Whirlwinds destroy Osceola

By Jimmy Gillispie

ARCHIE — A week after a rough second half that resulted in a lopsided loss at Lockwood, the Archie Whirlwinds bounced back in dominating fashion Friday night.

The Whirlwinds crushed Osceola, 72-0, in front of their home crowd. It was their first shutout since Nov. 8, 2024. It was also their eighth-straight win over Osceola.

“I told our boys we did exactly what we needed to do,” Archie coach Drew Smith said. “We came in from the get-go and played with the physicality we expected to and we played well in all facets of the game. We played up to our expectations, and we dominated in the trenches. We ran the ball well and we took care of the ball, too. We did what we needed to do, and I feel like we took a step in the right direction of where we want to go.”

After the 79-40 loss at Lockwood, Smith said his team seemed to handle it well in the locker room. He doubled down on that when asked about practice after the loss.

The only odd thing about last week’s practices was the weather and how it impacted their routine.

“It was a weird week,” Smith said. “Tuesday was our only normal day. We watched a lot of film on Monday, showing them where we can get better. We were honest with them and they responded well. Tuesday, we had a normal practice, but we didn’t have any practice Wednesday because of the heat and then the storms that came through. Thursday’s practice was a walk-through or review day. It was weird, but we still got a lot done.”

Smith said his boys in the trenches had huge games, helping set up the ground attack and shutting down Osceola’s offense. He gave credit to a handful of players.

“Our defensive line did a great job controlling the line,” Smith said. “Peyton Burrous, Caden Baker, Jeffery Lough and Brecklen Marcks all did a great job of dominating the line of scrimmage. 

“Same thing on offense, Peyton Burrous, Brecklen Marcks  Carson Houchen and Rylan Reynolds did a great job of opening up holes for our running backs or anyone to run the ball,” he added. “I think they did a great job.”

Archie (2-1) will travel a few miles down the road to face rival Drexel (1-2) on the road this week. Archie has won the past six games in the series.

“I think Drexel is a young team that is going to continue to get better as the season goes on,” Smith said. “They want to run the ball and they want to be physical. They want to control the tempo and the clock, so we’ve got to be ready for that and we’ve got to show we’ve improved from Lockwood because they run a similar type of offense.”