s Jerry Canaday ran 9 times for 66 yards.
Jace Coral scored at the 5:12 mark of the third quarter from a yard out to give the Kowboys a 34-0 lead after the missed extra point. Poinciana scored their lone touchdown on a 60-yard pass from Minenok to Rodney Mallet with 6:11 left.
Poinciana travels to Harmony next week, and Osceola heads to Seminole County with a matchup against defending state Class 7A champion Lake Mary.
