Sparts give Irish a run for their money

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Wild momentum swings in the fourth quarter favor the visiting team, 21-14.

Gabe Culkin was walking back to the locker room after the game when a Bainbridge assistant coach stopped him to offer some words of encouragement.

“If we stop the draw play, we beat these guys,” he said.

Culkin’s response was immediate.

“We’ll play them again in the playoffs,” he said.

Bainbridge did their best against O’Dea Friday night, but it was two plays that ultimately cast their downfall in their 21-14 loss in a playoff-like atmosphere at Memorial Stadium.

O’Dea running back Johri Fogerson ran for all three of O’Dea’s touchdowns, with the last two coming on draw plays that caught the defense off guard.

Head coach Andy Grimm was still proud of how the team handled themselves against the longtime Metro League powerhouse.

“It’s a tough way to take it, but I think they played hard the whole game,” he said. “Effort-wise, that’s all we could ask for.”

The Spartans, ranked 10th in the state AP football poll, got the standing room-only crowd at Memorial Stadium going early when Fighting Irish quarterback Quinn Kelly and running back Issac Watson botched a handoff, fumbling the ball.

Dayton Gilbreath recovered the ball deep in O’Dea territory and the Spartans took advantage.

They got the benefit of a penalty (a roughing the passer call) and took some risks on two fourth down plays to score.

The first conversion was quarterback Quinton Agosta running for five yards on a fourth and five. The second came on a five yard pass from Agosta to Dayton Gilbreath for the score.

But O’Dea drove down the field on their next drive and scored, as Fogerson ran the ball in from four yards out.

The Fighting Irish got the ball back and almost scored again, but the Spartan defense held firm, as the secondary batted away consecutive passes on third and fourth down.

Agosta did his part to drive Bainbridge down the field before the half with several scrambles, but a holding penalty derailed any momentum.

Bainbridge forced a turnover on O’Dea’s first drive in the second half when Bryan Gilbreath forced and recovered a fumble, but they couldn’t get anything going.

On the Irish’s next possession, the Spartans held firm again, but Fogerson made several nice moves on a draw play to score from 20 yards out to put the Irish ahead.

“That kind of kid (Fogerson) gets in the open field and he gets an open shot, then he becomes effective,” Grimm said.

But Bain­bridge kept at it. They almost forced another turnover when Kyle Szar­zyn­ski had a interception knocked away, but couldn’t capitalize until late in the quarter.

On fourth down, Agosta got free and scrambled when a bootleg play broke down and didn’t stop until he’d zigged and zagged his way 45 yards into the end zone with 4:44 left in the game, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

“Right when I scored on that broken boot, I felt the momentum go our way,” Agosta said. “Everyone was real excited.”

But the Fighting Irish weren’t about to go down either.

On their next drive, Fogerson got the ball on another draw play on a thrid and 11 and ran through several tackles on his way to a 50-yard touchdown to put O’Dea up for good.

“We missed a bunch of tackles, but I wouldn’t blame anybody,” Culkin said. “They’re hard to tackle.”

Bainbridge kept fighting as they got the ball back twice in the last 2:30 of the game, but couldn’t get a first down on the first one.

They got to midfield on the second one, but had no timeouts and were unable to stop the clock.

Grimm says the team can come back and get the job done not just next week, but for the rest of the season.

“Credit them (O’Dea). They got the job done,” he said. “You can’t pin everything on tonight. We just have to take it one game at a time.

“How do you prepare for Lakeside next week? Do you let this emotionally drain you or do you come back ready to work?

Culkin feels they’ll be ready.

“We do have things to work on,” he said. “But we put all our effort in tonight. I don’t regret it at all.”

Agosta finished with 100 yards on nine carries. He also completed nine passes out of 21 attempts for 78 yards.

Dayton Gilbreath ran for just 24 yards on seven carries.

Bryan Gilbreath caught four passes for 46 yards.

He also led the team with 15 tackles, 11 of which were solo stops.

Kyle Petheram was second with 12 tackles, 10 of which were solo stops.

Bainbridge (1-1, 4-1) plays Lakeside (0-2, 0-5) at Lakeside Saturday at 2 p.m.

They play on the road the week after that against Seattle Prep, then return for the last game of the regular season at home against Bishop Blanchet.