OHS KOWBOYS 20 - DURANT COUGARS 15

[Ray Icaza]

As the saying goes, "Survive and Advance".  Definitely not one of our better performances as again self-inflicted wounds, mostly penalties on both sides of the ball almost did us in.   We had probably 3 or so chunk plays of 50+ yards called back for holding including one for a TD that really took the wind out of our sails as you could see it had an effect on the players as they were definitely frustrated at every turn.  Don't want to sound like a broken record, but again this team as most got nothing in the run game and did their damage thru the air with one of their TD drives aided by a facemask penalty where 3 of our DL where sacking their QB only to have one of them flagged for 15 yards on a facemask that was unnecessary.  Yet, they prevented a good inside run reaching out jerking our RB around with a hard facemask penalty only to have it ruled the 5 yard variety which ended up being irrelevant on that drive.  It is what it is and they did game plan for some trick plays to pull out all stops to move the ball.  However, their HC has to be kicking himself now as with a 15-14 lead with about 2 minutes left in the game he lined up for a punt on 4th and 3 to change possession.  Instead, he gambled with the game on the line and faked the punt which we stopped short of the line to gain and they turned it over on downs to us on about the 25 yard line.  We managed a short drive leaving 40 or so seconds on the clock scoring the go ahead TD and that was the ballgame.  Injuries for us certainly continues to be a factor as we played most of the night without a single starter in the secondary but hoping to get a couple back next week.  Time will tell. 

[nolebull813]

Survive and Advance!!!!!!

[nolebull813]

@Beek vs @Ray Icaza 

winner heads to Armwood!! I might be in Tampa that weekend visiting family so I’m definitely gonna hit it up. 

[Ray Icaza]

13 minutes ago, nolebull813 said:

@Beek vs @Ray Icaza 

winner heads to Armwood!! I might be in Tampa that weekend visiting family so I’m definitely gonna hit it up. 

Have to be honest about it, this is a pretty weak region outside of Armwood as I do believe they are in the driver's seat.  Our results haven't been great, but at least we have played a pretty challenging schedule as LAZ clearly showed we are ranked #1 in SOS among the 8 playoff teams in our region.  No benefit playing a super weak schedule as clearly Dillard after tonight is the poster child for that as I hoped I was wrong but warned him about over hype on wins against nobody's, ending up 10-0 and exiting with a whimper in the first round. 

[MarkECannon]

1 hour ago, Ray Icaza said:

As the saying goes, "Survive and Advance".  Definitely not one of our better performances as again self-inflicted wounds, mostly penalties on both sides of the ball almost did us in.   We had probably 3 or so chunk plays of 50+ yards called back for holding including one for a TD that really took the wind out of our sails as you could see it had an effect on the players as they were definitely frustrated at every turn.  Don't want to sound like a broken record, but again this team as most got nothing in the run game and did their damage thru the air with one of their TD drives aided by a facemask penalty where 3 of our DL where sacking their QB only to have one of them flagged for 15 yards on a facemask that was unnecessary.  Yet, they prevented a good inside run reaching out jerking our RB around with a hard facemask penalty only to have it ruled the 5 yard variety which ended up being irrelevant on that drive.  It is what it is and they did game plan for some trick plays to pull out all stops to move the ball.  However, their HC has to be kicking himself now as with a 15-14 lead with about 2 minutes left in the game he lined up for a punt on 4th and 3 to change possession.  Instead, he gambled with the game on the line and faked the punt which we stopped short of the line to gain and they turned it over on downs to us on about the 25 yard line.  We managed a short drive leaving 40 or so seconds on the clock scoring the go ahead TD and that was the ballgame.  Injuries for us certainly continues to be a factor as we played most of the night without a single starter in the secondary but hoping to get a couple back next week.  Time will tell. 

Ray, I used to live in the Durant district so I am good friends with a family that has 2 sons that play for the Cougars.  The father kept me abreast via text the entire game.  They were very happy that they were ahead in the 4th quarter.  They love their head coach but they are seriously questioning the coach’s fake punt call.  When Durant found out they were going to have play the Kowboys in the playoffs again they weren’t too happy about it.  Then to have the game to go so well for them only to lose that way is hard for them to swallow.

Congratulations to your Kowboys!

[Ray Icaza]

11 minutes ago, MarkECannon said:

Ray, I used to live in the Durant district so I am good friends with a family that has 2 sons that play for the Cougars.  The father kept me abreast via text the entire game.  They were very happy that they were ahead in the 4th quarter.  They love their head coach but they are seriously questioning the coach’s fake punt call.  When Durant found out they were going to have play the Kowboys in the playoffs again they weren’t too happy about it.  Then to have the game to go so well for them only to lose that way is hard for them to swallow.

Congratulations to your Kowboys!

Props to them, especially their QB who managed to make throws continually under duress to move the chains thru the air mostly on short completions.  No question we had the better team, just not executing at the level we are capable of for a variety of reasons so if we would have lost it would have been hard for us to swallow as well.  We have run out of time to correct those mistakes but still have a good shot of winning the semifinal matchup with South Lake as the region is weak outside of Armwood.  Not disrespect intended for South Lake or other playoff teams in this region, just an old timer's view. 

