Dusty Ortiz, Odessa High’s first-year coach, admitted that after facing Midland High’s veer offense Friday, it was much easier to watch video of the San Angelo Central Bobcats.
San Angelo Central comes to Ratliff Stadium Friday to face the Bronchos in a key District 2-6A contest after both teams dropped their district openers.
“They are a lot like us,” Ortiz said. “They run the same defense, a 4-2-5, and have some similar looks on offense, 3 by 1, 2 by 2, so we see that every day.
“So we are going to be a lot more familiar, it’s something we see four days out of the week and we’ll be more comfortable. When you face an offense like Midland High, it’s hard to duplicate and give credit to Coach (Thad) Fortune because he did some things that we hadn’t seen on video leading up to that game.”
Midland High made every Bronchos’ possession worth something and Odessa High didn’t respond according in the first half, running just four plays in the first quarter.
They had a three-and-out on the first possession of the second quarter and then quarterback Diego Cervantes scored a 36-yard touchdown on their 11th play of the game, with 9:01 remaining in the first half.
Midland High then proceeded to rip off an 11-play drive that consumed more than five minutes of the clock, scoring another touchdown for a 28-7 halftime lead.
“They did everything right,” Ortiz said of the Bulldogs. “They controlled the clock, got an onside kick and even when they fumbled, it went into the end zone and they recovered it.
“But our guys came back up here Saturday and were ready to get started on Central.”
>> WASTE OF TIME: The scoreboard at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland counts down in tenths of a second as it winds down in the final minute.
Apparently, at least to the crew of officials Friday in charge of the Bronchos and Bulldogs, there was no decimal point.
With the Bulldogs facing a fourth-and-2 at the OHS 40, the play clock was ahead of the game clock by less than one second with time was running out in the first quarter.
Midland High let the play clock run to zero and with .7 seconds showing on the scoreboard that should have been cause for a delay of game penalty.
No flag, however, as the crew just moved the ball to the other side of the field.
Ortiz said he asked for an explanation and was told that they don’t deal in 10ths of a second.
>> BOOMER: Until Cervantes’ touchdown run in the second quarter, the best moment of the game for the Bronchos came off the right foot of punter Camilo Nicolas.
Facing a fourth-and-11 at the Odessa High 39, Nicolas launched a 59-yard effort that was downed on the Bulldogs’ 2 with 10:59 to play in the first half.
“That was a great kick,” Ortiz said. “And we just got both our kickers back from injury.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take advantage of that.”
Midland High hit a 34-yard pass play on first down to get out of the shadow of their goal post, eventually scoring on a 57-yard run by Brylee Perez.
>> CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Cervantes has been moving the ball up and down the field, both through the air and on the ground, and his results have him climbing the charts in the Bronchos’ record book.
This season, he has completed 115 of 181 pass attempts for 1,515 yards and 12 touchdowns.
For his career, Cervantes is now 201-of-364 passing for 2,516 yards and 25 touchdowns.
The 2,516 mark puts him seventh on the career list and there’s a good chance that he could be No. 2 by the end of Friday’s game against the Bobcats.
Cervantes needs seven yards to pass Trey Smith (2016-18); 68 to pass Nick Adams (2013-15); 152 to pass Carl Schlemeyer (1951-53); 169 to catch Rick Leach (1997-98) and 326 to move past Darrell Shepard (1974-76).
Derrick Teegarden (2007-2009) holds the career record with 5,381 yards.
>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide
SAN ANGELO CENTRAL AT ODESSA HIGH
>> When: 7 p.m. Friday.
>> Where: Ratliff Stadium.
>> Last Season: San Angelo Central 38, Odessa High 7.
>> Records: San Angelo Central 2-3 overall, 0-1 District 2-6A; Odessa High 2-3, 0-1.
>> Radio: KMCM (FM-96.9)
>> Live Updates: Follow on Twitter at @OALeeScheide.
ODESSA HIGH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
DIEGO CERVANTES
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 190
Class: Senior
Position: QB
Last Week: Was 23-of-37 passing for 304 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 15 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns in a loss at Midland High.
This season: Has completed 115 of 181 passes for 1,515 yards and 12 touchdowns, with five interceptions. Has 53 carries for 514 yards and 11 touchdowns.
