O’Dea Fighting Irish Advance To State 3A Football Semi-Finals With 42-21 Win

By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium

The O’Dea Fighting Irish advanced in the state 3A football playoffs as they defeated the Mt. Tahoma Thunderbirds last night 42-21, securing a spot in the semi-finals next week.

On defense, O’Dea set the tone early as Sioeli Siale recorded a sack on Mt. Tahoma’s opening possession to force a punt on fourth down. After taking possession of the ball, O’Dea running back Uriah Stringfield bolted down the length of the field to score the Fighting Irish’s first touchdown of the night. O’Dea kicker Owen Livingston would make the extra point attempt to give his team and early 7-0 lead.

The touchdown ignited the Fighting Irish as they cracked down on defense. O’Dea’s Rasaan Thomas made three back-to-back tackles as the Fighting Irish stifled the Mt. Tahoma offense, as O’Dea forced another three-and-out by Mt. Tahoma.

Back on offense, methodically made their way down the field behind Stringfield and their physical running game. With a minute remaining in the first quarter, O’Dea’s Peyton Egan ran for a 14-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, Mt. Tahoma finished their next possession with a punt on 4^th down. Their next possession, O’Dea would fumble the ball, which was recovered by Mt. Tahoma’s Peter Leiato at the 46-yard line. Despite the fumble recovery, Mt. Tahoma had no significant movement, turning the ball over on downs. O’Dea then took control as Stringfield went for a 6-yard touchdown, stretching out their lead to 21-0 with 5 minutes remaining in the first half.

O’Dea continued to dominate on defense with big tackles from Davian Sherlock, causing Mt. Tahoma to punt again on 4^th down. Stringfield then had a 35-yard run to get the Fighting Irish back into scoring position, which set up a 12-yard touchdown reception by O’Dea’s Giulio Banchero to further extend the Fighting Irish’s lead to 28-0.

During Mt. Tahoma’s next possession, O’Dea’s King Allah was a disruptive force, stalling any hint of momentum by the Thunderbirds offense. In the final seconds of the first half, Mt. Tahoma struggled with two incomplete passes and a 3^rd down attempt that was stopped by five O’Dea defenders, as the Fighting Irish went into the half with complete control of the game.

Possessing the back to start the second half, the Fighting Irish began to move down the field quickly, but Egan fumbled the ball, and Mt. Tahoma’s Veron Lockett recovered it on the 24-yard line.

Looking to build momentum off of the fumble recovery, Mt. Tahoma’s Briytan Bailey tried to run through the middle of O’Dea’s offense but was stopped each time by Thomas. However, on their 4^th down Bailey managed to secure a 1^st down, to give them another chance at getting some points on the board. With a little under 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Mt. Tahoma’s Angel Urban caught a 20-yard touchdown pass, followed by a successful kick by Mt. Tahoma’s Junior Contreras-Barragan to bring the score to 7-28.

The two teams would battle back and forth, as O’Dea would respond with a 96-yard punt return for a touchdown by Sage Salopek, making the score 34-7. Then, Urban had a 10-yard kickoff return but was quickly stopped by Thomas. Following the stop, Mt. Tahoma’s quarterback threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Quintanilla Jr., bringing the score to 14-35, and narrowing down the lead.

After the touchdown, O’Dea regained possession but faced stiff defense from Mt. Tahoma, as Felix Diaz and Joshuah Durr made consecutive stops on Stringfield. With O’Dea struggling to move the ball, Mt. Tahoma regained possession and began to gain some momentum with Bailey breaking loose on a 45-yard run, putting his team just 13 yards away from the endzone. However, O’Dea’s defense stood strong and denied the scoring threat, as Salopek blocked a pass intended for Mt. Tahoma’s Elijah Durr, Thomas recorded a sack, and Sherlock stuffed Mt. Tahoma’s scoring attempt on fourth down.

After regaining possession with 3 minutes left in the third quarter, Mt. Tahoma stepped up on defense as Keshawn Hines made a huge tackle on Stringfield, which forced O’Dea to take a timeout. Following the timeout, Mt. Tahoma’s Veron Lockett recorded a sack, and forced O’Dea to punt on 4^th down. Despite the efforts of Mt. Tahoma, O’Dea would close out the quarter with a 35-14 lead.

At the start of the final quarter, the energy was high for both teams despite the score. O’Dea would setup another scoring opportunity, as Zander Turner advanced the ball 23 yards into Thunderbird territory, Stringfield would follow with another strong run, which setup a 15-yard touchdown reception by Banchero to make the score 42-14 in favor of the Fighting Irish.

Mt. Tahoma then took possession after a solid kickoff return by Bailey gave them a good view of the endzone. However, despite being just 12 yards away, Mt. Tahoma struggled to move the ball against O’Dea’s defense. Mt. Tahoma’s Keshawn Hines was giving it his all to cut into the lead, with his teammate Mikkah Cordero scoring a late touchdown to make the score 42-21.  

Both teams continued to play with high energy, with great efforts by Stringfield and Bailey, but the Fighting Irish proved to be too much as they advanced to the next round of the playoffs with a 42-21 victory over Mt. Tahoma.