Osceola will play for a state championship.
The Kowboys built a huge first half lead and then withstood a furious second half rally to defeat Buchholz, 41-35, and will now play for the FHSAA Class 6A State Championship. Osceola, 12-2 and winners of eight straight, will face undefeated West Bocca (14-0) at FIU’s Pitbull Statium at 12:30 p.m. Friday. West Boca edged Southridge, 14-11 in the other semifinal game.
“This was a crazy game,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said. “I told our players all week we were going to see some adversity tonight. We did in the second half, didn’t flinch and we met it head on.”
Despite seeing his team give up 389 yards and five passing touchdowns by Trace Johnson, Pinellas had nothing but praise for his defense after their second straight playoff road win. “Buchholz has some great skill players and they were able to move the ball through the air,” he said. “But when we had to have them, our defense made big play after big play and we shut them down when it counted.”
The stars and the big plays on the defensive side of the ball were numerous.
Osceola scored 10 points off a Nathaniel Barnett fumble recovery and interception. Auburn commit Elijah Melendez stopped a drive with a 96-yard pick six and Robert Lee halted a potential go-ahead drive with an interception. During all that, Osceola came up with five huge sacks, three of which also halted drives.
Osceola’s offense was pretty good too. Behind Taevion Swint’s 178 yards on 18 carries, the Kowboys racked up 300 yards of total yards and never trailed after the first period.
It was a quick start of the Kowboys offense, as Swint followed his own 50-yard return on the opening kickoff with a 43-yard run to the Buchholz six. He would score one play later to make it 6-0. Johnson would open the Buchholz first possession with 13 straight passes — hitting the last one from two-yards out to Keil McGriff for their only lead of the game, 7-6.
Osceola would absolutely control the rest of the half.
West capped a drive with 21-yard touchdown run,. After a completion on the next series, Barnett would rip the ball out of DJ Hicks hands and return the fumble to the Bobcat 5. Jeff Sinophat would carry it over and a Swint conversion made it 21-7. Barnett intercepted Johnson on the next series to lead to an Adrian Gonzalez 45-yard field goal made it 24-7. Osceola would up the lead after another defensive stop, with Sinophat making it 31-7 on a 12-yard touchdown run.
Another Gonzalez field goal upped it to 34-7 before Johnson’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Justin Williams cut it to a 20-point deficit at halftime,
A few questionable calls that went against Osceola and Johnson’s big arm made it a wild a second half.
On Osceola’s second possession of the half. a high snap led to a blocked punt. On the first play, Johnson fired a 27-yard pass to Williams and the lead was cut to 13, 34-21. Buchholz woulds sniff the Kowboys goal line on its next possession, but senior Elijah Melendez stepped in front of a Johnson pass and raced 94 yards with the interception to put Osceola three scores ahead, 41-21.
But there was no quit in Johnson or Buchholz. A long kickoff return set up a 6-yard scoring pass from Johnson to Hicks. Another stop and an 18-yard scoring pass from Johnson to Williams made it a 41-35 game with seven minutes to go.
Osceola’s defense would then save the day. In the waning moments, Buchholz would get two cracks to steal a victory.
Lee’s interception stopped one Buchholz drive. After a three-and-out, the Bobcats would get one more chance for the win. Starting on his own 30, two quick passes by Johnson moved the ball to their own 46. But an intentional grounding penalty cost them 15 yards and a loss of down and on second and 25, the Kowboys defense came up with a huge sack. With time running down, Johnson would hit Williams on a 20-yard completion to set up a fourth and 11. Osceola’s front four brought the heat and Johnson’s pass sailed over Williams head for a turnover on downs.
West would take two knees and the game would end.
“It probably should have never been that close,” Pinellas added. “I felt a blatant face mask penalty (on Elijah Hickson) was missed and then the holding call on Taevion Swint’s touchdown run (56 yards) was called back for a hold, After he was already past the defense, a Buchholz player pulled one our guys on top of him and got a holding a call, But those things are going to happen and despite the calls, we made the plays when we needed to,”
For the contest, Johnson completed 34 of 48 passes for 389 yards. Williams caught eight for 146 and three touchdowns; McGriff –whose father Travis played for Orlando Predators (Arena Football League) — caught 15 for 151 yards,
“I love this team,” Swint said after the game. “These guys work so hard and just bring it every play. “It’s never and “I” with this group, it’s a “We” and now we are going to play for a state championship. We’re going to Miami….baby.”
“For as proud as I am of these guys, I’m going to enjoy this one for the bus ride home and that’s it,” Pinellas said. “The big one is next week,.” The Kowboys will attempt to win their second state championship in school history.
Osceola won a state championship in 1998, but dropped championship games in 2007, 2014, 2015, and 2020, “I remember every one of those losses by heart,” Pinellas said. “We need to turn that around next week. We have one more Monday to get ready.”
Osceola. 6 28. 7 0–41
Buchholz. 7. 7. 7. 14–35
O: Taevion Swint 1 run (kick failed)
B: Keil McGriff 2 pass from Trace Johnson (Jay Giunta kick)
O: Camren West 21 run (Swint run)
O: Jeff Sinophat 5 run (Adrian Gonzales kick)
O: Gonzales 45 FG
O: Sinophat 12 run (Gonzalez kick)
B: Justin Williams 42 pass from Johnson (Giunta kick)
O: Gonzales 37 FG
B: Williams 27 pass from Johnson (Giunta kick)
O: Melendez 94 interception return (Gonzalez kick)
B: DJ Hicks 6 pass from Johnson (Giunta Kick)
B: Williams 18 pass from Johnson (Giunta kick)
