Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Odessa destroys Hunters in crossover
Odessa senior Dakota Steward hauls in a pass from Zane McMillan in the Tigers' 82-0 drubbing of Columbia (Hunters) Friday, Oct. 27.
ODESSA - The Tigers came into last Friday's District 7 1B division crossover game looking like a team angry at the uncharacteristic three regular season losses Odessa had suffered. And the victim of Odessa's wrath was the Columbia (Hunters) Lions, who were convincingly tamed 82-0 in an Oct. 27 matchup.
The win advanced Odessa to a loser-out, winner-to-state matchup with Wellpinit this weekend.
The Tigers scored early and often against the Lions. Chad Strebeck ran into the endzone untouched from 50 yards away 13 seconds into the game to give Odessa an 8-0 lead, then added 2-yard and 8-yard touchdowns in the next five minutes to make it 22-0 with 7:16 left in the first quarter.
"Everybody was doing their job. Everybody was executing," Strebeck said. "It felt good running behind that line. I trusted them."
Sean Devore was the first non-Strebeck Tiger to find the endzone, running for a 13-yard score. Strebeck then decided he wanted another turn, running for a 33-yard touchdown with 1:47 left in the first quarter, his fourth score of the period.
By this point, Odessa led 38-0.
Odessa's offense then regressed from scoring every 45 seconds to scoring every two minutes. Dakota Steward ran in from two yards to make it 46-0 with 9:58 left before halftime. Due to mercy rules, the clock would run aside from a scoring play or injury for 34 of the games' 48 minutes.
"The last couple weeks we've had a hard time overthinking things, and we simplified it and told them to go have fun, and look what can happen," Odessa head coach Joe Schlomer said. "I told them in the huddle after the game, 'we can actually be better than that. All you have to do is work together, and look what we got.'"
Leo Martinez joined the scoring party with a 2-yard dive, then Strebeck added a defensive score to add to his four offensive touchdowns with a 46-yard scoop-and-score off a Hunters fumble.
Odessa led 62-0 at halftime.
"It was a tough loss last week, but I'm glad we're able to go into the playoffs on a good note with this win," Strebeck said.
Strebeck scored his sixth touchdown of the game with an eight-yard run in the third quarter, then Landon McMillan ran for 3-yard and 12-yard touchdowns in the fourth quarter to round out Friday's scoring.
"These boys, it's like I have 23 more sons," Schlomer said. "They finally figured out if they listen and not overthink, this game comes easy."
Odessa ended the Lions' season and advanced to a de facto playoff game at Wellpinit this weekend, with the loser out and winner to the 12-team state 1B playoffs.
Wellpinit previously defeated Odessa 52-16 Sept. 29.
Kickoff from the Spokane Reservation is at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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