Rivalry Re-scheduled; Osceola-St. Cloud moves to Sept. 27

County football fans will have to wait exactly one month for the annual Osceola-St. Cloud game.

Scheduled for Friday, it’s been postponed to Monday, Sept. 27 due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocols with the St. Cloud program. At least one player has tested positive, and enough Bulldogs are being held out of practice as a precaution to limit the number of players who would be available Friday.

While the game has been lopsided of late — Osceola has defeated St. Cloud on the field every year since 2010 — both sides said the game’s still important enough to postpone and play for the 98th time rather than cancel. Osceola leads the all-time series 66-27-4.

“This game still means a lot,” Osceola Head Coach Eric Pinellas said. “I played in this game and I understand what it means to the community. I think our kids have some understanding of the history, too.”

St. Cloud will be coming off their bye week, on Sept. 27, while Osceola plays at Bradenton Manatee, St. Cloud and Windermere, a District 6A-9 game, in eight days.

Pinellas said that it might be a blessing to have an open date now prior to a game at perennial Brevard power Cocoa. In the Kowboys’ 28-0 Kickoff Classic win over Lake Nona last week, at least two of OHS’ young offensive lineman sustained or worsened injuries that would have made them questionable for Friday. But it didn’t overshadow a solid performance.

“Other than a couple of times when we got careless with the ball, I thought it was a good performance,” Pinellas said. “We created some pressure on defense, we made some chunk yardage on offense and with five new starters on the offensive line, I thought they held up well.”

Quarterback Chad Mascoe finished 9-of-14 passing for 187 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for a team-high 86 yards on eight carries. Ja’Randy Swint rushed for 65 yards on 12 carries; C.J. Walls had 47 on six carries and a score.  

The Kowboys will use a no-huddle offense this year and that proved effective against the Lions.

“We did not run plays as fast as we might this year, but I liked the pace,” Pinellas said.  “It’s an advantage for us to get to the line quickly and led Chad look over the defense.”

Led by junior tackles Derrick LeBlanc and John Walker, the Kowboys defense pitched a shutout and recorded five sacks. They created one turnover but had several other opportunities for interceptions.

“That pressure will be a key this season,” Pinellas said. “It makes things a lot easier for our secondary because they do not have to cover a long time.”

St. Cloud’s Kickoff Classic didn’t go as well, a 46-30 loss to Celebration. There were bright spots — A.J. Negron took a sweep right and went 68 yards for a touchdown on the Bulldogs’ first offensive play, fellow back Brandon Neer and quarterback Jaden Morehead, who split time with Logan King behind center, scored on 8-yard runs, and Jolaney Quinones added an 85-yard kickoff return touchdown.

But Coach Bryan Smart said despite doing “some nice things,” the Bulldogs left Celebration with “a lot of work to do,” and then the COVID-19 protocol cut deep into practice.

“We were looking forward to it,” Smart said of the Osceola challenge. “A great opportunity to measure up against a great team. We’ve got a lot of young kids who haven’t had that experience. I want to thank Osceola for working with us to reschedule a game we’re all excited to play.” 

St. Cloud is now slated to open the regular season Sept. 3 hosting Liberty.

This is the third football game affected by COVID-19 already in Osceola County. Gateway’s Kickoff Classic against Lake Buena Vista was canceled last week and game at Celebration moved from Friday to Saturday this week.

Editor Ken Jackson contributed to this story.