Odessa falls to Quilcene, 36-12

MOSES LAKE – The Odessa Tigers football team ended their season last Saturday at Lions Field in Moses Lake, finishing with only 2 losses over the entire season. An injury to starting quarterback Collin Martin in the first quarter, plus the size advantage of the Quilcene Rangers made for tough going for the Tigers.

Quilcene 6 14 8 8 36

Odessa 6 0 6 0 12

Backup quarterback Zane McMillan, a sophomore, completed four of 12 passing attempts for a gain of 49 yards. Senior Davey McMillan led the team in rushing yards with 134. Z. McMillan and Chad Strebeck, also a sophomore, got into the end zone for the Tigers' only two scores of the game. Daeton Deife caught a beautiful pass for long yardage that was called back due to a holding penalty on the Tigers, a call that seemed to take the steam out of the Tiger offense.

On defense, Z. McMillan pulled in one interception. D. McMillan and Deife did their best to put a stop to Quilcene's offense, as McMillan led the team with 13 tackles and Deife tallied 11 more. Fellow senior Drew Hardung got one QB sack. The final graduating senior on the team, Hayden Miller, the team's center, will also be sorely missed next year.

The Tigers faced much adversity in the latter part of the season, with injuries to lineman Jacob Scrupps and receiver Gage Starkel, both knocked out for the rest of the season. Both will be back next year, however, as far as we know. Sophomore Dakota Steward was also out for a few games, although he was back in action against Quilcene. Junior Anthony Elder has also had issues with injury, but it is hoped that his senior year will show his true potential. Two freshmen, Tucker Walter and Corbyn Neilsen, worked their way into starting varsity positions during the season and will be players to watch in upcoming seasons.