Gutsy plays spell out glorious finish for Odessa

SPOKANE VALLEY - The top-ranked Odessa Tigers hadn't been truly challenged all season.

In their first 10 games, Odessa's smallest margin of victory was 14 points and it had enacted the 45-point mercy rule on seven opponents.

All that went out the window in Friday night's state quarterfinal game at West Valley High School, as the Colton-Pullman Christian Wildcats nearly ended the Tigers' undefeated season.

Nearly, but not quite. Odessa staved off the Wildcats' last-minute march deep in their own territory, holding on for a 24-22 victory that sent the Tigers into this Saturday's semifinals.

Odessa (11-0) faces the Tri-Cities Prep Jaguars (9-3) at Spokane's Joe Albi Stadium, a 4 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.

Tigers head coach Bruce Todd was worried about Colton-Pullman Christian's spread offense, a system made more dangerous by the running ability of senior quarterback Corey Horstman.

"My biggest fear coming into the game was stopping (number) 10," coach Todd said. He's a good runner and they blocked well. They beat us in the trenches."

Trailing by two with just one minute, 37 seconds left, the Wildcats (8-2) got the ball back at their own 10 with no timeouts. Horstman immediately hit Dillon Williams on a 35-yard pass, and Colton eventually reached the Odessa 19-yard line with under 40 seconds to go.

That's as far as the Wildcats would get. Key break-ups from defensive backs Justin Karnitz and Aaron Bruya forced fourth down, and Horstman's final throw for Williams fell incomplete.

However, if it weren't for a heads-up play by senior Travis Todd, Colton might've had more time to work with on its final drive.

Horstman drove the Wildcats to the Odessa 2 with seven minutes left. He dropped the ensuing snap and Odessa's Andy Read recovered. The Tigers couldn't muster a first down, however, and were all set to punt.

"Coach was giving us the punt sign from the sideline," Travis Todd said. "We were all lined up and everything and I see their defense is still kind of scurrying around. I look over to my right and see Ryan King waving his hand to me."

King was all alone and Todd found him for a 23-yard pass play, giving the Tigers a first down and allowing them to run an additional four minutes off the clock.

"It's just one of those things we got real lucky on, but I guess that's just part of the game," Travis Todd added.

"Travis probably knows the game better than most high school kids," coach Todd said. "He made the right call - if it hadn't been right, we probably would've been upset."

Odessa appeared to be building a comfortable lead early on. The Tigers went 70 yards on their opening possession, using a 37-yard King-to-Bruya pass to set up shop deep in the Wildcats' end. King found Travis Todd on a 6-yard play for the score.

Colton drove to Odessa's 8 early in the second period, but turned the ball over on downs. Two plays later, star tailback Jacob Schmidt made his signature run of the game, taking a pitch to the right, eluding several tacklers and weaving 87 yards to the end zone for a 12-0 Odessa lead.

But the Wildcats owned the remainder of the half. Horstman ran 53 yards for a score and hit Williams on the two-point conversion pass to make it 12-8.

Then, after a penalty backed the Tigers up deep into their own end, Schmidt couldn't hold the ball on a toss sweep and Colton's Jesse Weaver scooped it and scored from 9 yards out.

Williams' interception thwarted an Odessa march later in the half and set up Horstman's 52-yard scamper down the right sideline. The Wildcats missed the conversion run, but led 22-12.

It would be their final points of the game. The Tigers went 71 yards using a shotgun formation, getting third-down conversion passes from King to Schmidt and Bryce Todd. On fourth-and-13 from the Colton 19, Schmidt beat Ryan Troll on a corner route and brought Odessa within 22-18 at the break.

Coach Todd didn't like the number of passes King had to throw, however, and that led to a refocus of strategy at halftime.

"That was what we talked about in the locker room, was come back to what we do best and pound it on them up inside," he said. "We wanted to beat them up that way, control the clock a little bit more so they didn't have as much time."

The plan worked. Schmidt led a 64-yard march midway through the third quarter, and King ended it with a 1-yard sneak.

What do the Tigers credit for having to play their closest game of the year? Their opponents.

"Those guys were just flying around," coach Todd said. "They played a great game - I'm not going to take anything away from them."

"Their linebackers are really good," Travis Todd added. "They played up tight and they came up in the gaps hard. We just needed to get in their face and try to get outside. They are probably the quickest team we've faced all year - they really strung things out."

Coach Todd said Tri-Cities Prep, their semifinal foe, features a similar offense as Colton-Pullman Christian but perhaps doesn't have the quarterback with the same running ability as Horstman. He believed playing a tough game will be beneficial.

"I think it'll be a good eye-opener for our kids that we have to get better even at this point of the playoffs," he said.

Travis Todd agreed.

"I think we're going to come out even stronger next week, just because we've got momentum now," he said.