By RayJaun Stelly, The Seattle Medium
Coming on the heels of their 49-0 victory over Kennedy Catholic, the O’Dea Fighting Irish looked to improve to 3-0 as they hosted the Lake Stevens Vikings Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
With both the Irish (3A) and Vikings’ (4A) being ranked top five in the state, this matchup was highly anticipated.
Both teams struggled to find a rhythm offensively, and at the end of the first quarter O’Dea led by 3. In their first offensive series, O’Dea looked to show how dominant they were but penalties and miscues stalled the drive and they were forced to settle for a field goal. Lake Stevens converted all of their fourth down attempts during the quarter, and despite receivers dropping passes early in the game senior quarterback Grayson Murren managed to show trust in teammates.
In the second quarter, Lake Stevens energy shifted as they forced the Irish to punt at the start of the quarter, which led to a 70-yard rushing touchdown by the Vikings, as they took a 7-3 lead.
After scoring the games’ first touchdown, Lake Stevens began imposing their will on O’Dea, and completely shut down the Irish’s offense. They’d force the Irish to punt twice and never let them establish their running game.
After receiving the ball in the second half, it took Lake Stevens only two plays before scoring a rushing touchdown to expand their lead to 14-3. As O’Dea looked to establish their running game, the Vikings’ defense stepped up and forced back-to-back turnover on downs in the third quarter. Before the quarter ended Murren threw a 75-yard touchdown pass, as Lake Stevens built a 20-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Vikings continued to make things difficult for O’Dea in the fourth quarter, forcing three turnovers, two of which were interceptions and one being a fumble that was successfully recovered. Once the clock struck all zero’s Lake Stevens was deemed victorious winning 20-3, handing O’Dea their first loss of the season, and improving to 1-0 on the season.
Next week, Lake Stevens will play Archbishop Murphy, while O’Dea will remain at bay as their next game was cancelled due to COVID protocols by their opponent.
