It was everything that has come to describe football on the west side this season.
There was no quit in the Bronchos.
There was only fight — down to the final whistle.
Odessa High battled back from knockdown blow after knockdown blow to keep in it with Midland High in the team’s season finale Friday at Ratliff Stadium — by the end, going down swinging again, for a 31-28 final.
Odessa High trailed by 17 (31-14) in the third quarter after Midland High strung together explosive plays early in the second half to cause separation, but the Bronchos plugged their way back, in an effort emblematic of the team’s season-long drive, which turned the Bronchos from a winless team in 2016 to a playoff contender in 2017.
By the end of Friday night, the Bronchos stepped off the field for the last time 3-7 overall, bidding emotional farewells to 33 seniors who earned the school its first district win since 2014 and took a program from ‘nothing,’ in the win column in district the last two seasons, to a team a couple one-possession results away from the playoffs.
“I told them I was very proud of them, that they had nothing to hang their heads about, and that they’ve started something at Odessa High School,” Bronchos head coach Danny Servance said, after an emotional meeting at midfield after the loss, with plenty of hugs and congratulations going around for the seniors who just finished their last game as Bronchos.
After Servance’s speech to the team on the field, junior Charles McClure gathered the returners, speaking to them in a huddle and breaking it out on the word, ‘Culture.’
That’s been the Bronchos’ greatest objective this season, to change the culture around the football program at Odessa High, and build the Bronchos into perennial winners.
McClure returned a Midland High punt 63 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter, knifing and slashing his way through Bulldogs to score with 44 seconds before halftime and cut Midland High’s early lead to 17-14 going into the break.
The Bulldogs, driven by a chance at the postseason with a victory, made their biggest moves of the night early in the third.
Jalen Terhune returned the second half’s opening kickoff 25 yards to the Odessa High 47-yard line, then quarterback Sudden Sapien hit Terhune in stride on a slant and the receiver broke loose for a 47-yard touchdown to put the Bulldogs up two scores.
The Bulldogs forced an interception on the ensuing Odessa High drive, and running back DQ Harris cashed in on the short-field opportunity to make it 31-14 with 8:27 left in the third quarter.
But the Bronchos, with no postseason to play for any other implications, kept with it to end. Bronchos’ senior Chase Webster hit fellow senior captain Jacob Munoz for a 24-yard touchdown on a double-reverse flea flicker to make it 31-20 later in the third.
In the fourth, Midland High appeared to deliver the nail in the coffin when a Bronchos pass to the goal line was tipped into the air and intercepted by Bulldogs’ corner Josh Acrey, to give the Bulldogs the ball with an 11-point lead with just more than eight minutes left on the game clock.
Even then, however, Odessa High forced a stop, then the Bronchos pieced together a nine-play drive leading to a score by sophomore Senjun McGarity, with the conversion to boot to make it 31-28 with 2:06 left.
The Bronchos (3-7 overall, 1-5 District 2-6A) kept swinging — but sure-handed Midland High hauled in the onside kick moments later, then Sapien carried his team to the postseason with 13-yard run as Midland High ran out the clock.
Webster started at slot receiver but moved to quarterback in emergency relief when starting quarterback Trey Smith went down with injury in the first half. Servance counted up seven players out to start the game, with another few contributors going down to injury through the night Friday.
Midland High (3-7, 3-3) will take District 2-6A’s second seed into the Class 6A Division II playoffs, and face El Paso Montwood in the first round. The Bulldogs needed Friday’s win to make the postseason, racing against league foe Amarillo Tascosa.
>> Follow Justin Lee on Twitter @OAJustinLee
