Playing big game against ranked opponents have become the norm for Osceola High and nothing changes this week when the Kowboys (1-0) hit the road Friday night against the Lake Mary Rams (1-0).
By: J. Daniel Pearson
For Positively Osceola
Osceola got off to a good start last week, beating a solid Treasure Coast team, 21-7, in a game that was delayed more than two hours by lightning. When it finally began, Osceola used its stout running game (just under 300 yards rushing) and a stingy defense (31 total yards allowed), to beat the Titans – a team that easily handled the Kowboys twice in the 2023 season.
Things will get tougher this week.
The Rams come into the contest with a 1-0 mark, having defeated Ft. Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, 49-20, in its opener. Lake Mary is currently the second-ranked team in the Class 7A MaxPreps ranking, and is led by junior quarterback Noah Grubbs (Notre Dame commit) and senior running back Isaiah Thomas. Grubbs threw two touchdowns against Cardinal Gibbons on an 11 for 16 for 162 yard night; while Thomas rushed for 149 yards on 19 carries. Gavin Isaacs added 75 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries for the Rams.
“Absolutely going to be a test and a challenge,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said. “We are going to have to contain Grubbs. He’s so good at getting the ball out of his hands quickly and accurately with a short passing game. Obviously they are a really talented all-around team. We are going to need to run the ball effectively, move the chains and limit their opportunities offensively.”
With its own solid running game, Osceola managed to do that against Treasure Coast, picking up 22 first downs and holding the ball for the majority of the game – including 18 of 24 minutes in the second half.
Positively Osceola’s featured game on Week 2 is Poinciana at Harmony. Under first-year head coach Taron Mallard, the Eagles defeated Celebration, 34-14, in its opener. Eagle quarterback Cameron Brown threw for 237 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 173 yards and two more scores on 13 carries in leading Poinciana to the win.
“We have a competitive group of kids that continue to shock me with their willingness to learn, work hard and play together,” Poinciana coach Taron Mallard said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to continue our explosive play on offense, but we know Harmony is really good defensively. It should be an outstanding matchup.”
Harmony dropped a 21-3 decision to Windermere on Friday. Head coach Nick Lippert said his team did so some good things offensively but “continued to shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties and mistakes.”
On the bright side, sophomore kicker Brayden Buehler set a school record by booting a 53-yard field goal for the Longhorns. Buehler is most recent of a long-line of outstanding kickers from Harmony under the tutelage of Longhorns assistant coach and former Lou Groza Award winner Joe Allison.
Tohopekaliga (1-0) avenged a loss to Melbourne last with a 14-7 road win in its opener. Junior quarterback Sabby Meassick threw for 271 yards (29 of 39), including touchdown passes to freshman Tony Brown and Emauel Theagene. Junior Tre Punter had a big night with 146 yards on 10 receptions; while Jaxson Hardnett led the Tigers with 85 rushing yards.
Tohopekaliga will face Lyman, a 27-0 winner over Lake Brantley, in its home opener Friday night.
“Our players and assistant coaches did a great job in our opener,” Tohopekaliga head coach Anthony Paradiso said. “We made some mistakes that definitely kept us from scoring more but that is going to happen when you are playing as many young players as we are. Our defense did a great job – we didn’t lose the shutout until the final 50 seconds of the game. Lyman is going to be another challenge for us, but so our most teams on our schedule. At the end of the day, we will play hard regardless of the talent level of our opponent.”
St. Cloud (1-0) opened its season with a 27-0 win over Freedom; in a game that was ended with five minutes remaining in the second quarter due to lightning. “We were willing to ride out the delay but Freedom was schedule to play and out-of-state game in Colorado on Thursday,” St. Cloud head coach Mike Short said. “Because of that it was mutually agreed the game would not be restarted.”
Despite only getting less than two quarters of play in against Freedom, Short said he was pleased with his team’s performance in all three aspects of the game. “We moved the ball well on offense, our defense got a pick six and our special teams set up two of our four touchdowns. We obviously would have liked to get more work in, but the weather took that out of our hands.”
The Bulldogs, who have now won seven straight games dating back to last year and 16 of 22 under Short, will be favored this week in a road game against Pine Ridge (0-0).
Celebration (0-1) will look for its first win of the year host Winter Springs (1-0), which defeated Atlantic in its opener last week, 28-7. In the Poinciana loss, Storm quarterback Landon Yaw threw for two touchdowns – including a school-record 94-yard pass to Sean Nuzzi.
In other action, Gateway (0-1) will travel to Astronaut (1-0) and Liberty (0-1) will at Ambassador Christian Academy (0-1).
