For the first time during the 2015 season, the Eastside Catholic Crusaders faced adversity on the scoreboard.

The Crusaders, who led the O’Dea Fighting Irish 21-14 with just 34 seconds left in the first half of play, took the wind out of O’Dea’s sails on the final drive of the second quarter. Eastside Catholic senior quarterback Harley Kirsch connected with wide receiver Matt Laris on a Hail Mary 40-yard touchdown pass as time expired in the first half, giving the Crusaders a 28-14 lead. The Crusaders added two more touchdowns in the third quarter en route to a 42-14 victory on Oct. 17 in Sammamish.

Eastside Catholic improved its overall record to 7-0 with the win. Kirsch, who finished the game with three touchdown passes, thought Laris’ touchdown catch just before halftime was figuratively worth more than just the seven points on the scoreboard. Laris was draped by multiple O’Dea defenders, but still came down with the ball in the corner of the end zone.

“I thought it was huge. It was obviously a momentum swing,” Kirsch said. “For Laris to jump up and make that catch in all that traffic is just incredible.”

Kirsch connected with Laris on a 71-yard touchdown pass with 4:33 left in the first quarter as well. Kirsch also hit Hunter Bryant on an 8-yard touchdown toss in the third quarter. Crusaders running backs Chris Lefau and Tyler Folkes each scored on touchdown runs as well.

“I’m so lucky to have a receiving core of Matt Laris, Devin Jackson and Hunter Bryant. They make my life so much easier having reliable targets like that. I’m a very lucky guy to be on this team with all of this talent surrounding me,” Kirsch said.

O’Dea put together a marathon 21-play, 84-yard drive spanning 11 minutes that ended with a Nathan West 5-yard touchdown pass to Sam Sanchez cutting Eastside Catholic’s lead to 14-7 with 4:44 left in the second quarter. The Crusaders answered on the very next play on Brandon Wellington’s 85-yard kick return for a touchdown, extending Eastside Catholic’s lead to 21-7. O’Dea answered on its ensuing offensive possession with Connor Gregoire 30-yard touchdown run, cutting Eastside Catholic’s lead to 21-14 late in the second quarter. Eastside Catholic head coach Jeremy Thielbahr was glad to see his squad get tested by one of its biggest rivals.

“You want to play games that are tough and you want to play games where your team’s mentality gets tested. This was a great ballgame for us and is an amazing rivalry for us. This is our fourth win out of our last five games against them. When you go four out of five against O’Dea you feel pretty good about yourself as a team and about where the program is going,” Thielbahr said.

Thielbahr marveled about the poise and composure of Kirsch against O’Dea. The left-handed signal caller, who has already committed to play football at Cornell next season, picked apart O’Dea’s defense with his precision passing.

“Harley played fantastic tonight. He has phenomenal accuracy and is having an amazing senior year. He is putting it together and is taking his game to another level,” Thielbahr said of his quarterback. “We’re really excited to see what he does for the rest of the year.”

The Crusaders will have a bye this week and will face an undetermined opponent in the on Oct. 30 or Oct. 31 in the Class 3A Metro League championship game. Wellington is confident his team will rise to the occasion in the postseason.

“Even though we are ranked No. 1, I know for a fact a lot of people doubt us because we are so young. This game (O’Dea) was a big stepping stone for us because we’ve never beaten them at home. That is huge and just shows that we will respond to whoever is put in front of us,” Wellington said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. We’re going to come out and go until the whistle blows.”

Crusaders’ outside linebacker Parker Davidson, who registered two quarterback sacks in the first half, concurred with Wellington’s sentiment.

“This was just one step in our goals. At the end of the season we hope to be undefeated still and win state again,” Davidson said.

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@issaquahreporter.com