Go Friday Night

Domination (in the second half)

By
October 8, 2005

Traditionally, District 3-5A is known through out the state of Texas as being very competitive. This season promises to uphold that tradition as district play began with two teams at 5-0, three teams at 4-1 and one team with a suspicious 1-4 record.

What happens when two good undefeated teams match up with each other? Someone winds up losing. Friday night, those attending the game at Shotwell stadium, saw two such teams meet each other. Abilene High and Odessa High both having 5-0 records faced each other. If defending your undefeated record doesn’t put enough pressure on your team then add to that the fact it is the opening district game for both teams. I did mention that it is the opening of district 3-5A, right?

The first half of the game was a defensive battle supreme that ended with Abilene High holding a slim 7-0 lead. The lone touchdown in the game came with only 2 minutes and 22 seconds in the half. Abilene High’s offense that had averaged nearly 396 yards a game coming into this game had just over 100 yards at the half. Odessa High’s defense played very good and took away one of Abilene High’s weapons, Lyle Leong. Not only did that slow down the passing yardage of Abilene High but the Eagles were held to 25 yards rushing in the first half. Odessa High’s defensive play in the first half, if equaled the rest of district, will propel them into the playoffs this season.

The Abilene High defense did what they have done all season. They played outstanding football. They pitched a shutout during most of the game shutting down a high powered running game. Odessa High finished the game with 60 yards rushing. Coming into this contest, OHS had rushed for 1082 yards in five games. That is an average of over 216 yards a game. They finished with 86 yards passing of which 59 yards came on one play when Daniel Rivas burned the Abilene High D on a beautiful pass from Mason Munguia. OHS had averaged 115 yards passing per game coming into this game. So the Eagle D held the Odessa offense to 146 yards which is 186 yards short of their season average. Domination.

On the other side of the ball the Eagle offense did not play badly in the first half. Odessa High’s defense just dictated what the Eagles did or did not do. The only score in the first half culminated an 81 yard drive by Abilene High. Taylor Potts scored on a 10 yard quarterback keeper. With OHS keying on Leong, Jason Boone stepped up and had 3 catches for 45 of the 81 yards in the drive. Jason finished the night with 5 catches for 62 yards. Lyle Leong facing double teaming and sometimes triple teaming finished the night with 6 catches for 71 yards. The offensive game ball this week goes to Jason Boone.

What does a coach say to his team after a first half defensive battle like that? Coach Warren said, “We challenged them at halftime. My coaching staff made some adjustments and I got it across to the kids, and the kids just roared with it in the second half”.

Roar they did. The Eagles won the toss at the beginning of the game and deferred. The Eagles received the ball to begin the second half. Needless to say it was a very different half of football. The Eagles scored that first drive of the second half. It was one of the best drives of the season. The Eagles used a two tight end set much of the drive. The score came on a 25 yard run by Casey Bell. The D did what it was suppose to do and held Odessa High to a 3 and out series. The Eagles then went on another drive that was capped by a 14 yard run for a touchdown. This time Xavier Beaver scored. Cory Rodriguez kicked the PAT on both scores and the Eagles were up 21-0 at the end of the third quarter. That third quarter was all Eagles. Domination.

To the credit of the Broncho offense, they did not quit. It looked as if AHS had stopped Odessa High again when on a 3 and 5 play from Odessa’s 25 yard line Munguia unloaded a 59 yard bomb to David Rivas. With about 5 and ½ minutes left in the game Munguia scored on a keeper from the 6 yard line that closed the AHS lead to 14 after the PAT by Alonso Jimenez. Odessa High then attempted an onside kick. Steven Powell recovered for the Eagles on their own 36 yard line. The Eagles unleashed Casey bell on a two play drive capped by a Bell 23 yard run.

Recapping the Eagles on offense, Taylor Potts was 17 of 25 with one interception for 189 yards and no touchdowns. The Eagle team rushed for 214 yards on 36 attempts for a 6 yard average. Individually, rushing, Bell had 166 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, Xavier Beaver 10 carries for 46 yards and a touchdown and Jason Brooks two carries for 9 yards. Taylor Potts rushed 4 times for a -7 yards but did run for one touchdown. Receiving for the Eagles, Leong was 6-71, Boone was 5-62, Kortney McDow 2-23, Chris Hale 1-18, Luke Kittley 2-11 and Bell 1-8.

Other results from district 3-5A were Midland Lee defeating Abilene Cooper 15-0 in Midland and Midland High defeating Odessa Permian 38-0 in Odessa. Next week’s games: Abilene High (6-0) (1-0) travels to Midland to take on Midland High (5-1) (1-0). Odessa High (5-1) (0-1) will return to Shotwell to take on Abilene Cooper (4-2) (0-1) and Midland Lee (2-

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