Eastside Catholic Falls Short Against O'Dea on Friday Night

The process of building a championship program for a first year coaching staff usually has a signature moment where you look back and say that's when a team started to put it all together. The (3-3, 1-2 Metro) football team came of age as they took third-ranked O'Dea (6-0, 2-0 Metro) to the wire, losing a 20-19 thriller in a front of a packed Friday night homecoming crowd at Eastside Catholic High School.

"It was a tough loss," Crusaders head coach Jeremy Thielbahr said. "I feel bad for our seniors."

Eastside Catholic running back Chevy Walker scored his first of two touchdowns on the night at the 1:09 mark of the first quarter as he broke multiple tackles down the right sideline and burst into the endzone to give the Crusaders a 7-6 lead.

After an Irish touchdown to take the lead back in the second quarter, the Crusader defense came out in the second half and really started to clamp down on O'Dea by playing smarter and a lot more aggressive.

"Defensive coordinator Rob Christoff is the best in the state,"Thielbahr said. "The defense played really well, and gave us a lot of momentum in the second half."

Thielbahr also added, "Nic Sotelo, a senior, really came in and stepped up after our 300 pound freshman star nose guard Deion Fetui went down with an injury."

One of the key plays was a fourth down stop when a Pierre LeDoze pass was broken up an Eastside Catholic defender, thwarting a drive that could have put some separation between the two teams. 

Down 14-13 early in the fourth quarter, with a 3rd and 10 at the O'Dea 21 yard line, Reynolds executed a pinpoint slant route to Hayden Meier, who lunged into the end zone, putting the Crusaders back on top 19-14. With 11:07 to go the upset feeling was building.

The Irish answered with a three play 88 yard drive anchored by a LeDoze 58 yard high arching pass to Kent Mckinney, and then Tatum Taylor followed up with a 22 yard touchdown run to put O'Dea ahead 20-19 with 3:37 to go.

Chevy Walker then set up Eastside Catholic with an electric kickoff return to the O'Dea 47, swinging momentum back toward the Crusaders which built a drive until Jack Oman picked off a Reynolds pass with 1:42 left to go.

After another stout defensive series, Eastside Catholic got the ball back and drove inside the 40 yard line of O'Dea as Reynolds and Meier connected again and then Irish linebacker Evan Banchero made a game saving interception for the Irish.

In spite of the miscues, Coach Thielbahr was pleased with his quarterback's performance.

"Trey had the picks at the end, but he played great," Thielbahr said.

Reynolds was 15 of 25 for 212 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions.

The schedule so far for the Crusaders has been a gauntlet with all three losses to ranked teams (Peninsula, Seattle Prep, and O'Dea), but Thielbahr believes it will only benefit his squad greatly come playoff time.

"We don't lack for confidence," Thielbahr said. "The sky is the limit for us if we start playing cleaner."

Eastside Catholic next hosts Blanchet, Friday Oct. 14 at 7:00 p.m.

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