It’s just after 5:30 and the lights surrounding Coleman Field on the Odessa High campus are shining bright.
5:30 a.m.
Inside the OHS fieldhouse, some members of the Bronchos’ coaching staff have been in the weight room since 4:45 a.m., while others are quietly sitting at their desks preparing for the upcoming practice.
The players begin to arrive, in ones and twos, still under the cover of darkness, some rubbing sleep from their eyes, many with their headphones on or ear buds in as they, too, prep for the upcoming workout.
Soon, the sound of cleats on asphalt echo off the outer walls of the fieldhouse as the players emerge from the locker room and head to the field, which sits bathed in a fluorescent glow, an oasis in the surrounding darkness as windows in the adjacent apartment complex stay dark, the occupants trying for a few more minutes of sleep before beginning their day.
Their wakeup call is coming.
Head coach Dusty Ortiz, in his first year at the helm of the program, gets things started with a whistle blast right around 6:30 a.m., followed by several claps that are echoed by the players.
“It’s a great day to be a Broncho,” he says to the group assembled in front of him, offensive players to his right, the defense on the left, lined up from goal line to goal line.
Lights start popping on in the windows.
The light bulbs have been coming on in the players’ brains for more than six months now.
Familiarity breeds confidence, which in turn breeds success and this year’s Bronchos’ squad, for the first time in several seasons, is brimming with confidence.
The players have embraced the change in coaching staffs, with Ortiz hired in March when former head coach Danny Servance was reassigned after struggling for five seasons.
Also embraced has been the change in offensive and defensive philosophies, both much more aggressive, giving the players the chance to make big plays on every snap.
Most importantly, perhaps even more than the team’s overall record, is this year’s group of players, especially the seniors, understands that the 2021 season is the foundation for the future.
It’s taken a while, but the spread offense seems to have firmly taken root at 13th and Dotsy.
No longer will the Bronchos be everyone’s choice for their homecoming game.
As Bob Dylan once said, in 1965, “The Times They Are a-Changin.”
Oh, other Bronchos’ coaches have thrown the ball, but nothing like the way Ortiz and offensive coordinator Creighton Reed have so far this season.
Senior quarterback Diego Cervantes has broken several single-season records thus far, including one in last week’s loss to crosstown rival Permian, when he finished with 37 attempts to give him 244 on the season, 10 better than the previous mark set by Derrick Teegarden in 2009.
Cervantes also become just the second quarterback, along with Teegarden, to break the 2,000-yard barrier in a single season.
With the Bronchos (3-4 overall, 1-2 in District 2-6A) basically in playoff mode beginning this week against Midland Legacy, Cervantes could very likely crack the 3,000-yard mark by the end of the regular season.
Numbers that, until this season, would rarely have been associated with the Bronchos’ program, but will very likely become the norm.
Ortiz is very open about his goal to make Odessa High a program that not only qualifies for the playoffs on a regular basis, but wins in the postseason.
He knows that in order for the Bronchos to have a chance to make a run at the state title, they are going to have to be able to compete with teams from the Metroplex every other round.
Teams that want to spread you thin and make you defend every inch of turf.
Ortiz feels he can get the Bronchos to that level, sooner than later.
The lights are one, for sure.
Spotlights, squarely on Odessa High’s renaissance.
>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide
