For the second week in a row, Osceola holder Josue Rivera ran for a touchdown off a bad kick snap, this one from 12 yards out that gave Osceola a 10-0 lead in the first half. (Photo/Taylor McFee)
Four turnovers and just enough offense helped Osceola defeat Lake Mary on Friday – and for the first time ever – 17-9 on the road Friday night.
The Kowboys (2-1) held the Rams (1-1) to five yards of offense in the first half of a game delayed two hours by lightning.
Osceola got first-half interceptions from Dorian Wright and Amir Davis and fumble recoveries by Dory Thimote and Jason Lewis in the second half to keep the Rams from mounting any comeback, despite Lake Mary quarterback Remy Jarman (12-for-25 passing for 131 yards) leading two scoring drives to pull the Rams within a score.
“We work hard at practice so we can dominate every single play in the game,” said Lewis, who also had 1.5 of Osceola’s five sacks.
Kowboy kicker Brayden Buehler gave Osceola a 3-0 lead midway through the second quarter, atoning for an earlier miss by drilling a 50-yard field goal.
The defense and special teams all had a hand in extending the lead four minutes later. After Davis picked off Jarman and returned it to the Lake Mary 15-yard line, the Kowboys seemed comfortable attempting a 29-yard field goal. Holder Jose Rivera had to get out of his crouch to corral a high snap, stayed up, ran toward the left sideline to get the first down, evaded two Lake Mary tacklers and scored from 12 yards out – for the second week in a row. Buehler's traditional PAT made it a 10-0 Kowboy lead with 4:44 left in the first half.
The Kowboys took the second half kickoff and struck the same kind of lightning that delayed the game. Jevontay Barnett (13 carries, 79 yards) followed his blockers on an inside trap and rumbled 66 yards on the first play, then scored two plays later from the 1.
Lake Mary then mounted a long drive that resulted in a field goal and a shorter one after a shanked punt that led to a T.J. Brundidge two-yard touchdown run that made it 17-9 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
But two more big defensive plays in the fourth quarter, a strip sack by Thimote and then Lewis' fumble recovery on a punt return, sealed the deal for Osceola. Lake Mary got one last shot from its own 20 with 1:52 left, but went backwards and a Jarman pass on fourth-and-27 fell incomplete.
“It’s the first time we’ve beaten Lake Mary in football – ever,” OHS Coach Eric Pinellas said.
That win gives Osceola much momentum heading into next week’s battle royal back home against state power and frequent foe Lakeland (1-1) Friday in a District 5A-6 clash. The Dreadnaughts, who the Kowboys haven’t beaten since doing it twice in 2007 on the way to the Class 5A title game that year, lost Friday to another state power, Venice, 32-25.
