rey Smith raced his way to a first down — and the Bronchos’ magic run rumbled on the west side for another week.
Zay Brown caught a bounce-back scoring pass, Julian Galindo hauled in a go-ahead touchdown, Josh Lara jetted in a separation score and Chase Webster helped make a crucial fourth-down stop for Odessa High as the Bronchos dropped visiting Amarillo High 28-21 Thursday night at Ratliff Stadium.
Those big plays set up Smith’s late, game-sealing run. Facing a fourth-and-1 play at the Amarillo High 13-yard line, up a touchdown with two minutes left on the game clock and a chance to seal a second straight victory in front of him, the Bronchos’ quarterback followed his blocks and pushed his way to a seven-yard gain — putting Odessa High into ‘victory formation’ and lifting Bronchos supporters into a frenzy for the second straight week.
“You have to believe you can win in order to win, and our kids are believing,” Odessa High head coach Danny Servance said, after seeing his team fight to earn a second seemingly improbable win to start the season.
After Amarillo High jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game’s opening series, Odessa High bounced back to score the game’s next 28 points, then held on in the final moments to move to 2-0 — and to put last season’s 0-10 struggles even further in the Bronchos’ rear view mirror.
“I was telling our kids that good football teams find ways to win,” Servance said.
“I thought that’s what we did. We found a way to win.”
Amarillo High used its precise, run-first Wing-T offense to match its way to a 14-play scoring drive on the opening series of the game — perhaps giving some Bronchos flashbacks to last season’s 57-0 Amarillo High romp — but Odessa High fought back to make the 2017 matchup a different game, and to continue to prove that 2017 will be a different season for Odessa High.
That opening Sandies series chewed up most of the first-quarter clock, but after Odessa High’s offense was stopped, the Bronchos defense came up with a three-and-out to give the Bronchos the ball back, and that’s when Smith hit Brown over the shoulder for a 26-yard touchdown to help tie the game on the first play of the second quarter.
Both defenses settled in through most of the second quarter as the teams traded punts, but then Odessa High came up with the game’s next big play late in the frame.
The Bronchos defense stripped Amarillo High quarterback Nathan Betts of the ball and safety Parker Cherry recovered the fumble to give the Bronchos possession on the Amarillo High 27-yard line with 2:15 left in the half.
Odessa High used five straight running plays to power its way to first-and-goal at the 5-yard line. By then, just 11 seconds were left on the game clock before the half. But, with little time left to spare, Smith launched a perfect ball to Galindo in the far back corner of the end zone, and the junior receiver hauled it in over his shoulders and tapped his feet to help put the Bronchos up 14-7 going into halftime.
The Bronchos kept hold of that electricity through halftime.
Alex Perales returned the third quarter’s opening kickoff 44 yards to the 47-yard line, and that’s when Smith floated a ball over the charging Sandies defense, Lara hauled it in, then followed his linemen releasing upfield on a perfectly executed screen — with Lara for a 53-yard score.
Odessa High’s defense held Amarillo High to a three-and-out, then the Bronchos mixed run with pass on an eight-play scoring drive capped by a eight-yard scoring toss from Smith to senior tight end Jacob Munoz, which made it a 28-7 Bronchos lead.
From there, Odessa High just needed to withstand Amarillo High’s late rally.
The Bronchos did that, with Webster and the defense coming up with a big fourth-down stop near midfield, which led the way for Smith and the offense to drain out the rest of the clock.
Smith raced for 19 yards on that drive on a read-option keeper to put Odessa High deep in Sandies territory. Then on third-and-8 from the 20, Lara rushed for seven yards with 2:00 to go to set the stage for Smith to push the Bronchos to a first down, and another big victory.
“I had complete confidence in my line,” Smith said. “I told them, ‘Just give me a yard and let me do the rest.’
“They gave me more than a yard.”
