High School Sports
Class 3A: O'Dea outmuscled by White River

By Matt Massey
Special to The Seattle Times

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SUMNER — Nobody does this to the O'Dea football team and coach Monte Kohler. Nobody grinds the Irish offense to a complete halt. Nobody renders the proud program helpless for an entire evening.

But White River did.

Led by junior quarterback Justin Gran, fourth-ranked White River played ball-control offense and shut down eighth-ranked O'Dea for a 10-7 win last night in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs at Sunset Chev Stadium.

White River moves into the quarterfinals next Friday or Saturday against the winner of today's first-round game between North Thurston (8-2) and Lynden (8-2).

Last night's game boiled down to time of possession. White River dominated, 34 minutes, 38 seconds to 13:22 as O'Dea was helpless without the ball.

Gran helped lead a pair of game-turning drives — a scoreless drive of 9:19 to open the third quarter, and a game-ending 5:43 possession — as the Hornets (10-1) won their 10th consecutive game.

"Those two big drives were huge," White River coach Kevin McNulty said. "To limit them to 33 plays (actually 31) was pretty amazing. It kept them off the field. When we had the ball, we were able to eat the clock up."

"They're just a good, solid football team with a good offensive line," said O'Dea senior linebacker Anthony Felder, whose team's playmaking and team speed were taken away by the Hornets. "We prepared for this and we played hard. We weren't surprised by what they did. They're a great football team. There's just nothing we could've done. We've been struggling all season on offense."

The three-time state champion Irish, who won titles in 1991, 1994 and 1995, could muster only 98 yards of offense, including eight yards passing on senior quarterback Kyle Eriks' 1-for-11 accuracy. O'Dea passed midfield only once, on its lone scoring drive late in the game. The longest Irish gain was a 12-yard run by Miguel Cheatham on that drive.

Cheatham, who sat out most of the first half nursing an ankle sprain from last week, scored on a 1-yard touchdown plunge for O'Dea with 5:43 left.
 
"They have speed, but if you keep it inside and don't let them get an open field, they're not going to go anywhere," said Gran, who ran 20 times for 60 yards and completed 9 of 18 passes for 106 yards and one TD.

This was O'Dea's 21st trip to state and 17th under Kohler, but it ended prematurely. The Irish finished 8-3 with two consecutive losses against a team they beat 21-6 last season in the first round. The Hornets won the only other meeting of the schools 7-0 in the first round in 1998.

"Last year, they got us," said Gran, whose team gained 270 yards of total offense. "We were not going to come out here and lose again. It's all pretty much our defensive coordinator. He pretty much told us what they were going to do."

Dan Babauta led the Hornets' ground game with 67 yards on 18 carries as they gained 164 yards rushing as a team.

"We'll go as far as our line takes us," said McNulty, whose offensive line averages 219 pounds. "The kids up front did a great job, even when they put people in the box."