By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
Two of Osceola County’s most productive offenses meet Friday at 7:30 p.m. when 7A District 6 leader Osceola visits Liberty. Osceola, 6-1 and 3-0, can clinch a playoff berth with a victory, while Liberty, 2-6 and 2-1, can tie for the district lead by winning.
“It’s a big game. We’ve got to be up for the challenge,” Liberty Coach David Benson said.
The game also marks a homecoming for Osceola High Coach Doug Nichols, who was Liberty’s coach for its first three seasons, from 2007-09, before taking the OHS job.
Both Benson and Nichols said that most of the players Nichols coached at Liberty have graduated, so that is minor feature of the game.
“The ideal time for this would have been next year, because all of those guys would be gone,” Nichols said. “The seniors there were sophomores my last year, so I definitely know some of their players. They are a talented group, and Coach Benson has done a great job with them.”
The Kowboys come off a 42-6 win at Harmony last week that wasn’t as easy as it looked. OHS led by only eight, 14-6, in the third quarter before big plays from running backs Stafon McCray, Devantae Small and Dwight Fagan broke the game open. Small, who gained a career-high 150 yards, scored three touchdowns, including one from 82 yards. McCray, the county’s leading rusher (867 yards), had 193 of the Kowboys 369 rushing yards. Fagan scored on two touchdown runs.
The Kowboys average over 260 yards rushing behind a formidable offensive line that has found success against all opponents except Palm Bay, which handed OHS its only loss, 10-0, last month.
Benson said the key to beating the Kowboys is to shut down that running game, but ….
“Everybody says that. They’ve all seen the tape, but nobody’s been able to do it,” Benson said. “Their offensive line does a great job of creating holes, and they have ridiculous speed. They are a typical Osceola team, a lot of talent and well-coached. That’s why Osceola has been one of the premier programs in Central Florida for a number of years.”
Nichols sees an explosive Liberty offense that averages over 30 points per game and boasts the county’s leading passer in sophomore Terrell Bonds (1,418 yards, 13 TDs). Bonds threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns against St. Cloud during a 44-26 loss last week.
Bobby Jones, who rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns at St. Cloud, is one of the county’s best inside the 10-yard line, scoring nine touchdowns.
The Chargers lost their premier breakaway threat, junior running back Jalen Benn, to a knee injury last month. Senior Dario Bennett, who rushed for 70 yards last week, can fill the speed back role.
“They have good, athletic running backs, and their receivers do a nice job. The quarterback has been impressive all season,” Nichols said. “Nobody has really stopped them all year.”
Liberty’s problems surface defensively, where it has yielded too many big plays and surrenders almost 33 points per game.
“We haven’t been consistent enough,” Benson said. “It’s not that the guys haven’t been trying, but if only one guy messes up, that’s all it takes.”
The Chargers also had two special teams errors last week that led to 10 St. Cloud points. Liberty had just 10 defenders on the field when St. Cloud’s Travon Williams scored on a 41-yard run.
“We’ve got some young guys who are coming along, but we have to do a better job if we expect to beat a team like Osceola,” Benson said.
Osceola’s defense, on the other hand, has been strong all season, yielding 11.9 points per game.
Should the Kowboys win Friday, the worst they can do is to tie for the district championship. They can clinch the championship if Gateway loses to Harmony Friday. Gateway can win the title by beating Harmony and then Osceola. Under that scenario, Gateway wins the championship based on the head-to-head victory.
A Liberty win Friday boosts it into a tie for first place and gives the Chargers an opportunity to win the title.