Perhaps it was a good omen that Osceola led DeLand at halftime despite giving up 264 yards of total offense and allowing three touchdowns on their first four possessions. But the Kowboys still needed a stellar second half performance from its defense to escape with a 30-28 win and advance to next Friday Class 4S regional semifinal game against Treasure Coast.
“We had to light a fire under our defense at halftime,” OHS Coach Eric Pinellas said. “We had a bunch of silly penalties, we were not playing very good assignment football and we were way too passive by not setting an edge. I simply told them they needed to start playing aggressive football or we would be collecting the uniforms tomorrow morning and saying our goodbyes.”
After Osceola jumped out in front 7-0 on its first possession with a Taevion Swint 56-yard touchdown run, DeLand would control the ball, the tempo and the line of scrimmage the rest of the half. Tyron Moore would score on a couple of touchdown runs and Devon Ross would haul in a 53-yard scoring pass.
Still, the Kowboys were able to counter punch with a 54-yard scoring pass from Gunner Holland to Bo Mascoe, and Elijah Jenkins returned a kickoff 99 yards for a score as Osceola stayed close. After another Bulldogs late in the second quarter put Deland up 21-20, Jenkins would strike again with a 75-yard kickoff return to set up a 28-yard field goal by Devin Calhoun, as Osceola took a 23-21 into the locker room.
“We had a great game plan on offense and we executed it in the first half,” Deland Coach Rick Darlington said. “But those kickoff returns were killers, accounted for 10 points and put us in a hole at half. We had our opportunities in the second half but simply could not punch the ball in. Give Osceola a ton of credit, they are a great football team and deserve to move on.”
Although the Kowboys were playing the entire game without first-team All-State defensive tackle Derrick LeBlanc (shoulder injury), it was Osceola’s defense that ultimately won the game. The Kowboys limited DeLand to less than 100 yards of total offense in the second half – coming up with an interception and two red zone stops.
Swint’s 87-yard run at the end of the third quarter was followed by his 1-yard touchdown run as Osceola built a 30-21 lead. The game appeared over when the Kowboys smothered Moore on a 4th-and-goal from the 4 and took over with 2:11 to go. With only one DeLand timeout left, Osceola ran the ball three times up the middle for no gain as the clock ticked below one minute. After taking a delay of game, the Kowboys barely got a punt off. Bulldogs quarterback T.J. Moore needed just one play to hit Ross on a 30-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 30-28 with 16 seconds remaining.
From there, the game would have a surreal finish as Deland ended up with four chances to convert an on-sides kick and try for a miracle finish. On the first attempt, they were called for an off-sides penalty. “Since the kick did not go 10 yards, I thought we could decline it and take the ball,” Pinellas said. “But they told me that was not an option. From there, I can’t believe they ended up getting three more chances.” The second attempt resulted in a do-over because of an inadvertent referee’s whistle. On the third attempt, Deland did recover but was flagged for both an illegal formation and an illegal block on the play. Osceola would finally recover the fourth attempt and end the game.”
For the contest, Deland outgained Osceola, 355-259. They kept the ball for just over 36 of the 48 minutes.
Swint finished the game with 170 yards rushing and two scores, Jenkins had 174 yards on two kickoff returns and the Kowboys defense forced two interceptions.
The next opponent, Treasure Coast, qualified for the playoffs despite a 3-6 record. They advanced with a 35-8 win over Martin County.
The game represents a rematch of the opening game of the season when Osceola slipped by with a 14-5 win.
“You can’t read too much into that game, they obviously are a better team than they were at the beginning of the season,” Pinellas said about the Titans. “They run the same offense DeLand does, so we definitely going to have a challenge on our hands.”
