Osceola’s Strong Second Half Not Enough in 19–13 Heartbreaker Against South Lake

By: J. Daniel Pearson
Positively Osceola

In a battle of two evenly matched fighters, South Lake (11-1) brought Osceola’s (7-5) football season to an end on Friday night with a gut-wrenching 19-13 win over the Kowboys.

Osceola went into the second half tied 13-13 and dominated most of the second half. But after driving the ball deep inside Eagles territory on all four second half possessions, the Kowboys failed to put the ball in the end zone.

At the end of the day, two big plays made the difference. First, South Lake took over on their own 13 and went on a time-consuming 20-play drive – taking a 19-13 lead on Tre Kelly’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Pina with just 4:26 second remaining in the game.

Osceola would try to rally back.

Alijah Jenkins broke off a 27-yard run and a couple of big first down runs by Jeffrey Sinophat gave the Kowboys a first and 10 on South Lake 32. But three straight runs gained just over six yards and on a fourth and long three, Sinophat was stood up one yard short of a first down. South Lake took over on downs and took a knee three times to run out the clock.

“One play does not win or lose a game,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said. “But we had the right call on and we missed one block. Had we made it, we are in the red zone with plenty of time to score.”

It was one of just four frustrating drives for the Kowboys in the second half.

On its first possession of the third, a promising go-ahead drive ended when Amaree Rutland was intercepted in the South Lake end zone. A second drive fizzled out on the South Lake 4, when a 4^th down Rutland scramble came up one yard short of a first down. Osceola’s next possession went deep into Eagles territory, only to see a 34-yard Jenkins’ touchdown run nullified by a holding penalty. Osceola would be forced to punt one play later.

Those missed opportunities were almost a theme for the night. Overall, Osceola forced and recovered two fumbles and sacked South Lake punter Chris McKenna deep in his own territory twice on poor snaps from center. Despite getting the ball in plus-territory all four times, Osceola could manage just seven points off the miscues.

The first half was played to a draw.

South Lake jumped out to a 7-0 lead on their second possession, driving 56 yards and scoring on a two-yard run by Kelly. The key play of the drive came when a potential Osceola interception on third down bounced off the defenders shoulder pads and Pina hauled it in on the goal line to set up the short TD run.

Osceola countered on its next possession, as a pass play from Amaree Rutland to Ja’mario Bradford went for 28 yards and big runs Jeffrey Sinophat (13 yards) and Rutland (16 yards) gave Osceola a first and goal from the four as the first quarter expired. Sinophat would carry it in on the next play to knot the game at 7-7.

The Kowboys defense then forced a fumble and seven plays later Jaxson Hardnett ran it from the 11 for a 13-7 lead.

But Kelly would tie it up at halftime, taking the Eagles 60 yards on eight plays – hitting Pina on a slant for the game tying touchdown from 30 yards out in the final minute of the period.

Statistically the game was a dead heat. Osceola, led by the rushing of Sinophat (19-92), Jenkins (6-43) and Hardnett (10-48), gained 262 yards of total offense on 51 plays. South Lake, led by Kelly’s 201 total yards and three touchdowns responsible for, had 300 total yards on 56 plays. Both defenses played well.

“Because we were so banged up heading into this game, my only real goal was to have these kids play their hearts out and leave everything on the field,” Pinellas said. “We definitely got that effort tonight. This group of seniors are very special to me. Jakyri (Watson), Alijah (Jenkins), Jeffrey (Sinophat), Marcus (Ferrer) and the rest of them. They have been around our program since they were little kids and they have meant so much to our program.”

The group of 20 seniors, who year-in and year-out faced one of the toughest schedules in the state, finished with a 33-19 record, four district championships, an elite 8 appearance, a regional title and a state runner-up finish.

Score by Quarters

Osceola 0 13 0 0 –13

South Lake 7 6 0 6 –19

SL: Tre Kelly 2 run (Chris McKenna kick)

O: Jeffrey Sinophat 4 run (Euliser Escalante kick)

O: Jaxson Hardnett 11 run (Kick failed)

SL: Isaiah Prime 30 pass from Kelly (Kick failed)

SL: Prime 14 pass from Kelly (Kick Failed)

Passing

South Lake: Kelly (25-19-0, 177 yds., 2 TD)

Osceola: Rutland (3-9-1, 43 yds., 0 TD)

Rushing