Osceola dropped 6A championship with members of 1998 OHS team looking on
In the Class 6A state championship football game Friday, the Osceola Kowboys play really good West Boca Raton.
They weren’t just taking on the Bulls – and their really loud band. (Yo FHSAA: you preach sportsmanship all through the game, then you let the band play during the play of the game. Do something about it.)
These Kowboys were chasing the ghosts of those who came before them.
A proud banner honoring the 1998 OHS team who beat Estero, 28-14, for the school’s only football title, hangs in the Osceola gym. To try to add a second, the school and coaches work to channel those who played on that team; guys like Bobby Sippio, Chad Mascoe and Willie Green.
They were all present Friday in Miami In the fifth opportunity to match them. The Kowboys lost, 26-7, in a game that was much closer than that score indicates (it was 10-7 at the half after an Osceola missed field goal). It means in that chase to catch those came before them, the ghosts stay in a place just up ahead.
While West Boca, which opened in 2004, matched Osceola title-for-title with its first win Friday, the Kowboys played for titles in 2007, 2014-15 and 2020 prior to Friday.
“We aren’t as fortunate to be one of those teams to get here every year,” OHS Coach Eric Pinellas said. “We have to grind year in, year out, week in, week out.”
He’s being humble. In the years Osceola hasn’t played for the ring, it’s dictated who has. The Kowboys have advanced to a number of state semifinals and regional finals during this current generation and have made the playoffs in all but three seasons since 1997.
You know who wasn’t humble Friday? Sippio, who quarterbacked that 1998 team and played defensive back, made a name at Western Kentucky and played briefly in the NFL after starring in the Arena Football League. He was vocally encouraging from his front-row seat at the 50-yard line, imploring the team to match the success of the ’98 group.
“We want to see that banner on the wall next to ours,” he said at halftime Friday. “It’s what it’s all about, it’s where we’re from.
“I remember in the playoffs (in ’98), at halftime of one game, we told the coaches to get out and we had a players’ meeting; a few guys stepped up. This team’s got that leadership.”
Mascoe played running back and linebacker in ’98. His son played on the 2020 team, and he’s been on the sideline coaching ever since. He’s like Pinellas in that they hate losing far more than they enjoy winning.
“It’s still hard, every time,” he said. “You can’t play here and not want them to win every time.”
Pinellas could also be considered one of those ghosts. He attended OHS’ first title game in 1982, played in the Osceola backfield from 1986-89, and has been involved with the program ever since coaching. He said the legacy of Kowboy football helps and motivates players rather than hurting or intimidating them – the ghosts run beside them, rather than just up ahead of them.
“It’s not pressure, they set that standard,” Pinellas said. ”It’s why we bring them back.”
Some players looked like they felt the same way in the line to collect their state runner-up medals; that they played the most of any 6A team this year that didn’t win a state title. Others took the perspective that they were the only members of their class to reach the championship game.
“This game won’t define us, we played hard,” said senior linebacker Elijah Melendez, who will wear the navy blue and orange of Auburn University the next time he takes the field.
As for next year – 11 starters Friday were sophomores or juniors – Pinellas said offseason work will begin after the Christmas holiday.
And the pursuit of those ghosts will start anew again.
