Those tantalizing thoughts turned out to be fleeting.
But for a few magical moments last Friday, the Spartan faithful packed into the stands for Bainbridge High homecoming football game against O’Dea dared to dream the impossible dream.
Down 7-0 against the Fighting Irish, second-in Spartan quarterback Coltrane Brooks connected on a 65-yard pass to Lyle Terry, who scampered along the left sideline all the way to the 10-yard line before O’Dea’s Thomas Stowers caught him from behind.
The Spartans wasted no time in the red zone. They quickly pulled to within a point, 7-6, as Terry punched it in from 1-yard out.
There was 5:56 to go in the first quarter, and the crowd erupted as the fans in navy and gold traded “Can you believe it?” expressions. Bainbridge, a team with just one win this season, was hanging with undefeated O’Dea, and the Spartans had just smacked the No. 2 Fighting Irish squarely on the chin.
O’Dea then fumbled the kickoff return, and the Spartans’ Christian Nonga emerged from the bottom of the pile with the ball, leaving Bainbridge on the Irish’s 31-yard line.
Whoa. Really? Wow.
It wasn’t to last. Bainbridge’s biggest football fantasy and its potentially ultimate upset came to an inglorious end from there and into the second quarter, however, as the Spartans struggled to overcome multiple mental mistakes.
O’Dea went on to score 40 unanswered points in the second quarter as the Irish romped to a 47-6 Metro League win to improve to 3-0 in conference play (6-0) overall.
The gap would have been wider, but the first O’Dea scramble into the end zone after the Spartans’ sole score was called back because of an O’Dea block in the back.
The Irish ground game proved to be too much for Bainbridge. O’Dea amassed 304 rushing yards to Bainbridge’s 44. O’Dea also threw for 70 yards.
The game-changer for O’Dea proved to be junior running back Connor Gregoire, who rushed for 111 yards in the game and scored four of O’Dea’s touchdowns.
Brooks completed seven-of-14 passes for Bainbridge and finished with 94 yards in the air.
Senior Eric Jung led the Spartans’ running game; he finished with 30 yards on eight carries. Nonga added another 26 yards to Bainbridge’s rushing total.
On the defensive side of the ball, senior Sam Roth had 10 solo tackles and two assisted.
Kyle Bierly, a junior, contributed six solo tackles (three assisted), while senior Ben McDonald also had six solo tackles (two assisted).
