Odessa High saw it slip away on a fingertip.
Lubbock Coronado got a hand on Odessa High’s possible go-ahead field goal in the final minutes, sending the kick short and allowing the visiting Mustangs to hold on for a 21-20 win Friday night at Ratliff Stadium.
Trailing by just one, the Bronchos offense drove deep into Mustangs territory in the late stages — but with less than two minutes left, Coronado reached up for a glancing block on the potential game-winner, allowing its offense to take over and run out the remaining 1:39 on the game clock.
“It’s a game of inches,” Odessa High head coach Danny Servance said, as he could only shake his head after meeting with disappointed players following the Bronchos’ first loss of the season.
Trailing by just one, the Bronchos drove deep into Mustangs territory in the late stages, with quarterback Trey Smith connecting with Julian Galindo for a 35-yard completion to the Coronado 10-yard line, which set Odessa High up for first-and-goal with just more than three minutes left to play.
But Coronado’s defense bowed up from there, corralling Odessa High running back Josh Lara for a one-yard gain, before drawing a holding call on the ensuing Smith run to send the Bronchos back to the 19-yard line. Lara rushed for three yards, then Smith’s third-down pass fell incomplete, to send Odessa High’s sophomore kicker Cain Cordova on to try a 33-yard game-winner.
That’s when the Bronchos’ early season magic seemed to run out — after a good snap, a good hold, and an on-line kick, when the ball got tipped at the line, then went spinning short into the end zone.
Coronado ran out the remaining time to move to 3-0, while Odessa High dropped to 2-1.
“I just told them, ‘Hey, a good football team learns from their mistakes, and they get better, and they move on,’” Servance said of his postgame huddle with his Bronchos.
“We played a great game tonight, I thought — had a chance to win it at the end, and they got a hand on the ball there.”
Odessa High led 20-14 at halftime, by way of big-play first-half scores from Galindo, running back Josh Lara and wide receiver Tyrone Caufield.
Galindo caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Smith late in the first quarter to give the game its first score, when Galindo broke free behind the defense as Smith pump faked to a faux screen underneath.
Coronado answered with a 5-play scoring drive on the ensuing series, after Blair Conwright’s 32-yard kickoff return to the 45-yard line set up a quick drive capped by Qua Gray finding Devin Morrison over the middle about 10 yards deep, and Morrison taking it the rest of the way for a 26-yard touchdown.
Odessa High punched right back, though. On the next snap from scrimmage, Lara broke loose on an inside run, picking his way through the line before escaping for an 82-yard score.
Midway through the second quarter, Smith hit Caufield in stride for a 51-yard touchdown, which put Odessa High up 20-7.
But Odessa High’s offense couldn’t find the end zone in the second half — and late in the third, Coronado capitalized on a game-pivoting mistake.
After a third-down stop by the Odessa High defense, Coronado pounced on a loose ball Odessa High muffed away on the punt, giving the Mustangs the ball near midfield with 47 seconds left in the third, and sending the Coronado offense and a tired Bronchos defense right back on the field.
Coronado pushed with a hurry-up no-huddle offense, and sophomore running back Kalen Manuel broke loose for 20 yards on the second of two straight running plays to get Coronado in Odessa High territory to start the fourth.
After the end-of-the-quarter time out, Manuel broke free for a 16-yard run, then the go-ahead 20-yard touchdown run, capping a drive in six plays, with all of them being Manuel running plays in the hurry-up against a worn out Bronchos’ defense.
Odessa High went three-and-out on the next series, but the Bronchos defense bounced back to get a stop, and then, midway through the fourth, Odessa High drove to the Coronado 20 — but the Bronchos’ drive stalled in the red zone, and Cordova missed a 37-yard attempt with 5:12 left.
The Bronchos came up with one more big stop on the next drive, but that only set up Coronado’s game-sealing block.
Odessa High won two one-score games to start the season, topping Lubbock Monterey 28-24 in the opener on a special teams scoop-and-score in the final moments, before hanging on to beat Amarillo High 28-21 last week at home.
The Bronchos, after an 0-10 season in 2016, had a chance to make it an improbable 3-0 in another nail-biter Friday, but instead the Bronchos were left with a stinging first defeat.
“I’ve been in that situation where, after a loss, I’ve seen guys and it not bother them. It bothers these guys that we didn’t come out with the win tonight, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Servance said.
“If you played with your heart, and you put everything that you’ve got and you leave it out on the field, then it’s supposed to sting a little bit.”
Coronado’s second-quarter touchdown came off an earlier lost Bronchos fumble on another muffed punt. Coronado scored 14 points off those two Odessa High turnovers. The Bronchos were left empty on two field goal attempts, and a missed extra point attempt proved to be the difference.
“We’ll go on and learn from it and be better,” Servance said.
