By DeShaun Presley
The Seattle Medium
The Fighting Irish of O’Dea entered the 2019 football season with high expectations, but they also had a lot of unanswered questions.
Coming off of back-to-back state championship game appearances, the Irish faithful wondered who would replace running back Mark Tafia, who was a key contributor to the Irish offense the last two years. In addition, they had questions at quarterback with the loss of two-year starter Emonte Scott and his back-up Jack Anderson.
We commonly hear the phrase “next man up” in sports relative to an unfortunate injury or the monumental moments of seniors graduating and moving on to the next phase of their football careers. Well in this case the latter gives insight into how the Irish continue producing wins as a team with some familiar faces who are up against an increasingly yet welcomed work load.
In their first big test of the 2019 season, O’Dea’s young talent was put to the test as they faced the 4A Bothell Cougars last Friday as one of the featured games in the 2019 Memorial Football Classic, which featured three games over three days at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium.
This year senior running back Cameron Daniels has emerged as the featured back in the faithful rushing attack of the Irish after sharing carries by committee in 2018. In addition to Daniels, sophomore running back K’Son Misa and the very impressive physical running style of junior Tajj Dyles lead a very talented and diverse running attack that is difficult to contain.
In the game against Bothell, the trio of running backs had impressive performances. Daniels led all rushers with 104 yards on 17 attempts and one touchdown, while Misa touched the end zone twice on the night both from 4 yards out, and Dyles kept the chains moving as he plowed through defenders fighting for extra yardage.
Junior quarterback Milton Hopkins, Jr., who played tight end for the Iris last season, has taken over the reigns as O’Dea’s 2019 signal caller. Leading O’Dea’s offensive attack against a physical Cougar team, Hopkins looked very poised throughout the game and scored a solo 6-yard rushing touchdown late in the 4th quarter to help seal the Irish victory.
Senior defensive lineman Jalen Dixon, a 2-star recruit with offers from Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana State and Nevada, and junior offensive lineman Owen Prentice, a 3-star recruit with offers from Washington, Oregon St., USC and California, are two very familiar faces of the O’Dea program. The two co-captains help set the tone for the Fighting Irish as they imposed their will within the explosive rushing attack and looked dominant up front creating lanes for Daniels and company, stuffing the run and causing havoc with a relentless pass rush.
O’Dea’s second half intensity on both sides of the ball late in the game seemed to be too much for a very talented Bothell team that was led by senior running back Christian Galvan. Galvan finished the game with 16 rushing attempts for 87 yards and one touchdown. Bothell’s senior 4-star wide receiver Jordyn Turner finished the contest with 6 receptions for 101 yards and quarterback Andrew Sirmon (brother of Washington Huskies freshman quarterback Jacob Sirmon) completed 8 of 13 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns.
The young Irish answered the questions of the O’Dea faithful, looking poised and confident down the stretch earning them the victory 29-23 over Bothell.
With the win the Fighting Irish remain undefeated (3-0) and will face their first league matchup against the Bishop Blanchet Braves this Fri., Sept. 27 at 7:00 pm at Blanchet High School in North Seattle.
