Harmony’s season ends in hard-fought 24-14 tilt at Vero Beach
Although its opponent comes into the game with a 4-6 record and already lost to the Kowboys once this season, Osceola coach Eric Pinellas has no doubts that regional semifinal opponent Treasure Coast will present a challenge to his charges when they meet Friday at Markus Paul Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s not like we won all that easily the first time we played them,” Pinellas said about his team’s 14-5 win over the Titans in the season opener. “They run a similar single wing offense DeLand ran against us and that gave us fits last week. They also have played an extremely difficult schedule, and that’s why they got in the playoffs with a losing record.”
The Titans’ four non-district opponents are still alive in the postseason. Two weeks ago, they took district foe Vero Beach – the top-seed in Osceola’s Region 4S-3 – to overtime before losing 10-7.
Treasure Coast reached the regional semifinals with a 35-7 win over Martin County last week. Offensively, the Titans are led by quarterback George Roberts (754 rushing yards) and running backs Emote Brown (536 yards) and Jamison Davis (343 yards). The main difference between Treasure Coast and last week’s opponent DeLand is that Roberts (228 passing yards) is not as effective a thrower as Bulldog quarterback Tyron Moore was.
“They are not quite as complex as DeLand was on offense,” Pinellas said. “They try to get to the outside a lot more. The key for us will be stay disciplined and make sure we set the edge against them. If we can force them to the inside, it will be a big advantage to us.”
Linebacker Rod Taylor and defensive tackle Jahari have combined for 10 the Titan’s 18 sacks.
Osceola, which escaped the first round with a 30-28 win over DeLand, hope to be back to full strength on defense with the return of All-State tackle Derrick LeBlanc, who sat out Friday with an elbow injury.
Offensively, the Kowboys will continue to rely on sophomore sensation Taevion Swint, who has rushed for 1,329 yards and scored 19 touchdowns and has scored 37 total touchdowns in just 23 career games.
“He’s an amazing player,” Pinellas said about Swint. “He has just one speed and that’s all-out, and he gives you that 100% effort on every down and every play. For a smaller back, he is extremely strong and breaks a lot of tackles.”
Pinellas said his starting quarterback will be determined this week. David Buggs took the majority of the snaps this season, but junior Gunner Holland had a big game in the West Orange win and took every snap against DeLand.
“We will make decision in practice,” Pinellas said. “We have a lot of faith in both guys and we’ll let the opponent worry about who they should prepare for.”
Friday’s winner plays at Vero Beach (10-1) or hosts Melbourne (9-2) in the Nov. 25 regional final. Against Vero Friday in its regional quarterfinal,
Harmony (6-5) was more than game when it faced top-seeded Vero Beach but saw its season come to an end with a hard-fought 24-14 loss. Behind a Jeremy Hillard 2-yard touchdown run, Harmony used its running game to dominate first-half possession and battled to a 7-7 tie at intermission.
“Obviously they are an outstanding team, but we came into the game with a good game plan and executed it,” Harmony coach Don Simon said. “We knew it would be dogfight and we knew had to shorten the game. We were able to accomplish that.”
Trailing 10-7, Harmony had a chance to tie the score but Alex Tuyo had a field goal attempt blocked and a subsequent 59-yard touchdown run by Quincy Rodgers made it 17-7. The Longhorns would fight back when they recovered a muffed punt and Cooper Richards scored on a 17yard touchdown run to make it a 17-14 game.
But needing a stop to get a chance at victory, the Longhorns saw Vero quarterback EJ White hit Vendrevious Jacobs on touchdown pass in the final two minutes to put the game away.
“I was really proud how this team fought tonight and all season long,” Simon said. “We had a couple of slipups in a few games but it’s a long season and those games definitely did not define this team. I’m going to miss this group.”
Simon will say goodbye to all-time leading rusher Tyler Emans, Richards and three-year starting quarterback Aiden Parks. Emans turned down several Division-1 rides to attend Ivy League school Brown University.
“Tyler and Cooper have been such a great 1-2 punch for us, and while we didn’t throw the ball much, Ayden was exactly what we needed for a quarterback because he fit what we were trying to do and he knew our offense so well. That’s a lot of talent and production we are going to have to replace,” Simon added.
Bowl Games Blues: Tohopekaliga, Poinciana, and St. Cloud were all scheduled to play in bowl games — until Hurricane Nicole changed plans. St. Cloud was scheduled to play Poinciana last Wednesday but Nicole forced that cancellation; as did wet fields and lack of practice time forced the cancellation for the Tohopekaliga at Lake Howell bowl game on Saturday. Poinciana remains hopeful a replacement bowl game can be scheduled this week; check AroundOsceola.com for updates.