Smith finished 7-of-12 passing for 120 yards and four touchdowns, once again driving the Odessa High offense to a turnover-free game. Lara rushed for 78 yards on 17 carries, finishing with 131 total yards on offense. Galindo had two quick bubble screen catches for gains of 15 yards and 14 yards on that big third-quarter scoring drive that put Odessa High up 28-7.
But Amarillo High did battle back late.
The Sandies bounced back on the ensuing drive, marching on seven straight runs before fullback Blake Bedwell broke free for a 31-yard touchdown to make it 28-14 with 3:19 left in the third quarter.
Odessa High came up with one big fourth-down stop near midfield a couple series later on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the Sandies still got back in it. After stopping Odessa High, Betts picked up a big 12 yards to convert on third-and-12, and then, two plays later, the Bronchos defense busted open for Amarillo High’s wear-you-down Wing T, as Rhett Maynard broke free and raced for a 68-yard touchdown to make it 28-21 with 7:20 to go.
An Odessa High three-and-out gave the Sandies the ball back near midfield with 6:12 to go, and a chance to tie the game in front of them.
Betts rushed for five yards, before Bedwell picked up another two inside. Odessa High managed to pulled down Betts for a loss of one there, though, to set up a fourth-and-four from the Odessa High 48-yard line.
At the snap, Amarillo High pulled linemen to the right, as Betts stepped back and handed off to Maynard for a sweep — but Maynard was walled off by Webster flying in from outside linebacker, then dragged down by Webster, defensive end CJ Washington and charging middle linebacker Michael Gonzales, turning the ball over on downs and allowing Smith and the Bronchos offense to kill the clock.
Webster, a senior captain for the Bronchos, helped turn the play inside — helping make the big play on defense after the former quarterback switched positions this past offseason.
Defensive coordinator Matt Anastasio brought Webster in on defense in the fourth quarter, after another Bronchos linebacker went down with injury.
“It was just crazy,” Webster said, all smiles after the win. “I was waiting for my number to be called. Coach (Anastasio) said, ‘Sit by me,’ and I went in — a little nervous, heart beating fast.”
But then, the big stop.
“It felt good, man.”
Webster was a Bronchos’ captain and the team’s starting quarterback all through last season, but changed positions to receiver and linebacker in the offseason, even though there wasn’t a starting spot promised to him in either of those places.
But for Brown, a fellow senior, there was never a doubt Webster was still going to make big plays like that one for the Bronchos.
“That’s the captain,” Brown said with a smile. “I knew he was going to do it. I knew when he went in, I knew the play was coming.”
That stop helped lift Odessa High to 2-0.
“I felt like I made a big stop for my team,” Webster said. “It wasn’t just me. CJ was there too. It takes everybody. Against this offense, you’ve got to do your job. If you don’t go into your gap or whatever, they’re going to score.”
Thursday night’s 28-21 win over Amarillo High was a far cry from Odessa High’s 57-0 loss to the same team last season.
Odessa High opened 2016 with a 41-13 loss to Lubbock Monterey and that romping by Amarillo High.
But 2017 has started for the Bronchos with two wins over those same teams, after Washington’s dramatic scoop and score in the final moments in the 28-24 season opener last week in Lubbock.
“It has been a long process — two offseasons of trying to get our kids to the position to where they believe that they can get on the field with people and play,” Servance said.
Thursday, the Bronchos believed.
For the Odessa High seniors, seeing all that work come to some fruition has been a beautiful sight.
Webster struggled to put it all into words.
“We’ve got some momentum,” he said, shaking his head, searching for the words. “You see the stands, man. We’ve kind of changed the culture already. The student section is live. I don’t know. It’s a good feeling, man. It really is. I love it. I don’t know what to say, really.”
But for all the Bronchos, at least, the goal now is easy: Keep the magic run rolling on.
“We’re trying to keep this feeling up,” Brown said. “I want this feeling to stay, and my guys to stay confident. We’re going to move on to the next game, but we’re taking it one game at a time and trying to work on the next game.”
