Historic season ends in state semifinal for Warriors

KISSIMMEE  The best season in program history came to an end Friday night for the West Orange Warriors in the FHSAA Class 8A State Semifinals.

The Warriors (12-2) could not overcome a disastrous first half that saw Osceola (13-1) race out to a 28-0 lead behind the strong legs of LaDerrien Wilson, who rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns for the host Kowboys.

West Orange struggled on both sides of the ball in the first half. When the Warriors did seem to get things going with a big play — including a would-be touchdown pass from Woody Barrett to Naquan Renalds when the deficit was 14-0 — it seemed like there was usually a penalty flag lying on the grass, bringing the play back.

"We came out flat and it seemed like we had a hard time getting going," head coach Bob Head said. "Once we got something going, we'd have a setback. Osceola, they came out firing, man. ... Next you thing know it's 14-0 and we started pressing a little bit."

The Warriors did score twice in the second half — on a rush by Barrett and then a pass to McDoom — but never seemed to truly be in contention of making the Kowboys sweat. Osceola, in its first season competing in Class 8A after finishing as state runner-up in Class 7A in 2014, played a methodical and disciplined brand of football that did not afford the Warriors many mistakes to capitalize on.

A silver-lining for Head's program, which has reached new heights in each of his three seasons at the helm, is that it continued pressing despite an overwhelming halftime deficit. The defeat was a crushing to a season supporters of the program thought would persist for another week, but afterward the veteran coach praised his athletes for fighting until the final buzzer sounded.

"There's something about this team, that they have a huge heart and just never quit," Head said. "They just battled to the very end."

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].