The battle between Lake Seminole neighbors goes to Osceola.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published November 6, 2004
SEMINOLE - It was fourth down at his own 45 with 56 seconds left and Devin Collins heaved the last-gasp pass just as a tackler brought him down from behind. Colby Erskin reached down to his feet for the ball, but it was too low, and too far from the first-down marker anyway.
That was Seminole's year in a nutshell: Oh so close, but oh so far.
Osceola held onto a 16-14 non-district decision Friday night at Warhawk Stadium in its second-straight win against its rival across Lake Seminole.
The Warriors (6-3) overcame a deficit, took control with 16 unanswered points in the second and third quarters, then held on as the Warhawks (4-5) missed a field goal and plenty of other shots to win it.
"That's pretty much the way it's been all season," said Seminole coach Sam Roper, whose streak of six consecutive winning seasons is over. A loss in next week's hurricane make-up against Tarpon Springs would drop the Warhawks below .500 for the first time since 1996.
"We were on the ropes in the fourth quarter," said Osceola coach George Palmer, who secured back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in a decade. "They were picking us up, they were driving the football.
"But it's always a big win for us."
It was a back-up quarterback who put the Warhawks on top early. Erskin took Bryant Lumpkin's pass 51 yards to make it 7-0 with 6:59 left in the first. Eight Warrior backs touched the ball Friday, but it was Steve Williams who did the most damage. He rushed for a career-high 105 yards and a 15-yard touchdown with 10:54 left in the second, but a blocked kick left Seminole leading 7-6.
In that quarter, two fourth down conversions - Williams' 9-yard run on fourth-and-1, and Jamie Stock's 16-yard catch on fourth-and-11 - set up Vinny Gianfrancesco's 28-yard field goal to take a 9-7 lead with 4.9 seconds left in the half.
In the third, Collins went back in at quarterback after a doctor cleared the starter to play with a pulled hip flexor. But his first two passes were interceptions, the second Josh Newsome returned 45 yards for a score to make it 16-7 with 9:34 left. Ryan Catanzaro had a 1-yard touchdown run for Seminole with 1:53 left in the third.
But that was it. Collins struggled, going 0-for-6, and the Warriors finally shut down Erskin, who had 97 rushing yards, 148 total. A bad snap and hold turned Tim Forsman's 17-yard field goal try with 5:51 left into a wounded duck, short and wide left. Roper said he never thought about resting Collins again.
"I think what you saw was somebody who hasn't practiced all week," he said. "Once we make a decision, we're not going to be pulling them on and off."
