The Bronchos have held on to that feeling.
Monday, it was still there, as the Odessa High football team returned to the practice field — back out in the sweltering September sun, pushing their way around grueling drills, and legging their way through exhausting sprints.
It was still there, and as the Bronchos huddled around head coach Danny Servance after Monday’s tiring workout, he was sure to remind them to use it.
“This is as much a part of winning as anything,” he told his team.
Days after Odessa High’s thrilling 28-24 victory over Lubbock Monterey last Thursday, the Bronchos are working toward earning more — and repeating the effort when the Bronchos face visiting Amarillo High at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Ratliff Stadium.
Last week’s win was special for the Bronchos coaches and players who trudged through a difficult 2016 season to finally get back up on the winning side, but the Bronchos are far from satisfied.
Instead, they’re using that winning feeling to push further forward.
“We can still hold on to that win, and that feeling, but use it for motivation,” Bronchos quarterback Trey Smith said after that practice Monday.
“Use it for motivation to make us even more hungry so we can go out there and get a win.”
That was the feeling throughout practice as the Bronchos started Week 2.
Last Thursday’s taste of success only has Odessa High desperate for another victory.
“That feeling of winning — we want it more and more,” junior receiver Julian Galindo said.
Galindo and Smith stood aside Joe Coleman Field after their practice knowing that building on that opening win would be much easier said than done, especially with Amarillo High coming to town this week for the Bronchos’ home opener.
But the Bronchos had a bit more pep in their step Monday, Servance said, and that experience from last Thursday’s win might just go a long way in 2017 for the Bronchos, who hadn’t felt something like that in such a long time.
“I think they’ve got a lot more confidence,” the head coach said. “They’re practicing harder, and they want to be successful. I know that that has been their attitudes this whole year since we’ve gotten out here.
“It paid off for them last Thursday, and it’ll continue to pay off for them if they continue to work as hard as they’re working right now.”
>> NO QUIT: When Smith thought back to last Thursday’s game, there was one big difference that stuck out to him.
The Bronchos never gave up, no matter how bleak that game got — and that’s what kept Odessa High in position to win in the final moments.
CJ Washington scooped up and scored on a botched Monterey punt attempt with just six seconds left in the game, lifting Odessa High to its first win in 706 days, while snapping a 15-game losing streak for Odessa High after a winless 2016.
That touchdown lifted the Bronchos to the 28-24 win, but Odessa High wouldn’t have been in position to make that play if it weren’t for key bounce-back efforts earlier in the fourth quarter.
Odessa High trailed 24-7 early in the fourth but put together two touchdown drives in the final frame to set the stage for Washington’s late heroics.
When asked what kept Odessa High from quitting when things looked bleak late in Thursday’s game, Smith was blunt.
“0-10, to be true about it,” he answered. “That’s exactly what kept us going.
“We knew, last year, that was our biggest problem. We got down and we’d quit. This year our focus was keeping our head up through adversity, coming out and fighting. Last week proved to us that we can do it, if we keep fighting and not just quit on it.”
Odessa High trailed by 17 early in the fourth after a 54-yard Monterey touchdown pass, but the Bronchos punched right back, putting together an eight-play, 75-yard drive, capped when Smith hit senior receiver Zay Brown on a well-executed screen, and Brown followed blocks and raced to a 30-yard touchdown to make it a two-score game again.
Later in the fourth, Odessa High faced disappointment again, when the Bronchos offense failed to capitalize on after Odessa High recovered the ensuing kickoff.
But, again, that didn’t stop Odessa High. The Bronchos defense then held Monterey to a three-and-out to give the Bronchos the ball back with 4:24 to go. Even down 10 with not much time left, the Odessa High offense kept its cool, marching on a seven-play touchdown drive to make it a three-point game with 1:52 left, setting the stage for the game’s thrilling finish.
“Our kids didn’t let the emotions of the game overtake how they played the game,” Servance said Monday. “They played pretty steady all the way through, whether we made mistakes on offense or had a bust on defense. They continued to play as hard as they possibly could, and good things happen when you do that.”
>> THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Odessa High will make its home debut on a Thursday night, marking its second of three Thursday games this season.
The Bronchos got their season started a day early last week when they played Monterey on a Thursday. After this week’s matchup, the Bronchos will have one more Thursday game left on the schedule, in a Sept. 21 showdown at Abilene High.
Odessa High hosts Lubbock Coronado on a Friday next week on Sept. 15. Then, all the Bronchos’ district contests are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday starts.
