By Karrington Kincaid, The Seattle Medium
The first game of the state 3A football semifinals between the Fighting Irish of O’Dea and the Bellevue Wolverines brought a ton of energy to Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Both teams were eager to get onto the field to show which team was the best and to advance to the championship game.
On their opening offensive possession, Bellevue came out on fire, led by Quarterback Lucas Razore. The drive ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by Carson Rubin, making the game 7-0 Wolverines.
The Fighting Irish responded with a scoring drive of their own. Led by running back Jason Brown, Jr., the offense efficiently ran the ball towards the red zone, finishing the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run by Brown to tie the game 7-7.
With the first quarter winding down, O’Dea’s defense forced the Wolverines into a three-and-out, leading to a punt on fourth down.
Going into the second quarter, O’Dea quarterback Antone Araujo connected with receiver Andrew Tran on a 39-yard pass to set the team up in Wolverine territory. However, the drive ended as Bellevue’s Hogan Hansen recovered a fumble by O’Dea’s Quinn White.
The Wolverines’ Blake Teets broke out for a 27-yard run, setting them up at the O’Dea 32-yard line. The Fighting Irish defense stiffened up, forcing a huge incompletion on 3rd and 12. This forced the Wolverines to attempt a 48-yard field goal, which they missed, leaving the game at 7-7.
On O’Dea’s next offensive possession, running back Christian Winn went for a 30-yard run, setting up the offense at midfield. However, a holding and a false start penalty pushed the Fighting Irish offense back, resulting in 3rd and 17. On an underthrown pass, Araujo was intercepted by the Wolverine’s Bryce Smith, to end the first half with the game tied at 7-7.
Going into the third quarter, the Wolverines’ defense came out strong, getting a crucial stop on O’Dea’s offense. On Bellevue’s first offensive possession of the half, they took nearly 6 minutes off the clock in a run-heavy drive that finished with a 7-yard touchdown run from Max Jones, making the game 14-7.
O’Dea responded with a 51-yard run from Araujo, deep into Wolverine Territory. This was followed up by a 22-yard run by Christian Winn to the Wolverine 8-yard line. Winn would later punched it in from two yards out, tying the game at 14-14.
O’Dea forced a Bellevue three-and-out as the third quarter ended.
The Fighting Irish started the quarter hot with a punt return by Kyan McDonald to the Wolverine’s 28-yard line. The drive later stalled in the red zone, leading to a 30-yard field goal by O’Dea, to give them a 17-14 lead.
Bellevue’s first offensive play of the fourth quarter resulted in a 55-yard run by Carson Rubin, setting them up at the O’Dea 30. O’Dea’s defense tightened up until Bellevue converted a 4th and 2 with a run by Rubin, who later finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.
With Bellevue leading 21-17, the Fighting Irish, behind the hard running of Jason Brown, Jr. and Christian Winn, desperately and effectively ran the ball to the Wolverine 36. On a final desperation attempt on 4th and 8, O’Dea quarterback Antone Araujo threw the ball up towards Brown, but the ball was swatted down by the Wolverine’s JJ Pendergast. With 1:30 left, the Wolverines picked up a first down, to ice and end the game 21-17.
After a disappointing end to the season, O’Dea Head Football Coach Monte Kohler tipped his hat to Bellevue and was confident that the underclassmen in his program will do what they need to do in the offseason to make another playoff run next year.
“They’ve got a good program over there,” said Kohler. “They outplayed us, made a ton of great catches and plays. It’s a tough loss but we’ll be back.”
On the other side, Bellevue Wolverines Head Coach Michael Kneip was ecstatic at his team’s resilience despite all of the noise, to get to this point.
“This is a testimony to our kids,” said Kneip. “No one believes in us, and that’s the best part for us—the disrespect that we felt as a program. We look at every person and every player in the face when they walk through our door and we treat them all the same way.”
Bellevue will take on Yelm in the state 3A championship game next Friday, December 1, at Husky Stadium.
Pictorial Highlights of Bellevue vs O’Dea 3A Playoff Game
