By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Last night, the O’Dea Fighting Irish became back-to-back 3A High School Football champions, after a nail-biting 21-14 victory over the Mount Tahoma T-Birds in a highly-anticipated Seattle vs Tacoma state championship game.
Mt. Tahoma took possession of the ball to start the game. However, their opening drive quickly stalled. A short completion from Mikkah Cordero to Kane Roy, followed by a rush from Felix Diaz for 4 yards was the only spark that the T-Birds saw during their first possession. Back-to-back false starts, and an incomplete pass on 3rd down forced an early punt by Mt. Tahoma.
O’Dea took over at their own 46-yard line, but their first drive went nowhere as well. After a delay of game penalty and three plays that didn’t produce any yards, a bad snap on the punt attempt forced O’Dea’s Giulio Banchero to run the ball on fourth down. Despite picking up 15 yards, Banchero fell 4 yards short of the first down, as the Fighting Irish turned the ball over on downs.
After another quick possession by Mt. Tahoma, O’Dea took over and began to find their rhythm. Runing back Max Speller kickstarted the drive with a 10-yard run. A few short gains by J Shaun Wilson kept the chains moving, and a 11-yard reception by Speller from quarterback Hutton Leverett placed O’Dea near midfield. From there, the Fighting Irish offense continued to march downfield with strong with runs from Stringfield, Speller, and Wilson.
Stringfield would rush for 16-yard, to give O’Dea the ball near the Mt Tahoma endzone. Two plays later, Wilson would run in for a 3-yard touchdown. With the help of the extra point, O’Dea took a 7-0 lead with 51seconds left in the first quarter.
Looking to respond, Mt. Tahoma’s Naesirhc White dashed down the field for 30-yards, but incomplete passes and the end of the 1st quarter froze their momentum.
Mt. Tahoma opened the second quarter facing 3rd-and-10 but couldn’t convert and punted again on 4th down.
O’Dea went back to work, picking up small gains from Wilson, Speller, and Stringfield. But just as they inched closer to the endzone, disaster struck due when Mt. Tahoma recovered an O’Dea fumble to end the Fighting Irish’s scoring threat.
The T-Birds finally began to move the ball. White powered ahead for consecutive gains of 4 and 7, and Diaz added 5 yards of his own. But on 3rd-and-6, Cordero’s pass fell incomplete, resulting in yet another punt.
O’Dea responded with another run-heavy drive. Wilson picked up 5 yards, Speller added 4, Leverett fought for 3 yards on 3rd-and-1, and Wilson struck again with an 8-yard run to bring his team midfield. But after an uneventful set of downs and an incomplete pass, O’Dea punted the ball back to Mt. Tahoma.
With under a minute left in the half, Cordero began to find his rhythm connecting with Xavier Harriss for 11 yards, Kane Roy for 16 yards, and lastly, Diaz for 19 yards that pushed them down to the 1-yard line. But O’Dea’s defense held firm. A run for no gain, an incomplete pass, and a short completion put Mt. Tahoma in 4th and long, and ultimately Cordero’s final pass attempt of the half fell incomplete, as O’Dea held on to their 7-0 at halftime.
As the second half began, Mt. Tahoma began to build momentum. The T-Birds Felix Diaz intercepted a pass, giving Mt. Tahoma the ball deep in O’Dea territory.
White would advance the ball to the 11-yard line, and lit up the Mt. Tahoma sidelines. After a setback and an incompletion, Mt. Tahoma was faced 3rd-and-22. But, that is when Cordero connected with Elijah Dunn for a 22-yard touchdown pass with 9:47 left in the third quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
Mt Tahoma would continue to build momentum as O’Dea’s next drive quickly stalled and resulted in a punt.
Mt. Tahoma moved the ball again with White for 5 yards, and then Cordero to Roy for 10. But after a sack by Keelan Thomas and a chaotic fumble sequence where both teams fumbled multiple times before O’Dea finally secured it deep in Mt. Tahoma territory, and momentum quickly swung back in favor of the Fighting Irish.
O’Dea would quickly capitalize on the miscue, as runs from Stringfield and Speller pushed the ball inside the 10. And with 1:37 left in the quarter, Wilson scored on a 7-yard touchdown run. However, O’Dea would miss the PAT, but would take 13-7 lead.
Mt. Tahoma’s next possession seemed to go nowhere, and they punted with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter. As the quarter was coming to a close, Wilson ran for 6 yards, to end the quarter on a high note for O’Dea.
