THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Odessa High School Athletics

Trey Smith was helped to the sideline, his arms around two coaches, stepping gingerly with one foot as pain coursed through the other — and with the starting quarterback down, hurt and leaving the game, the energy on the Bronchos’ side of the stadium started to fizzle out into the night sky in Midland. Moments later, opposing Midland Lee ran in a separation score to go up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and with that, what hope was left seemed lost in the stands behind the Odessa High bench. But Chase Webster still buckled his chinstrap. The senior stepped in at quarterback for the injured Smith late in the game last Friday night, and to cap his first full series behind center, fired a 38-yard touchdown pass to Zay Brown to keep the Bronchos alive against the Rebels at Grande Communications Stadium. Even after that point when faith seemed lost, Webster and the Bronchos battled blow-for-blow with Midland Lee in that fourth quarter, giving the Rebels all they could handle until the final minutes. When the game clock hit zeros, Midland Lee won — but not without surviving that gutsy late fight from Odessa High. Webster completed seven of nine passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns, all of that coming in relief for Smith in the fourth quarter. After that first touchdown toss to Brown, Midland Lee pushed back, ultimately scoring what should’ve been the dagger late in the game, when the Rebels’ Josh Traylor broke loose for a 33-yard touchdown to make it a 28-14 game with just more than three minutes to go. But Webster and Odessa High answered again, marching back down the field before Webster connected with Brown again for a 25-yard touchdown to bring it back to a one-score margin with 2:07 left. They kept going until the end — until Midland Lee ripped away a fumble from the Odessa High offense on a deciding final drive, allowing the Rebels to kneel out the clock to survive. “He did everything in his power to put us in a position where we could be successful, and that’s all you can do,” Odessa High head coach Danny Servance said Monday, speaking of Webster and the senior’s gutsy performance. “He’s a young man with great character,” he added. Servance recalled, after Friday’s game, pulling Webster aside to lift him up after a hard-fought loss. “Just trying to encourage him and tell him that he did a great job and that I was proud of him for coming in and performing the way he did,” Servance said. “He felt bad at the end of the ball game.” Webster had no reason to feel any shame after his showing late in the game in an emergency role, but ever the competitor, he still felt disappointed in defeat. That’s just his competitiveness, and knowing it was probably a big reason his Bronchos teammates kept battling with him even after Smith, and a leading receiver in Tyrone Caufield, both left the game with injuries. Webster played quarterback for the Bronchos last season as a junior, splitting snaps with Smith, then a sophomore. This season he put his confidence into Smith, while moving to play receiver and linebacker in the spring and through fall camp. Attrition and roster changes during the season forced him to move back to quarterback. More than once, Webster made a move best for the team — and Friday he was ready to step in. “I had no choice to be ready,” Webster put it simply after Monday’s practice back on the field. Webster’s first snap behind center was a simple handoff on third-and-18 just after Smith was hurt on a second-down play late in the third quarter. After the punt, Midland Lee scored that ensuing separation touchdown, but Webster was still preparing to leave his handprint on the game. He said he could feel energy leaving some of the Bronchos supporters in that moment, with the team down 14 points with its starting quarterback on the sideline. But that didn’t get to the senior captain. “I wasn’t worried about that,” he said. “I was just worried about helping my team out.” Calm and composed, Webster hit a quick pass, handed off two rushes to running back Josh Lara and kept a run himself to move Odessa High over midfield before he connected with his good friend and longtime teammate, Brown, for their first score. “He came in composed,” Brown said. “He didn’t come in too scared, or too hyped. He stayed level. “He wanted to show people that when they were talking, they were just talking — that he can be a leader.” On his next series, Webster took another deep shot, just missing the outstretched arms of a Bronchos receiver before the offense ultimately stepped off the field on fourth down, watching a fake punt come up empty before Traylor’s run made it 28-14. But Webster and Odessa High marched again. He hit Julian Galindo for a 13-yard gain, then after an incompletion hit Jacob Munoz for a 19-yard gain. Then, after a nine-yard run on a read keeper, he connected with Brown for their second score, as he paced the Odessa High offense on a 71-yard drive in just one minute of game time. “It felt good to go in there and prove I could play, but at the end of day, you want to win,” Webster said. “I feel like we fought hard,” he added. “I did as much as I could, and our team — it just didn’t happen for us.” His stellar performance off the bench ended with defeat, with a pair of blocked field goals and ill-timed penalty calls going against the Bronchos through their uphill climb in Midland. But with three games left down the home stretch of the schedule, the Bronchos are confident that climb is going pull Odessa High over the hump, one way or another. “You hate it more for your kids, because you know how hard they played in that ballgame,” Servance said. “I was so proud of them, because they fought. They didn’t play a perfect ballgame, but their effort was tremendous, and it was tremendous for four quarters. We hadn’t done that. “I think we’re building on that, that they gave great effort for four quarters, and fought tooth and nail to the very end.” >> HUNGRY TIGERS: Odessa High knows what it’ll be up against when the Bronchos take on Wolfforth Frenship this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at home at Ratliff Stadium. The Tigers are winless at 0-8 — and the Bronchos know just what kind of fight they’ll get from them. Odessa High snapped a 15-game losing streak earlier this season with its opening win over Lubbock Monterey. The Bronchos have lived through the same thing Wolfforth Frenship is fighting through now. In last season’s meeting, Odessa High entered 0-7, and gave Wolfforth Frenship a big fight on the road, before the Tigers ultimately survived to win 24-21. “We can’t look past Frenship,” Webster said. “They’re hungry. They want to win. They need to win. “We’re going to get their best, and they’re going to get our best.” >> AN EYE ON AMARILLO: As a team, Odessa High opened practice this week completely focused on winning its homecoming game against Wolfforth Frenship, but Bronchos supporters might also keep tabs on Friday night’s meeting between Midland High and Amarillo Tascosa in Amarillo. A win by Midland High could prove big for the Bronchos. The Bronchos no longer control their own destiny in their search for a playoff spot, but with three games left they could jump Tascosa to move into fourth place if the Rebels lose their last two games and finish with two district wins. San Angelo Central (7-0, 3-0), Permian (6-0, 3-0) and Midland Lee (7-1, 3-1) have separated themselves from the rest of the district, but Tascosa (6-2, 2-2) could finish 2-4 in the league with a loss Friday to Midland High and a season-closing loss to the powerhouses at Central. Midland High (1-5, 1-1) would earn its second district win in that case, with Central and Odessa High left on its schedule. The Bronchos hope Midland High can beat Tascosa, opening the door to possibly leapfrog the Rebels with three wins down the stretch, or to at least forcing a possible three-way tie at 2-4 for fourth, which could send the teams into a points-based tiebreaker.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Odessa High School Athletics

WEBSTER STEPS UP WHEN CALLED FOR BRONCHOS AGAINST MIDLAND LEE

JUSTIN LEE

Odessa American | 10/24/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Ford