The Odessa High football team was back to work Monday, looking to get things going back in the right direction.

The Bronchos had their chances but turnovers and mistakes did the team in en route to a 44-27 loss to Lubbock Coronado Thursday at Lowrey Field.

Head coach Danny Servance says he saw some improvement from Thursday’s game but knows that there are a lot of areas that need to be corrected.

“We just have to be consistent,” Servance said. “You can’t turn the ball over as much as we did. That was one thing we had been doing well and we just didn’t get as many takeaways from them.”

The first game away from Ratliff Stadium for the 2019 season proved to be a learning experience after dealing with Coronado’s high-powered offensive attack. Servance admits that there have been a number of players being thrown into the fire but says that the early tests in schedule can help the team moving forward.

“You look at what people like to do so that by the time you get to district play, you’ve seen everything that you can see,” he said. “With (Lubbock) Monterey and Coronado throwing the ball around and even with Jefferson County throwing it a little bit, we’ve seen as many different formations as you can see in three games. I think that’s helped our football team.”

The Bronchos will face another similar test on a short week once again as the team heads west to face El Paso Montwood Thursday at the Socorro ISD Student Activities Complex.

Servance sees plenty of the same attributes in Montwood as he does in his own team.

“They play hard, they don’t quit and you’re going to have to go a take a ball game from them if you want to win,” Servance said of the Rams. “We’re almost a mirror image of each other in terms of schemes.”

Odessa High has had plenty of past success against Montwood, winning four of the five previous meetings, including a 27-0 shutout victory last season at Ratliff Stadium. A new year means a new matchup and Servance understands that he’ll need to have his team ready to play.

“We’re talking about two totally different teams,” Servance said. “The guys who were on that team last year can pull from it but the younger guys can’t.

“You have to take every game like it’s the first opportunity to play them and you just have to find a way to shut these guys down.”

>> THURSDAY MATINEE: Odessa High will have to deal with an earlier start Thursday playing at 4 p.m. local time in El Paso. The SAC has six high schools sharing the same stadium which causes scheduling these kinds of earlier games necessary. For Servance, it’s simply about making the best of the early start.

“When I was at Lubbock Estacado, we had a few four o’clock games because of that,” Servance said. “I think you just have to adapt to anything and you can’t use those things as an excuse.”

This is also the first time in six seasons that the Bronchos will play in El Paso. Odessa High defeated El Paso Franklin 61-15 in a bi-district playoff game at the Sun Bowl in 2013.

>> MORE ON MONTWOOD: The Rams enter Thursday’s game looking to right the ship after being routed 72-7 Friday night by Midland Lee. Servance understands that he’ll be facing a hungry football team.

“They’re always a formidable opponent whenever we play them,” he said. “Despite the score against Lee, I know Coach (Ariel) Famaligi will have those guys ready to play.”

>> RECOVERING FUMBLES: Odessa High recovered two more fumbles against Lubbock Coronado and now has six for the season. The single season school record is 33 set back in 1951.

>> NEW SCORERS: JC Ramirez, Nathan Calvery and Ameron Alvarez all recorded their first varsity touchdowns, catching passes from Ivan Miranda. Servance says he’s been pleased with the progress made with his receivers.

“I think you see growth from the first game to the third game,” said Servance after Thursday’s game. “You saw Dre (Cobb) be the leader of the receiving corps and you saw some of the younger guys playing with confidence.”

>> SUB-VARSITY SCORES: JV Red 30, Lubbock Coronado 6; JV White 34, Kermit 0; Lubbock Coronado 12, Freshman Red 8, Freshman White 22, Lubbock Coronado 13.

>> UP NEXT: The JV White and Red teams will face Permian for one of two meetings this season at Ratliff Stadium. White will kick off at 5 p.m. Wednesday with Red following at 7. 

Both freshman teams will also face Permian at the Ratliff South turf fields with White starting at 5 p.m. followed by Red at 7.
