THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Odessa High School Athletics

Odessa High played a stellar half against stellar competition with undefeated San Angelo Central on Friday night, but the Bobcats found an opening, took advantage, rolled up three third-quarter touchdowns and pulled away to earn a 38-20 win at Ratliff Stadium. The Bronchos matched blows with one of District 2-6A’s best for two quarters, rocketing their way to take a 20-3 lead late in the second. But the Bobcats punched right back, scoring in the final minute of the second quarter to make it a 10-point game at the half, then, in the third, proving why they’re undefeated; why they’re ranked sixth in Region I; why they’re aiming for a fifth consecutive district championship. Central and quarterback Maverick McIvor put together a 5-play, 55-yard drive to start the third, capped by a six-yard touchdown toss from McIvor to Henry Teeter that made it a one-score game — before the Bobcats forced a Bronchos’ fumble on the next play from scrimmage, then punched in another touchdown five plays later when McIvor hit Philip Lupton from eight yards out to put Central in the lead. The Bobcats never looked back from there, coming up with a fourth-down stop later in the frame before adding another touchdown to go up 31-20 with just more than a minute left in the third, and flip the scene into jubilation for the Bobcats, and dejection for the Bronchos. “We had an opportunity — we had several opportunities — and we didn’t put them away,” Odessa High head coach Danny Servance said after the loss. “A good football team like that, when you’ve got an opportunity, you’ve got to put them away.” When things were rolling for the Bronchos, Odessa High safety Charles McClure picked off a high McIvor pass at the Bronchos’ 25-yard line, then turned, stepped his way behind blocks and returned the interception for a 75-yard touchdown, putting Odessa High up 20-3 on the powerhouse in orange with 1:34 left in the first half. But that’s when Central proved why it is that powerhouse. After an incompletion and a gain of four, a poised McIvor hit Teeter hit stride short over the middle, before Teeter raced away to get Central in the end zone and cut that lead to 10 points with 45 seconds to go in the half. Of course, the Bronchos knew just how good the Bobcats were before Friday night, and going into the locker room, Servance said, they knew just what was going to come their way in the second half when Central was going to try to put together its comeback bid. But the Bronchos couldn’t put together another half like their first, ultimately falling to 2-4 on the season and 0-2 in District 2-6A, while San Angelo Central moved to 5-0, 1-0. “They’re a good football team — a very good football team,” Servance said. “I knew that in the second half, we were going to have to withstand the onslaught that they were going to try to bring in the second half. “We didn’t do that.” After the touchdown-fumble-touchdown for Central to start the third quarter, Odessa High’s offense put together a drive, converting one fourth down on a fake punt to move past midfield before quarterback Trey Smith rumbled for 10 yards then 14 yards on back-to-back plays to get to the Central 26 — but that’s when the drive stalled, and Smith’s fourth-and-15 pass fell incomplete, allowing Central to take over again. Once the Bobcats made it 31-20, Smith was helped off the field in the final moments of the third quarter and he did not return, seemingly throwing the Bronchos off from there, and seemingly zapping what confidence the Bronchos had left on their sideline. “When (negative plays) start doubling up and getting on top of each other, then you start thinking, ‘I don’t know if we can really do this or not,’” Servance said. “We’ve got to get to where we put those positive plays together and go and finish ballgames.” McIvor hit Lupton for another touchdown to give the game its final score with 9:24 left — and send the Bronchos into their bye week with another opportunity lost through their fingertips. The Bronchos trailed Amarillo Tascosa by just five points with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter last week before the Rebels strung together big plays to pull away in that one in a similar fashion. Friday night, Odessa High rolled up 206 yards on offense in the first half, before stalling to tally just 64 more in the second half. The Bronchos held Central to just 172 first-half yards, and just 101 before that 71-yard touchdown for Central just before the break. But momentum shifted from there. “We’ve got a lot of football ahead of us. That’s what I told them right there,” Servance said on the turf at Ratliff Stadium, gesturing back to his postgame huddle with players. “I said, ‘Man, you guys have got to understand how close we are.’ “You saw flashes in the first half, how good our offense was, how great our defense was playing — we were right there, and the only problem we have right now is putting people away.” >> INJURY: Ratliff Stadium fell silent in the fourth quarter, when Central receiver Jesse Scott was carted off the field on a stretcher. Scott was stabilized by medical professionals and strapped to a stretcher before motored off the field and sent in an ambulance to a city hospital. The Bronchos and Bobcats prayed together at midfield at the end of the game. “Your heart just drops when you see a kid lying there and he’s not moving,” Servance said moments after the game. “Our hearts go out to San Angelo Central and their team and their coach and their families, and we’re just hoping for nothing but the best for that young man.” Later Friday night, Scott’s Twitter account posted messages indicating Scott was “doing just fine,” and “speaking and moving his body.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Odessa High School Athletics

BOBCATS FLIP BRONCHOS AS SAN ANGELO CENTRAL TAKES OVER IN SECOND HALF

JUSTIN LEE

Odessa American | 10/7/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Ford