Football: Slow start dooms Bronchos to loss against Rebels

The Odessa High Bronchos learned a valuable lesson Friday night in their final regular-season game.

Coming out flat and recording just three first downs in the first three quarters, the Bronchos dug themselves too big of a hole against Midland Lee and watched as the Rebels held on for a 17-14 victory in District 2-5A action at Ratliff Stadium.

The victory drops the Bronchos to 8-2 overall and 7-2 in district, moving them into a three-way tie with Midland High and Midland Lee (7-3, 7-2).

"I certainly hope the players learned their lesson tonight," OHS coach Ron King said. "You have to be ready to play from the start and we weren't in the first half.

"We challenged them at halftime and I was proud of the way they responded in the second half. But we dug ourselves too big of a hole and you have to give Midland Lee credit because they came out with a lot of intensity and took it to us early."

The Bronchos, who will face El Paso Franklin at 1 p.m Nov. 15 at Ratliff Stadium in a Class 5A Division I bi-district playoff game, were led by sophomore running back Bradley Marquez, who also spent some time at quarterback during the game.

He rushed nine times for 124 yards and one touchdown and then caught a 23-yard screen pass from backup quarterback Mark Quintela with 1:05 left to play to pull OHS within 17-14.

The Bronchos then tried an onside kick and appeared to recover the ball at the OHS 48 after it was batted around. However, after several minutes of discussion, the officials awarded the ball to Midland Lee with less than a minute to play, much to the displeasure of the OHS faithful.

"We should never have put ourselves in that position," King said. "We were flat in the first half and then waited too long to get things going in the second half and we had some turnovers that hurt us."

The Rebels used the running tandem of quarterback Jace Edwards and running back Donald Evans to control the clock in the entire game. Edwards, who scored both Rebels' touchdowns, carried the ball 13 times for 93 yards, while Evans rushed 18 times for 85 yards.

Edwards also completed 10 of 12 passes for 108 yards, with one interception.

So dominant was the Midland Lee offense in the first half that the Bronchos only had the ball for seven minutes of the first 24.

The Rebels got on the board in the first quarter when Edwards capped a seven-play, 70-yard drive with a touchdown from the 1. Midland Lee was fortunate during the drive when Edwards, during a 32-yard run, had a fumble recovered by OHS, only to have the officials say the ball had bounced out of bounds before the Bronchos' recovery.

Edwards' second touchdown run of the game gave the Rebels a 14-0 lead after three quarters, but Marquez cut that lead in half before the fourth quarter was a minute old.

Taking the snap from center, he faked a handoff to Ronnie Marquez, bounced off a would-be tackler on the left side of the line and then burst through the line for an 80-yard run with 11:05 to go.

The OHS defense then rose to the occasion, forcing the Rebels to punt for the second time.

But the Bronchos turned the ball back over to the Rebels on a fumble at the OHS 18, forcing the defense back onto the field. The Bronchos held again, but Midland Lee's Zach Starnes connected on a 32-yard field goal that proved to be the game winner.

The Bronchos drove 67 yards in 12 plays, with Marquez taking a screen pass out in the left flat and racing through five Midland Lee defenders to the end zone.

"I knew that I had to get into the end zone to give us some time to try the onside kick," Marquez said. "This is disappointing because we came out so flat and you can't do that against a good football team like Midland Lee."

Midland Lee 17, Odessa High 14

Midland Lee                        7    0    7   3- 17

Odessa High                 0    0    0  14     - 14

First Quarter

Midland Lee - Jace Edwards 1 run (Zach Starnes kick), 8:08;  Drive: 7 plays, 70 yards, 3:52; Key play:On second-and 6 from the Rebels' 34, quarterback Jace Edwards went around the right side on the option for 32 yards to the OHS 32. Edwards fumbled on the play, but the ball bounced out of bounds before OHS could recover.

Third Quarter

Midland Lee - Jace Edwards 15 run (Zach Starnes kick), 5:10; Drive: 9 plays, 74 yards, 3:42; Key play: On first-and 10 at the OHS 47, quarterback Jace Edwards rushed for eight yards and when the Bronchos were called for a facemask penalty, the Rebels had a first down at the OHS 23.

Fourth Quarter

Odessa High - Bradley Marquez 80 run (Travis Austin kick), 11:05         Drive: 2 plays, 87 yards, :47.

Midland Lee - FG Zach Starnes 32, 4:58;  Drive: 3 plays, 3 yards, 2:02;  Key play: On first-and 10 from the OHS 18, the Rebels were called for holding, pushing the ball back to the 29.

Odessa High - Bradley Marquez 23 pass from Mark Quintela (Travis Austin kick), 1:05;  Drive: 12 plays, 67 yards, 3:53; Key plays: Twice on the drive, the Bronchos converted third-and 12 situations, first on a pass from Mark Quintela to Miles Torres and then on a 12-yard reverse by Joseph Limon.

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TEAM STATISTICS

                        Midland Lee    Odessa High

First downs      17                    9

Total yards      336                  246

Rushes-yards 42-228             21-164

Passing           108                  82

Comp-Att-Int    10-12-1           11-22-0

Sacked-Yards Lost0-0             1-7

Punt returns     1-(-7)              0-0

Kickoff returns  2-58                 4-48

Punts-Avg.       2-38.0              3-39.3

Fumbles-Lost  3-0                   3-2

Penalties         5-41                 3-35

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Midland Lee

Jace Edwards 13-93, Donald Evans 18-85, Josh Wilson 3-27, Willie Wilson 7-18, Stefen Watson 2-5.

Odessa High

Bradley Marquez 9-124, Mark Quintela 10-21, Joseph Limon 1-11, Ronnie Marquez 1-7.

PASSING

Midland Lee

Jace Edwards 10-12-1-108.

Odessa High

Mark Quintela 11-21-0-82, Bradley Marquez 1-1-0-0.

RECEIVING

Midland Lee

Donald Evans 1-23, Nick Nguyen 2-22, Jesse Childs 2-21, Matthew Bacon 1-16, Matthew Awbrey 1-10, Christian Coogan 1-9, Willie Wilson 1-7.

Odessa High

Bradley Marquez 4-37, Tyler McQueen 3-25, Miles Torres 2-17, Jairo Galvadon 1-7, Joseph Limon 1-(-4).

INTERCEPTIONS

Midland Lee

None

Odessa High

Ricardo Enriquez, 1.