O’Dea opened the final quarter placed at 2nd-and-5 but came up short and punted on their 4th down. Mt.Tahoma then took over at their own 9-yard line but couldn’t advance past O’Dea’s tough defensive line and punted yet again.
Stringfield, Moimoi, and Brustkern tried to make something happen, but on 4th-and-1, O’Dea was stopped and turned over on downs.
The two teams would continue to exchange possessions, as both defenses began to tighten. But, it would be Mt. Tahoma that would continue to build momentum. Cordero connected with Harris for 8 yards, and Diaz for 8 more. On the next play, Diaz added in a quick 13-yard run, then immediately followed it with a 51-yard touchdown dash down the sideline, as Mt. Tahoma took a 14-13 lead with 5:45 remaining in the final quarter.
With momentum on their side, the T-Birds would experience heartache, as Leverett would connect with Owen Brustkern for a 30-yard touchdown pass, and David Schwerzel with a two-point conversion reception, as O’Dea would regain the lead, at 21-14, with 1:27 remaining in the game.
Mt. Tahoma had one last chance to take down the defending state champs, but a 3rd down sack by Brustkern on Cordero, and an incomplete pass on 4th and 24 would secure the victory for O’Dea.
After the game, O’Dea head coach, Monte Kohler just simply said he was happy to share this moment with his team.
“I am happy for this group, back-to-back is huge and all that, but it is more important that we are able to win together here with this group,” said Kohler. “I kept telling these guys all year, we are not back-to-back, all those guys are gone, and that belonged to all those guys last year, but man, it is a great feeling to be here again.”
Player Stats
O’Dea – Offense:
• J Shaun Wilson – 20 rushes, 63 yards, 2 TDs
• Max Speller – 13 rushes, 88 yards; 1 reception, 9 yards
• Uriah Stringfield – 12 rushes, 44 yards
• Hutton Leverett – 4 rushes, 15 yards; 2 of 6 passing, 39 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
• Giulio Banchero – 1 rush, 15 yards
• Owen Brustkern – 1 rush, 1 yard; 1 reception, 30 yards, 1 TD
• Allias Moimoi – 3 rushes, -4 yards
• David Schwerzel – 1 two-point conversion catch)
O’Dea – Defense:
• Sioeli Siale – 4 tackles (solo), 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 2 forced fumbles
• J Andre Castillo – 4 tackles (solo), 1 tackle for loss
• Owen Brustkern – 3 tackles (solo), 1 sack, 2 tackles for loss
• Nino Moksivong – 3 tackles (2 solo, 1 assist)
• Jireh Oliver – 3 tackles (solo)
• Cayne Rodriquez – 3 tackles (2 solo, 1 assist)
• TEAM – 8 tackles
• Additional contributors: Elijah Joshua Gines, AJ Gines, Brady Clisham, Ray Clark III, Patrick Mirkin, and others with 1 tackle each
Mount Tahoma – Offense:
• Nezie White – 17 rushes, 50 yards
• Felix Diaz – 7 rushes, 32 yards
• Anthony Quintanilla Jr. – 1 reception, 17 yards
• Elijah Durr – 1 reception, 14 yards
• Kane Roy – 1 reception, 13 yards
• Keshawn Hines – 1 rush, 2 yards
• Kemarjae Davis – 1 rush, 1 yard
• Mikkah Cordero – 5 of 9 passing, 44 yards; 3 rushes, -24 yards
Mount Tahoma – Defense: • Felix Diaz – 10 tackles (7 solo, 3 assists), 2 tackles for loss
• Shan Jones – 9 tackles (7 solo, 2 assists), 1 interception
• Elijah Durr – 8 tackles (6 solo, 2 assists)
• Mikkah Cordero – 6 tackles (5 solo, 1 assist)
• Zain Anguay – 5 tackles (solo)
• Ah’mire Rooter-Heart – 3 tackles (2 solo, 1 assist)
• Teaven Jones – 3 tackles (2 solo, 1 assist), 1 tackle for loss
• Keshawn Hines – 3 tackles (solo)
• Kemarjae Davis – 3 tackles (solo)
• Kane Roy – 2 tackles (solo)
• Anthony Quintanilla Jr. – 2 tackles (solo)
• Nezie White – 1 tackle (solo)
Pictorial Highlights of O’Dea vs Mt. Tahoma State Championship Game
Photos/Tyler Artis
