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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

ACH completes the circle


ACH quarterback Josh Goodwin, who rushed for 131 yards, turns the corner on the Odessa defense. Special to the Spokesman-Review
 (Patrick Hagerty Special to the Spokesman-Review / The Spokesman-Review)

TACOMA – Not 2 minutes into their state championship football showdown between Northeast League 1B rivals, Almira/Coulee-Hartline set the tone against Odessa.

Josh Goodwin sprinted right, cut back against the grain and dashed 51 yards for the score with just 1 minute, 38 seconds elapsed in the game.

It proved a harbinger as the Warriors turned the tables on the Tigers with a 38-14 triumph for the first championship of this weekend’s six-game Gridiron Classic XIII in the Tacoma Dome.

ACH’s victory was a 74-point reversal of fortune from when last they met and secured its first State 1B title since 1990, when coach Brandon Walsh was playing. It came at the expense of the previously unbeaten Tigers.

“It’s amazing,” Goodwin said. “I’ve dreamt my whole life of winning a state championship. It’s so sweet, especially beating arch-rival Odessa. In the regular-season game Jacob Schmidt ran all over us. We knew we had to stop him to make a game of it.”

The ability of Goodwin and Jordan to run the football and a defense that denied Odessa four times in the shadow of their goal line obliterated the memory of a 50-point loss in the fourth game of the season.

The Warriors gained 289 yards on the ground and limited Odessa to 95, denying a team that wanted to control play with hits punishing rushing attack. Schmidt was held to 56 yards and Odessa was forced to the air.

Goodwin transferred from Mead last year and played tight end and safety as a junior. This season he passed for nearly 1,600 yards but threw only 11 times against Odessa, rushing instead for 131 yards on 16 attempts and scoring two long touchdowns.

Hughes added 146 yards on 17 carries and like Goodwin, came up big on defense.

The Tigers spent the rest of the night playing catch up, and they never were able to do so.

The differences were clear. ACH couldn’t move the football the first time they played. This game the team beat the Tigers at their own game, with a 3-to-1 rushing advantage.

Though Odessa was able to move the ball for much of three quarters, one drive came up empty at the ACH 2-yard-line early in the second quarter courtesy of a Goodwin stop. A drive of 83 yards, all on Ryan King pass completions ended up just short of the goal as the half ended.

Then Hughes intercepted a pass shortly after half and returned it 39 yards to the Tigers 11-yard line, leading to another score. The defense of Goodwin and junior Grayson Sizemore stifled Odessa at the 5, forcing the NEB regular-season champions into desperation mode.

“We couldn’t convert down there and we turned the ball over too many times,” said Odessa coach Bruce Todd. “They just flat outplayed us.”

Sizemore was not only highly visible on defense, but his punting – including kicks of 47, 43 and 51 yards – didn’t make things easy for Odessa.

“I don’t want to say we were a bad team, but, yeah we’re a whole different team,” said Sizemore. “This game we turned it around 100 percent. This is a dream come true. I can’t even explain it.”

Still, the game stayed close until ACH scored three touchdowns during a span of 4:37 in the fourth quarter.

After the Warriors went up 16-0 on a Goodwin pass to Nate West with 8:48 remaining in the third quarter, Bryce Todd answered with an electrifying 86-yard kickoff return. After ACH covered 95 yards that included a 34-yard pass completion by Goodwin to Hughes and Goodwin’s spinning, tackle shredding 32-yard touchdown run, Odessa countered with a 64-yard hook-and-lateral bit of trickery from King to Travis Todd to Schmidt.

Trailing 24-14, the Tigers, however, tried an onside kick that failed, ACH scored again and 20 seconds later West, who broke his neck as a sophomore and it was uncertain if he’d play again, returned an interception 27 yards to paydirt to put the game away.

“We played a little softer on the end and made them string it out,” said Walsh of his strategy to limit Odessa’s running game. “This was the most complete game we’ve played this season. It’s the best win I’ve ever had as a coach, no question.”

With its reversal of fortune, ACH reigns today as the State 1B 8-man football champions.

State 3A

Tyler Washburn scored the winning touchdown with 1:44 left, as Skyline erased a 21-point third-quarter deficit and beat O’Dea 42-35 for the championship at the Tacoma Dome.

Johri Fogerson of O’Dea (13-1) scored four touchdowns, including three during the first half and finished with 297 yards rushing – a record for the 3A title game.

But Skyline (14-0), down 28-7 early in the third quarter and 35-21 after O’Dea scored early in the fourth, scored three touchdowns in the final 9 minutes to win its second 3A title and third state championship overall.

The Spartans went 43 yards in six plays for the winning TD. Washburn went up the middle for the final 10 yards of the drive.

Skyline’s Jake Heaps finished with 287 yards passing.

The game-turning moment came midway through the fourth quarter. O’Dea had driven from its 29 to the Skyline 8, but was facing fourth-and-4 and brought in Pat Farricker to try a 25-yard field goal. The kicker swung his leg through as the holder held the ball and hesitated on what appeared to be a fake. When the holder finally got up to run, the ball was knocked loose and picked up on the right side of the field by Skyline’s Eric Biege. Biege ran it back 74 yards for the tying TD with 6:12 left.