The Bronchos aren’t satisfied.
The Odessa High football team is 2-0, after opening the season with a thrilling 28-24 win over Lubbock Monterey, then rising to a 28-21 victory over Amarillo High in its home opener last Thursday.
But observers wouldn’t have thought so if they saw the Bronchos step back onto the practice field Monday.
Odessa High is still as hungry as ever.
“We say it all the time: We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied,” head coach Danny Servance echoed back to his team, as players gathered around him after another straining practice.
The Bronchos opened Week 3 with another intense workout, with eyes focused forward toward bigger goals, and toward new opponents.
Odessa High is set to host undefeated Lubbock Coronado at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Ratliff Stadium.
And the Bronchos know, as the season rolls on and teams continue to improve, they will have to keep taking strides forward if they want their run of success to roll on.
“Last week was good enough for last week,” Servance told his team in that huddle.
“It won’t be good enough this week.”
Lubbock Coronado opened the season with a 56-14 win over Plainview, then topped Wichita Falls Rider 42-28 last Friday.
The Mustangs went three rounds deep into the Class 5A Division II playoffs last year, powering their way to an 11-2 year.
Of course, part of that run was a 63-14 win over Odessa High last September.
And, of course, struggles like that one from last season are still part of Odessa High’s motivation to keep plowing forward now.
Charles McClure said it’s there in the back of his mind — and that it always will be.
And the same goes for his teammates.
“It still nags,” the junior safety said. “It’s still there.”
Odessa High snapped a 15-game losing streak by starting the season with its win over Lubbock Monterey. But even now, two wins don’t erase history, McClure said, and Odessa High is still as driven as ever to move further and further from a winless 2016 season.
And, again this week, in Lubbock Coronado, the Bronchos see yet another apparition from struggles past.
“That’s not the OHS people know,” McClure said of that 2016 campaign. “So, of course, we want to go out there and give it our all.
“This group of guys we’ve got right now, we’re showing it — and we aren’t going to stop until we prove our point.”
Odessa High running back Josh Lara said he saw his teammates still motivated as they moved through practice Monday.
“I see that they’re ready for more,” Lara said after practice. “They want to eat. They’re hungry.”
Servance said he saw that same focus from his Bronchos, but it’s a point he and the rest of the coaches are being sure to instill as the Bronchos start Week 3 at 2-0.
After all, this is a position Odessa High hasn’t been in for a while.
Last Thursday’s win marked Odessa High’s first 2-0 start since 2014, and just its second since 2008.
“I just think when you haven’t had success in a long time, then you have to coach harder than you would with an experienced team,” Servance said. “You have to make them understand that the same way you got to this point is what you’ve got to continue doing.
“You can’t slack up, you can’t think you’ve arrived, or anything like that. You’ve got to work your tails off every single day. That’s the message that we’re trying to drive home.”
And the Bronchos are rumbling forward with that in mind.
“It helps that we’ve got two wins under our belt. Confidence is immeasurable,” Servance said. “But you’ve got to make sure that we’re not satisfied with where we are right now, and we continue working toward bigger and better goals.
“I tell them all the time that you don’t stay in the same place. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. It’s our goal to try and get better every time we come out on the field.”
>> WINNING TURNOVERS: Through their two big wins, the Bronchos haven’t really pulled away from their opponents in any statistical category, except for one.
The Odessa High defense has five takeaways, while the Bronchos offense has given up zero turnovers.
Aaron Ochoa pulled down two interceptions in the opener with Monterey, the first putting a stop to a Monterey drive in the final minute of the first half, with the second coming to seal the win on Monterey’s ‘Hail Mary’ as the fourth quarter expired.
Odessa High recovered two fumbles in that one — the second being one of the most memorable in recent Bronchos football history, coming when CJ Washington scooped and scored a botched Monterey punt attempt to lift Odessa High to its thrilling opening win with just six seconds left in the game.
A week later against Amarillo High, the Bronchos defense’s fifth takeaway of the season led directly to a touchdown by the offense.
Bronchos safety Parker Cherry recovered a Sandies fumble on the Amarillo High 27-yard line, with 2:15 left to go in the first half. The Odessa High offense capitalized when Trey Smith hit Julian Galindo in the corner of the end zone for a 5-yard score with five seconds left before the break, putting Odessa High up 21-7 going into halftime.
Odessa High gave up 23 turnovers last season, including five in a blowout loss to Amarillo High alone.
That trend has changed for Odessa High this season — and so has the trend in the Bronchos’ win-loss column.
