Last Friday night at Memorial Stadium, the O’Dea Fighting Irish defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders 49-30, claiming their second consecutive Metro League Championship. O’Dea’s running back, Uriah Stringfield, had a major role in his team’s win with 254 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.
This game was of high importance to both teams as it would determine seeding in the state championship tournament. Coming into this game O’Dea was on a hot 7-game win streak with their previous win against Garfield 42-8, while Roosevelt was looking to build a winning streak of their own following a win against Rainier Beach 42-7.
Roosevelt’s offense started off hot, scoring on their opening drive with a short touchdown run by Damari King to take an early lead. O’Dea responded rapidly by driving down the field which ended successfully with a touchdown from Zander Turner. After both teams added more touchdowns to the scoreboard, Stringfield was able to get his first touchdown in the second quarter, giving O’Dea momentum heading into halftime with the score 21-13.
In the second half, O’Dea would continue to feed the hot hand of Stringfield, who would tack on two more rushing touchdowns, showcasing his dominance on the field and helping the Fighting Irish secure the Metro championship.
Stringfield wasn’t the only standout for O’Dea that night; wide receiver Giulio Banchero made his mark by scoring two receiving touchdowns in the game, heavily contributing to O’Dea’s offense, and making it difficult for the Rough Riders to catch up to O’Dea.
Roosevelt would find some success in their offense, putting up 436 total yards and their quarterback Dalton Anderson had 343 passing yards and three touchdowns. Unfortunately, Anderson’s showcase was overshadowed by two interceptions. Roosevelt’s wide receiver, Nolan McWilliams, had 177 receiving yards and two touchdowns on seven receptions, but it still wasn’t enough to topple O’Dea.
Heading into next week, O’Dea has completed a perfect regular season at 8-0 and are feeling great heading into the bye week before the round of 32 state playoffs. For the Rough Riders, they will drop to 5-3 on the regular season, hoping to figure out their issues on defense as they wait on playoff seeding.
