The Odessa High football team jumped back into the real thing on Saturday.
For the first time this fall, the Bronchos had a chance to go full speed. For the first time since the spring, they had the chance to gear all the way up and tackle all the way to the ground.
And for the first time in some time, they had the chance to face on-field adversity — and for the first time in a while, to overcome it.
Odessa High suited up for an 11-on-11 scrimmage during Saturday’s practice on Coleman Field, with the offense pitted against the defense for a series of drives during the workout.
In the scrimmage, the Bronchos relished their chance to move up and down the field in game-like scenarios that await them in their upcoming scrimmage with El Paso Montwood on Aug. 25, and their season opener, set for Aug. 31, at Lubbock Monterey.
 After days of conditioning workouts and acclimation to pads and contact, finally, for the Bronchos, Saturday they saw the real deal.
“It feels like the season is here,” junior Bronchos receiver Tyrone Caufield said after.
“Football is back.”
Yes, and with it, of course, returned all the challenges and adversities that present themselves on the field — and the following chances to respond.
Saturday’s action was highlighted early on the scrimmage’s opening drive, as the first-team offense faced the first-team defense and felt some of that adversity when coaches called back a would-be touchdown pass from quarterback Trey Smith to receiver Zay Brown on an illegal formation.
Smith rolled right and hit Brown for a 35-yard reception into the end zone, but Bronchos coaches halted the players’ celebration to bring the ball back, saying the offense didn’t have enough men on the line of scrimmage on the play.
Two plays later, though, the Bronchos offense responded — and Smith hit Caufield for a 40-yard touchdown to send the offense into celebration again.
“We just bounced back,” Caufield said.
Those are the kind of things the Odessa High coaches had their eyes on all through Saturday’s workout. Perhaps even more pressing than crisp play execution was the question of whether this 2017 Bronchos squad could respond to the challenges and adversity to come all along their schedule.
Through Saturday’s workout, players on both offense and defense showed their responses through a long workout — highlighted and typified, though, by that opening drive.
“We came back,” Smith said of that bounce-back scoring pass to Caufield. “Yeah, there was still that little moan, but we still got right back at it. We knew we had to get down, still get the play in and just keep going. Like, ‘It happened, so now we have to deal with it.’
“And we came back strong.”
A year removed from a season where mistakes and struggles like that piled together and snowballed into disastrous results for the Bronchos in 2016, those kind of plays were just what Odessa High needed to set a different tone for 2017.
“That was kind of the mood of the whole huddle,” Caufield said, recalling that sequence. “When the adversity came and we called that timeout, we were just making sure everyone stayed together and everyone just believed in each other.
“That was one of the main things last year,” he added. “We just got unfocused and that’s why we were losing — but today, our offense came out and we stayed focused, and when adversity came, we bounced back from it like it never happened.”
While there were plenty of correctable mistakes made, Bronchos head coach Danny Servance said there were plenty of plays made by players on both sides of the ball, and plenty for him and his staff to enjoy from their first good look at the 2017 Bronchos in the fall.
“We’ll evaluate the film, and see how we really looked. But just from being on the sideline and watching a little bit, it was good to see the way we worked out today,” Servance said.
While some teams across the state suited up in full for the first time Friday on the fourth day of practice for teams that went through spring training, Saturday marked Odessa High’s first chance to get in complete gear. The Bronchos practiced in shoulder pads and shorts on Friday to get acclimated to that added weight in the August heat.
Saturday, finally, the Bronchos relished their chance to suit up.
“We’ve been waiting for this since we started summer strength and conditioning,” senior defensive end Joseph Chavez said. “We talked about this every day.
“It felt good. It felt real good.”
Odessa High will scrimmage El Paso Montwood in Van Horn next Friday, to get another good look at full-speed action ahead of the season opener at August’s end.
Saturday, though, Odessa High got its first taste of that.
“It’s real-life action,” Smith said.
“The speed’s a lot faster. It’s real time now. I thought we did real good adjusting back to the speed again. I think we did real good.”
Moving forward, at least, that first look is something to go on.
“After practice everybody’s asking, ‘Coach, how’d I do?’ ‘Well, I think you did OK — but we’ve got film,’” Servance said with a laugh.
“It’s always not as good as you think it is, and it’s always not as bad as you think it is. It’s good to have film so that we can evaluate guys after this first week.”