[Beek]

9 hours ago, nolebull813 said:

Survive and Advance!!!!!!

That is exactly what South Lake did on the scoreboard. The stats tell a quite different story. Here are a few

Tre Kelly 230 Yards passing (2 td's) 69 rushing (1 td)

Malik Holman 258 Yards Rushing on 37 carries 6.97 / carry. This was a hard fought down hill battle. 

Isaiah Pena 5 for 136 receiving

South Lake put up 595 yards in offense but struggled in the red zone, mostly self inflicted, penalties and our lone fumble, was a great strip on their part. Thank god we have a kicker, Even with 1 field goal blocked, he hit from 32, 42 and 44

This was a defensive game with regulation ending in a 15-15 tie. 3 overtimes later, South Lake having the last possession of the 3rd overtime. We decided to go for it all after Plant went offsides on our extra point attempt. Malik Holeman took a direct snap and walked in for the game winning 2 point conversion. First home playoff win for us since 1995, (so I was told)

Ray, I always wanted to line up against the Kowboys when I was at Poinciana, but was never able to have that opportunity. This should be a good matchup next Friday night. Cant wait to sit and talk for a few minutes before the game if I can find you. Coming to South Lake has been one of the best decisions for me even after being the head coach at Poinciana for 5 years and 10 years invested in the program. South Lake is (17-5) since I have been there for 2 years, also 2 playoff berths.  Working with this staff is incredible. Coach Lord has really put together some great minds and coaches to make this turn around at South Lake. 

As to your comment that South Lake is weak, no offense taken. We love that people look over and through us. The lack of respect in some of the media as well. I have been around a lot of football and this team is special. We will see how the cards fall. 

[Ray Icaza]

3 hours ago, Beek said:

That is exactly what South Lake did on the scoreboard. The stats tell a quite different story. Here are a few

Tre Kelly 230 Yards passing (2 td's) 69 rushing (1 td)

Malik Holman 258 Yards Rushing on 37 carries 6.97 / carry. This was a hard fought down hill battle. 

Isaiah Pena 5 for 136 receiving

South Lake put up 595 yards in offense but struggled in the red zone, mostly self inflicted, penalties and our lone fumble, was a great strip on their part. Thank god we have a kicker, Even with 1 field goal blocked, he hit from 32, 42 and 44

This was a defensive game with regulation ending in a 15-15 tie. 3 overtimes later, South Lake having the last possession of the 3rd overtime. We decided to go for it all after Plant went offsides on our extra point attempt. Malik Holeman took a direct snap and walked in for the game winning 2 point conversion. First home playoff win for us since 1995, (so I was told)

Ray, I always wanted to line up against the Kowboys when I was at Poinciana, but was never able to have that opportunity. This should be a good matchup next Friday night. Cant wait to sit and talk for a few minutes before the game if I can find you. Coming to South Lake has been one of the best decisions for me even after being the head coach at Poinciana for 5 years and 10 years invested in the program. South Lake is (17-5) since I have been there for 2 years, also 2 playoff berths.  Working with this staff is incredible. Coach Lord has really put together some great minds and coaches to make this turn around at South Lake. 

As to your comment that South Lake is weak, no offense taken. We love that people look over and through us. The lack of respect in some of the media as well. I have been around a lot of football and this team is special. We will see how the cards fall. 

Congrats on your win and glad you are happy coaching there.  Would love to give you a hug prior to kickoff, so will see how early we arrive to be able to make that happen.  Again, perspective is everything and when I said WEAK, I clearly was talking about the entire Region with the exception of Armwood.  6A R1 for example is stacked with several teams that have a chance to go deep in the playoffs, though not necessarily winning it all.  Some folks were riding the Evans bandwagon after beating Jones and I advised caution as they are inconsistent as proven last night with an early exit.  Exhibit #2 in our Region is a #7 seed taking a #2 seed into triple OT before losing an away game after a 2 hour bus ride. Lastly, my team struggled with what should have been a 2 to 3 score game before escaping against an inferior team.  So, next Friday will be a crap shoot as to who emerges with that victory which will be their final hurrah before the Regional final.   What I can predict is you won't get 200 yards rushing against us, so best prepare to throw a lot just like other teams have to move the football as that is no secret.   Good luck to you and your Eagles team and GO KOWBOYS!!

[Beek]

I know you weren't singling us out.  This will be a big ground battle for sure. 

Going by purely stats, yours through 10 games and ours through 11 because thats easy to calculate

rushing 10 vs 11  osceola 334 for 2251 yds

                           south lake 347 for 2306 yds

Granted the strength of schedule isnt the same, but tendencies and stats show we should be roughly even with a slight edge for osceola, statistically on the ground

Passing 10 vs 11  osceola 49/94 for  798yds

                           south lake 135/224 for 2153 yds

Statistically that shows that we can pass the ball a bit better and are built for a even attack air vs ground. We do have a P4 commit and a 1000 yard Wr with d1 offers , and a 3 year starter QB.  So hopefully we can overcome the strength of schedule disparity. 

But to that, we have to play our district. 4 of the 6 teams we scheduled outside of out district were in the playoffs and the 2 who didnt make the playoffs this year were in them last year. So this wasnt a feel good cupcake schedule for wins.