Owls fly by Lions in SGA's First Loss of the Season
The Santa Gertrudis Academy Lions struggled to contain the Owls offense in Thursday night’s loss. (Photos by Frank Cardenas)
By: Frank Cardenas
After a stellar first quarter of play from Santa Gertrudis Academy (2-1), the last three quarters belonged to Odem (3-0), as the Owls beat the Lions, 35-7.
The Lions were able to force a turnover early after a tipped pass turned into an interception for Audi Benitez. He would return the football inside the redzone and a penalty against the Owls placed them at the nine.
On the next play, Ramon Gomez punched it into the endzone for the lone touchdown of the night for the Lions. The teams would exchange drives until the Owls tied things up on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 5:33 remaining in the first half.
On the ensuing drive, the Lions were forced to punt, but a bad snap resulted in a scoop-and-score to put the Owls on top, 13-7. Odem’s defense held SGA to a three-and-out on the next drive, then scored on the following drive to take a 19-7 lead into halftime.
Following the half, it was stagnant for both offenses as neither team put up any points for the first eight minutes of the second half.
At the 4:30 mark in the third, a bad snap on a punt by the Lions allowed the ball to be placed at the seven yard line. One play later, the Owls added another rushing touchdown to their total to go up 26-7.
A 43-yard touchdown catch-and-run by Odem with just under 8:30 remaining in the contest would add to the Odem lead. On the ensuing drive, the Owls defense pinned the Lions into their own endzone to force a safety and the final score of 35-7.
The Lions will look to recuperate as they take on Skidmore-Tynan next week, before beginning District 16 3A Division I play against San Diego the following week.