O’Dea closes Thunder’s year

Eddie Richardson needed less than five minutes after his team’s season came to an end Friday night to sum up what it meant for him to play for Mountain View Thunder football.

“This is the most ‘brotherhood’ I’ve ever been a part of,” said Richardson, a senior and one of the team leaders. “We’ve been hanging out and we got to play football together for four years. It was fun.”

Even Friday, the Thunder tried to make the most of a tough situation.

O’Dea of Seattle was way too much for the Thunder on this night, jumping out to a seven-touchdown lead and winning the Class 3A state quarterfinal 63-20 at McKenzie Stadium. O’Dea (12-0) will advance to the semifinals. Mountain View finishes 9-3.

“I had fun. Everyone I talked to had fun,” Richardson said. “It sucks that we lost this game, but you have to enjoy it.

“We knew they were good. They jumped us early. We had never been in a situation like that.

O’Dea running back Myles Gaskin rushed for 165 yards on 11 carries and three touchdowns in the first half, and quarterback Pierre LeDorze also hit the century mark in the first half. The Irish rushed for 353 yards in the first half.

Just as impressive was O’Dea’s defensive effort against a Thunder team that had been averaging 40 points a game and running on everyone. The Thunder did not run much on the Irish.

“It was strength vs. strength, man vs. man,” said O’Dea defensive lineman Jarius McDade, who takes up a lot of space at 6-foot-2, 313 pounds. “Who’s tougher? Who’s tougher? No soup. They don’t get no soup.”

Nope, the Thunder did not. At least not when it counted.

The Thunder had a turnover and went three-and-out two times on their first three possessions. By the time they got the ball for their fourth drive, O’Dea led 28-0.

Jonathan Wells recovered an offensive fumble in the end zone. Nathan Proctor Jr. returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown. And Gaskin scored on runs of 68 and 2 for the first four O’Dea TDs.

Gaskin would add touchdown runs of 15 and 19 yards and then Jack Flor scored on a 4-yard run for a 49-0 lead late in the second quarter.

Perhaps the Irish won so easily because they did not take the Thunder lightly.

“They’re a great team. I’m just glad we could play better than them and we could get the win,” McDade said.

It was getting ugly on the scoreboard, but Mountain View made sure it did not get any worse.

“I’m proud that we never let down,” Richardson said. “We played hard the whole game.”

Nicholas Wright, who had a monster last month of the season for the Thunder, broke free for a 47-yard touchdown run late in the first half.

In the fourth quarter, Preston Jones and Austin Mace also found the end zone for the Thunder.

Mountain View coach Adam Mathieson told his players he loved his time with them as their head coach.

“It’s hard in the moment for them to see the big picture and how much they accomplished,” Mathieson said, noting the nine wins and the 3A Greater St. Helens League title. “They came a long way. We started this together a long time ago, and I’m glad we finished this together.”

O’DEA 63, MOUNTAIN VIEW 20

O’Dea 28 21 7 7–63

Mountain View 0 6 0 14–20

First quarter

O — Jonathan Wells offensive fumble recovery in end zone (Robert Gerarden kick)

O — Nathan Proctor Jr. 30 interception return (Robert Gerarden kick)

O — Myles Gaskin 68 run (Robert Gerarden kick)

O — Gaskin 2 run (Robert Gerarden kick)

Second quarter

O — Gaskin 15 run (Robert Gerarden kick)

O — Gaskin 19 run (Robert Gerarden kick)

O — Jack Flor 4 run (Robert Gerarden kick)

MV — Nicholas Wright 47 run (kick blocked)

Third quarter

O — Rylan Kerr 34 run (Robert Gerarden kick)

Fourth quarter

O — Nicolas Tonel 4 fumble recovery (Robert Gerarden kick)

MV — Preston Jones 6 run (Will Warne kick)

MV — Austin Mace 8 run (Warne kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — O’Dea: Gaskin 11-165, Pierre LeDorze 8-102, Flor 7-86, N. Proctor 1-4, Chris Hollabaugh 2-2, Kerr 4-56, Caleb Yarbrough 2-7, Davarea Proctor 1-5, Airik Myers 2-3, Jo’Nathan Alderson 3-14, Team 5-(minus-6). Mountain View: P. Jones 17-81, Mace 10-50, Wright 7-55, Lex Reese 2-1, Garrett Jones 1-1, Carl Falls 2-12, Kimball Elliott 1-7.

PASSING — O’Dea: LeDorze 2-6-0-37. Mountain View: Reese 1-7-1-27.

RECEIVING — O’Dea: Mikel Owes 1-28, Alexei Oro 1-9. Mountain View: Nolan Biggs 1-27.