A frustrated Jason Gesser wasn’t shy about criticizing the officiating Friday after his Eastside Catholic squad fell 55-27 to O’Dea.
But one play in particular left the second-year Crusader coach fuming well after the final horn sounded at West Seattle Stadium.
“It was a stop,” said Gesser, referring to a fourth-and-goal play at the 1:16 mark of the first quarter.
Carrying a 3-0 lead, it appeared as though the Eastside defense had stuffed O’Dea’s Michael Martin just shy of the goal line. After a long delay and discussion, the officials ruled in favor of the runner, providing the Irish a 7-3 advantage.
“That was a huge play because if you stop them in the beginning like that it takes the heart out of them,” Gesser said.
The Irish never trailed again.
O’Dea bumped its lead to 14-3 early in the first quarter when Jayshawn Jordan broke free for a 22-yard TD. The score came immediately the Irish converted a third-and-36 via a pass from quarterback Kevin Miller to Tatum Taylor.
“That was a great throw by the quarterback, he hit him in stride,” O’Dea head coach Monte Kohler said. “They had nice coverage, it was just a nice throw and a nice catch.”
The Crusaders countered on the next series when wide receiver Peter Kimble took a double-reverse and completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Trey Reynolds. The score pulled Eastside to within 14-10 with 6:06 left in the first half.
O’Dea delivered a dagger on the ensuing kickoff, however.
Tatum fielded a kickoff at the O’Dea 10-yard line, and broke free up the right sideline for a 90-yard TD.
“We pinned them down in the corner, the kick was perfect,” Gesser said. “Instead of just swinging and playing disciplined, they just wanted to go in and kill the guy, and they got out of their lanes.”
Jordan tacked on another rushing TD with under a minute left in the first half, helping O’Dea to a 28-13 halftime lead.
O’Dea put the game away for good in the third quarter when Taylor broke free for an 18-yard TD on a sweep to the left for a 35-13 advantage.
The wheels completely came off for Eastside on the first play of its next series after a bad snap sailed over the head of Reynolds into the end zone. Devante Curry recovered the ball for a touchdown to go up 42-13.
The Irish, who rushed 40 times for 327 yards, controlled the ball for the remainder of the game. Martin led the rushing attack with 10 carries for 176 yards.
Eastside completed 20 of 36 passes for 211 yards and two TDs. Reynolds completed 19 of 34 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown, while Chevy Walker had 13 carries for 72 yards and over 100 return yards.
The Crusaders’ 27 points was six more than the last four opponents combined had scored against the Irish, leaving Gesser with plenty of positives to build off of.
“We are on the rise big time,” he said. “Hopefully our guys start knowing that and people around here start seeing that.”
O’Dea moved to 2-0 in the Metro Mountain and 5-1 overall.
Eastside fell to 0-2 in league and 4-2 overall.
The Crusaders face Blanchet next week before closing out the regular season the following week at home against Bainbridge.
“We control our own destiny,” Gesser said. “If we can win both of those games then we’ll be the third seed coming from the Mountain side of the Metro.”
