Odessa juggernaut crushes the Eagles

ST. JOHN – The Odessa Tigers (3-0) juggernaut hit the century mark for the first time this season as they dominated the St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse Eagles (0-2) on the gridiron Wedneday night, March 3.

"We just had a tough game," Eagles Coach Richard Hallenius said on the field after the blowout. "It's obvious why they're the state champs. They have a lot of kids versus our 11."

For the Tigers part, every one of their nearly 30 players took the field for several minutes of the game.

The Tigers began rotating all of their starters off the field at the start of the second quarter to give junior-varsity players field time.

"Everyone got to play," Odessa Coach Jeff Nelson said. "We saw a lot from our young guys." The Tigers played three different quarterbacks in the gridiron romp.

"They all did a nice job," Nelson said. "They were all productive."

The two-time defending state 1B champion Tigers had a 48-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and raced to an easy 102-8 victory over the St. John compact in a Class 1B eight-man football matchup that pitted a young Eagles team against an experienced, two-time defending state champion.

The Tigers opened the game with 48 points in the first quarter and added 24 more in the second to take a 72-0 lead by halftime.

After the break, the Tigers scored two more times before giving up 8 points to the Eagles when senior running back Doug Stach caught a short pass and rambled 86 yards down the sideline to put St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse on the board. On the 2-point conversion attempt, Eagles sophomore quarterback Tanner Fleming kept the ball, broke outside and into the endzone to close the gap to 88-8.

But the Tigers answered on their next offensive play from scrimmage and added the conversion to take the margin to 96-8.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Tigers would break the century mark after freshman Zane McMillan stripped the ball away from Fleming at mid-field.

After the turnover, sophomore running back Gage Starkel took the handoff and carried the ball to the 5-yardline, setting up the final Odessa touchdown on the next play, making the score 100-8.

The Tigers added a 2-point conversion for the final 102-8 margin.

Winning by large margins has become commonplace for the Tigers, which opened their season with a 98-0 trouncing of the Wellpinit Indians and last week dominated the Tekoa-Rosalia Timberwolves, 74-0.

Top players for the Eagles were Tanner Fleming, Wyatt Walker and Landon Miller, Coach Hallenius said, adding that 6-foot-7, 350-pound lineman Kameron Greenhalgh also stood out.

"No. 75 (Greenhalgh) did pretty good for us," he said. "He's big and sweaty."

For Odessa, Coach Nelson said starting senior quarterback Jett Nelson excelled, as did starting senior receiver Tim DeWulf.

"But I also have to give our line credit," he said.

Individual stats were not available from the game.

The Eagles travel to Wellpinit on Tuesday, March 9, to take on the 0-3 Redskins. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

They play again Saturday, March 13, at Tekoa, where they will take on the 0-2 Tekoa-Rosalia Timberwolves at 1 p.m.

Both Wellpinit and Tekoa-Rosalia are coming off losses. The Redskins lost 68-0 to the Wilbur-Creston-Keller Wildcats and the Timberwolves lost to the Pomeroy Pirates, 56-6.

Box Score

Odessa

48 24 8 22 102

St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse

0 0 0 8 8

Author Bio

Roger Harnack, Publisher

Roger Harnack is co-owner and publisher of Free Press Publishing. An award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher who grew up in Eastern Washington, he's one of only two Washington state journalists ever to receive the international Golden Quill for editorial/commentary writing. Roger is committed to preserving local media, and along with it, a local voice for Eastern Washington.

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