THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Odessa High School Athletics

On a cloudy, comfortable night at Ratliff Stadium, the Odessa High Bronchos made sure that they would be able to celebrate homecoming with a victory. Josh Lara ran for 220 yards and three touchdowns and Trey Smith threw for two more scores as Odessa High dominated Buckeye Union (Ariz.) for a 63-7 victory Friday night at Ratliff Stadium on a night where the Bronchos ran for over 400 yards. “It was a great night for us especially running the football,” head coach Danny Servance said. “Our offensive line did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage and just did a great job up front.” “Even with everything going on with homecoming, we just had to stay focused on the game plan,” Lara said. “We wanted to show up and put up a good performance tonight.” After holding the Hawks to a three and out to open the game, the Bronchos needed just 14 seconds to strike first. On the first offensive play from scrimmage, Lara made one cut and dashed 48 yards for a touchdown less than three minutes into the game and the Bronchos never looked back. Buckeye Union struggled, managing only 28 yards of offense on the first half including three and outs on three of the team’s first four possessions. The Hawks would finish with just 116 yards on the night and seven first downs. “We always talk about playing with great effort,” Servance said. “If you make a mistake, you can make it up with great effort and we don’t want them to be hesitant. They did a great job with that.” After the third three and out, three Lara rushes set up a 29 yard pass from Trey Smith to Tyrone Caufield over the middle for a touchdown. The defense that would help the offense on the next Hawk possession, forcing a David Burca fumble that Charles McClure fumbled. The senior Lara did the rest himself as he carried the ball four straight times and capped it with a six-yard score on the first play of the second quarter. “It felt amazing getting my first touchdowns of the season,” Lara said. “I have to thank my line because we knew what the defense was doing. We just hit the gaps hard tonight.” As for Smith, he would throw another touchdown pass midway through the second quarter to Irvin Jurado after the Hawks punted for the fourth time in five possessions. The defense would again continue to impose its will on the Hawks offense as Alex Perales picked off a Jaheem Rosetta pass as one of four turnovers forced on the night. Two plays later, Kameron Gonzalez would cash in, throwing a 38-yard strike down the right sideline to Julian Galindo for the final touchdown of the first half. “They both did a great job of reading coverages and getting the ball where it needed to go,” Servance said of his two quarterbacks. The second half saw some success for Buckeye Union. The Hawks were able to recover an onside kick to start the second half and had the ball inside the red zone for the first time. However, a bad snap on a 42-yard field goal try pushed the ball all the way back inside the Hawks 48. And just like in the first half, Lara would deliver the knockout blow with another 48-yard touchdown run on the night. Buckeye Union was able to break the shutout late in third quarter. After a long third-down conversion on a 32-yard pass from backup quarterback Jaheem Rosetta to Alijah Amin, starting quarterback Tristian Hall found Jonathan Celaya down the left sideline for a 41-yard touchdown with under a minute left in the third quarter. The second half saw the Bronchos continue to run the ball and get some of their backups some playing time and scored three more rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Senjun McGarity (30 yards), Edward Jimenez (43 yards) and Christian Gamboa (12 yards) to cap off the scoring for Odessa High.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Odessa High School Athletics

ODESSA HIGH ROLLS BUCKEYE UNION IN HOMECOMING ROUT

TONY VENEGAS

Odessa American | 9/10/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Mark Rogers