High school football: Mathis rallies again, this time past Odem for second straight win
ODEM — Mathis is certainly finding a flare for the dramatic this season.
The Pirates did not mount as large a rally this week against San Patricio County rival Odem, but they needed to rally again and then took advantage of some luck to come away with thrilling 28-22 victory against the Owls on Thursday night.
Mathis (2-1) rallied from a large deficit against Taft to defeat the Greyhounds 50-46 last week, and on Friday, the Pirates kept counterpunching every time Odem (0-3) found a way to score and take the lead in a wild second half.
The game was tied twice in the fourth quarter before Ethan Ybarra’s 6-yard TD run with less than three minutes remaining provided the game winner.
“I’m just real happy we finally got to beat Odem,” said Ybarra, who rushed for a game-best 234 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns. “Just keep your head up, don’t give up, you are going to get there eventually. It’s just pride of the Pirates, especially the defense, just proud to be on this team.”
Key Moments
Mathis was down 6-0 at half but responded by opening the second half with an impressive 11-play, 77-yard scoring drive that was finished with 9-yard TD run by fullback Xaiden Veliz.
The Pirates led 8-6, and that score opened the flood gates in the second half. Odem retook the lead on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Dawson to Leon Brown, one of two scores the quarterback and receiver connected on during the game.
The game’s momentum, though, turned to Mathis on a crucial Odem mistake. Ybarra’s second TD run with 2:56 remaining tied the score at 22. On the ensuing kickoff, Odem did not field the ball and Mathis recovered at the Owls 6-yard line.
One play later, Ybarra scored his third TD and gave the Pirates the lead at 28-22. Odem drove to the Mathis 1-yard line in the final minute but could not punch in the game-winning score as Dawson was sacked on the final play of the game.
Key Players
Ybarra showed some explosiveness and elusiveness on the way to his 200-plus yard night as he scored on TD runs of 46, 15 and 6 yards.
Odem’s Bryce Galvan was also a workhorse for the Owls rushing for 131 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown. Dawson, meanwhile, completed 7 of 11 passes for 134 yards and the two touchdowns to Brown, who finished with five catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
What the coaches said
Mathis coach Trae Stevens: “Little bit of a roller coaster, little bit of a roller coaster. Late in the game, I’m not as concerned … middle of the game, halftime right there I was more concerned going into halftime how we were going to respond. But man, I love those guys, those guys looked at us and they didn’t flinch one bit in that locker room. They were ready for us and we were going into talk, and they said, ‘Coach, we’re good, let’s go play football.”
Odem coach Armando Huerta: “Well we’ve got to learn how to win. It’s a whole new group of kids and we knew it was a process, and we’ve gotten better every week. But you still got to learn how to win, and we made a lot of mistakes that aren’t going to help you win football games. The good news is it’s correctable. But you hate to drop what you probably shouldn’t have dropped because the effort was there, we got to be smarter.”
Up next
Mathis will take on George West at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16, and Odem faces off with San Diego also at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 16.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Mathis rallies against Odem in non-district high school football
