OHS hosts Gateway; in regionals Nov. 18

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

For the first time since 2007, the Osceola Kowboys are the district football champions after a resounding 50-21 win at Liberty last week.

Combined with Harmony’s victory over Gateway, the Kowboys, 7-1 and 4-0, clinched the title.

Osceola hosts Gateway Friday at 7:30 p.m. for Senior Night.

“The guys are playing well,” Coach Doug Nichols said. “We turned the ball over a couple of times, but then special teams made a couple of big plays and we got on a roll.”

The Kowboys led 34-0 at the half and 50-7 after three periods as OHS continued its domination of 5A-6. The Kowboys have beaten each district opponent by at least two touchdowns.

Kowboys quarterback Kieron Williams ran 1, 16 and 11 yards for three touchdowns and Stafon McCray (12-106, 2 TDs), the county’s leading rusher (973 yards, 10 TDs), scored on runs of 29 and 2 yards. Scooter Fagan scored the Kowboys’ final touchdown on a 59-yard sprint. Fagan gained 116 yards on two carries. The Kowboys also scored on two safeties.

Osceola rushed for 360 yards, far over their season average of 277 yards and 34.5 points per game.

“The offensive line has played great all season. They’ve seen three-man, four-man, five-man and sometimes six-man fronts, and they’ve blocked them all. It’s a testament to them that they keep doing it week after week,” Nichols said. “Kieron played well again and the backs all ran hard. It was a good all-around team effort.”

The Chargers scored twice in the fourth quarter as the Kowboys used their bench.

Liberty averaged over 30 points entering the game, but the Kowboys held the Chargers to just 166 net yards.

“The defense played great. They’ve been averaging giving up 11 or 12 points (actually, 13) a game and they did a good job again,” Nichols said.

Linebacker Akim Francis, the Kowboys leading tackler with 78, had nine tackles, two for a loss.

With two games remaining, Nichols said Osceola isn’t changing anything.

“We’ve got an opportunity to go 9-1. I think that is a huge difference from 8-2, so we’re going to keep on doing what we’ve been doing,” he said.

Osceola visits South Lake next Thursday for the regular season finale. The Kowboys will host the 5A-7 runner up, either Lakeland or Ridge Community, Nov. 18 in the regional quarterfinal.

Gateway Coach Marlin Roberts saw his team lose a 14-7 halftime lead when Harmony struck quickly for three touchdowns in the third period.

Michael Sanchez returned a kickoff 87 yards for Harmony to tie the score, then the Longhorns executed an onside kick, recovered, and scored to take the lead.

Gateway’s Zach Smith scored on runs of 4 and 30 yards and Anthony Rodriguez (13-22-203, 2 TDs) threw 25 yards to David Jerome and 9 yards to Aaron Roman for scores. Javonny Vega ran 2 yards for the Panthers’ other touchdown.

“We never quit, and I liked that. But, yeah, it was a difficult loss for us,” Roberts said. “We’re staying optimistic over here. We’ll have to reach down deep in our bag of tricks to see what we can pull out.”

The Panthers, 5-4 and 2-2, can post their first winning record since 2004 with a win Friday, but Roberts said that will be a formidable challenge. Aside from a forfeit 15 years ago, Gateway hasn’t beaten OHS since 1988.

“The thing about Osceola is that they do what they always do. They just come after you with that big offensive line and make you stop them,” he said. “They look like a college team.”

Should Gateway win, it could be in a playoff Monday for the district runner-up spot with Harmony and Liberty.

If St. Cloud beats Harmony Friday and Gateway loses, the Bulldogs are the district runners-up.

This is the fifth consecutive season that Osceola has made the playoffs.