Thunder drop a 24-7 decision to O’Dea in Class 3A final four
The 2018 high school football season came to an end for Mountain View Saturday in the Class 3A state semifinals, but the season ended with this Thunder team battling the way it always has.
“It’s been such a fun ride,’’ said Mountain View coach Adam Mathieson, whose team finished the season with an 11-2 record after its 24-7 loss to O’Dea in the Class 3A state semifinals. “Our kids bought into the process for so long. My hat is off to O’Dea, they just kept coming at us, but our kids did what they did each day of the season and that’s to play as hard as they can for 48 minutes.’’
Mountain View trailed 14-0 at halftime after O’Dea scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the first two quarters, one by quarterback Emonte Scott and the other by leading rusher Mark Tafia.
On the first possession of the third quarter, Mountain View’s Michael Bolds provided the spark that the Thunder needed. Bolds intercepted an O’Dea pass, his ninth pick of the season. Two minutes later, Mountain View quarterback Garrett Moen found Philip Earnhardt with a 15-yard touchdown pass to pull the Thunder within a touchdown at 14-7.
O’Dea added a field goal early in the fourth quarter to increase its lead to 17-7 and then Scott scored his second touchdown to make it 24-7 with 8:12 remaining in the game.
Mountain View was able to drive to the O’Dea 20-yard line on its next possession but turned the ball over on downs. The Irish then used their ball-control run game to run out the clock.
“We were inside their 20-yard line on our first series of the game and then again in the fourth quarter,’’ Mathieson said. “I felt like we moved the ball but they did a good job with their red zone defense. Give them credit, they did a good job keeping us out of the end zone.’’
Mountain View entered the state playoffs as the No. 3 seed. O’Dea was the No. 2 seed. It was the third time that the Thunder advanced to the state semifinals.
“The kids played super hard today,’’ Mathieson said. “We had a chance but they (O’Dea) just wore us down a little bit.’’
O’DEA 24, MOUNTAIN VIEW 7
Mountain View 0 0 7 0 — 7
O’Dea 7 7 0 10 — 24
First quarter
O — Emonte Scott, 1-yard run (kick good)
Second quarter
O — Mark Tafia, 7-yard run (kick good)
Third quarter
MV — Philip Earnhardt, 15-yard pass from Garrett Moen (Aiden Hargrove kick)
Fourth quarter
O — 21-yard field goal
O — Scott, 1-yard run (kick good)
