The Odessa Tigers took a major step toward the state playoffs in eight-man high school football by defeating the defending state champion Inchelium Hornets 62-18 Friday afternoon amid a cloud of sports cliches.
There was meat-grinder action, the pouring on of coals, the lighting of a fire, a team that began to sizzle.
And all this came after the game.
Happy Odessa fans and players lingered into the autumn darkness at the Inchelium football field — set like a gem in a surrounding of tall hills — for a celebratory hamburger barbecue.
The Tigers improved to 5-0 in the Northeast B-8 League, 6-1 overall and remain one game ahead of Davenport in the race for the NE-8 championship with two to play. The top two gain the state playoffs.
Inchelium (3-2, 5-2) lost control of its own destiny, losing to Odessa and Davenport.
"We knew this was going to be a big game," said Odessa end Jeff Scrupps. "If we lost there would be a three-way tie."
So the Tigers struck early and often, building a 14-0 first quarter lead on two long touchdown passes by Kurt Wolsborn.
But Inchelium's goose wasn't exactly cooked even though the Hornets trailed 28-12 at halftime. Inchelium quarterback Larry Tonasket was able to hook up with tough Eddie Carson for long gainers and Adrian Erickson churned out steady yardage up the middle on dive plays.
Carson hauled in a 10-yard scoring pass from Tonasket to make it 14-6 and Erickson scored Inchelium's second touchdown on a 19-yard blast.
The Hornets had two early drives stall out inside the Odessa 20 and had two others end with turnovers.
After forcing an Inchelium punt, Odessa drove 71 yards in an economical eight plays to score on its first possession of the third quarter. Wolsborn hit Scrupps from the 4.
A second Inchelium punt led to another Scrupps TD reception — but this one covered 69 yards on a single play. Wolsborn pitched right to running back Dallas Deife, which drew in the defense. Deife spiralled a nice dart to Scrupps.
"Scrupps has got some wheels," said Inchelium coach Ron Washington. "I can't fault my kids — the effort was there. Odessa has a good team, they have even more speed."
The speedy Scrupps wound up with 12 catches for 206 yards and four touchdowns. Deife not only threw a touchdown pass, but caught three balls for 95 yards and a TD and rushed for a game-high 112 yards.
Traig Weishaar was another busy Tiger with 17 tackles, one fumble recovery and an interception returned 65 yards for what was probably the clinching score.
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