Originally published Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 10:34 PM

No. 9 Capital blanks No. 4 O'Dea, 28-0

Tyler Sundberg had 155 yards on 22 carries for the Cougars from Olympia, who were also stingy on defense in a season-opening victory.

By Mason Kelley

Seattle Times staff reporter

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MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES

O'Dea tight end Devante Curry is tackled by Capital defensive back Chase Lamoreaux after making a catch in the first half.

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WEST SEATTLE — Close games between O'Dea and Capital are nothing new. In fact, the Irish opened each of the last two seasons with close wins over the Cougars.

But on Thursday night, Capital got its revenge.

An early fourth-down scoring strike combined with the hard running of Capital senior Tyler Sundberg was too much for the fourth-ranked Irish to overcome in a 28-0 loss at West Seattle Stadium.

"We've played them three years in a row now and they've just been tougher and tougher each year," O'Dea coach Monte Kohler said. "There's obviously an emotional effect for them, so hopefully we get that next year, because we've got to go down there."

The ninth-ranked Cougars from Olympia put O'Dea on its heels in the first quarter. Faced with a fourth-and-12, Capital quarterback Alex Everson found receiver Jourdan Weiks, who slipped behind the defense and caught a 26-yard touchdown pass with his fingertips.

Capital (1-0) tacked on a touchdown in the second quarter, a 5-yard run from Sundberg, who finished with 155 yards on 22 carries.

"O'Dea's a great team, a great defense," Sundberg said. "We just came out fired up. We really wanted this one."

While the Cougars were able to grind out a pair of first-half scores, the Irish (0-1) struggled to get anything going, finishing the first two quarters with just three first downs and 46 total yards.

"One of the things we've been talking about this year is we just can't go into these games wanting to win," Capital coach J.D. Johnson said. "We need to win. We've proven we can play with them. Now we've got to prove that we can beat them."

The Cougars did just that. The key was a defense that kept O'Dea from mounting much of an attack until its final drive of the game.

Senior fullback Michael Martin led the Irish with 53 yards on eight carries, while running back Keenan Forch had 37 yards on 13 carries.

"We're fine," Kohler said. "We've got a lot of football to play. We'll see where we're at. The loss, besides licking our wounds, our egos and all that, we're fine. We're going to learn from it, and hopefully we'll come back from it a little tougher."

Mason Kelley: 206-464-8277 or mkelley@seattletimes.com

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