By Macerio Clark
The Seattle Medium
Friday night the undefeated O’Dea Fighting Irish traveled to West Seattle Stadium to take on Seattle Prep as the Panthers looked to bounce back from last weeks’ loss to Garfield.
The Panthers began the game with quarterback Jake Sype completing two passes before throwing an interception to O’Dea defensive back Mishael Powell, which gave the Fighting Irish excellent field positon at the Seattle Prep 38–yard line.
O’Dea took advantage of the great field position scoring on a 5 play, 38-yard drive in which the Panthers defense was called for both encroachment and pass interference on back to back plays. The drive was capped off by running back Cameron Daniels’ 5-yard touchdown run to give the Fighting Irish ahead a 7-0 with 7:47 remaining in the first quarter.
Seattle Prep looked to respond to the defending champs opening scoring drive with one of their own, as Sype connected with running back Leon Neal, Jr. for a 75-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7 with 6:20 remaining in the first quarter.
The Fighting Irish countered with an 11 play, 80-yard drive capped off by O’Dea’s Tamaaulelei Ma’alona rushing 6 yards for a touchdown to extend the Fighting Irish lead to 14-7 with 1:40 remaining in the first quarter.
After a tightly contested first quarter, O’Dea owned the second quarter outscoring Seattle Prep 21-0 to take a 35-7 halftime lead. Daniels led the way for the O’Dea offense in the first half scoring two rushing touchdowns.
The Panthers looked over-matched in the first half as they gave up five rushing touchdowns to O’Dea.
“They just grind on you and really wear on you upfront with the offensive line,” said Seattle Prep head coach Aaron Maul after Friday’s game.
O’Dea used the momentum from the first half to help put Seattle Prep away in the third quarter as wide receiver Davyn Patu returned the second half kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to give O’Dea a commanding 42-7 lead.
On the next drive for the Panthers they would score on a 10 play, 56-yard drive to cut the Fighting Irish lead to 42-13 with 7:49 remaining in the third quarter.
As the Panthers found some chemistry towards the end of the game, it would not be enough as they would extend their losing streak to two games as they fell to O’Dea 49-20.
Seattle Prep (3-2) will host conference foe Bishop Blanchet at home next Thurs., Oct. 4 at 7:00 pm. While O’Dea (5-0) will look to stay undefeated as they host top ranked Eastside Catholic in conference matchup at home next Fri., Oct. 5 at 7:00 pm.
Pictorial Highlight from O’Dea vs Seattle Prep
Photos by John Saunders
