WSHS senior LJ Moody (#3) catches a deep pass near the end zone on Senior Night vs O’Dea
Story and videos by Jason Grotelueschen
Photos by Oliver Hamlin
For West Seattle Blog
Seniors from the West Seattle High School football and cheer squads were honored Thursday night as the Wildcats took on O’Dea at West Seattle Stadium, in a special matchup of the season’s top two Metro League football teams.
After a hard-fought scoreless first quarter, followed by a very-not-scoreless second quarter (with 6 combined touchdowns!) made it 28-14 O’Dea at halftime, the Fighting Irish steadily pulled away in the second half and topped the Wildcats by a final score of 56-14, handing WSHS their first loss of the season.
WSHS came in undefeated at 6-0 and on top of the Metro League Sound Division football standings, while O’Dea (the defending 3A state champions, current top-ranked 3A team in WA, and tops in the Metro League Mountain Division) were 6-1 with their only defeat coming in a non-conference season-opening narrow loss to 4A powerhouse Graham-Kapowsin.
As we previewed yesterday, the Thursday game represented a change of plans due to the fact that both the schools’ opponents had to forfeit their respective games this week, opening the door for a last-minute opportunity to shuffle schedules and have WSHS and O’Dea square off in a marquee late-season contest (for WSHS, it’s their final game of the season before the playoffs).
It was Senior Night for both schools, and the game was moved from Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex to West Seattle Stadium (which is O’Dea’s home field). The rain held off and it was a nice night for football, with a good crowd on hand for both schools.
WSHS coach Anthony Stordahl (pictured below during Thursday’s game) told us that he couldn’t be prouder of how his team played against one of the best football programs in the state, under tough scheduling circumstances. “The kids on this team showed resilience and a lot of heart; we could have just taken a forfeit and moved on, but these kids love to compete.”
Now, Stordahl’s squad moves on to the playoffs, and after tonight’s area high school football action they’ll know who their next opponent will be.
Stordahl added that this game had extra-special significance for him personally, as he was able to share the field as a coach for the first time with Monte Kohler, who has coached O’Dea since the mid-1980s and last month reached 395 career wins to become the all-time winningest high school football coach in Washington state. Stordahl played for Kohler as part of O’Dea’s 1994 state championship team.
On Thursday night, the senior class was in the spotlight, and Stordahl told us that he’s “very thankful we got a chance to celebrate the seniors; they deserve a lot of credit in building the culture of this team.” He added that WSHS will be moving up next year to the Mountain Division of the Metro League, competing with programs like O’Dea and Seattle Prep, and that this is possible “because of the standard this senior class has set.”
An hour before the game, WSHS introduced and honored its senior football players and their families:
- Elena Allen (student manager)
- Esayas Brigham (#2)
- LJ Moody (#3)
- Breck Estep (#4)
- Miles Guidry (#5)
- Sorin Smith (#6)
- Jonah Pelander (#7)
- Logan Imel (#8)
- Jackson Evans (#23)
- Scott Bremen (#34)
- Daniel Waters (#35)
- Ford Fitterer (#40)
- Jesse Hansen-Wilson (#43)
- Isaiah Hoskins (#53)
- Rafi Fein-Wallace (#54)
- Nolan Polaski (#56)
- Ari Fein-Wallace (#58)
- Jaykel Warwick (#75)
- Jack Freeborne (#71)
- Gabe Crawford (#79)
Here are photos of some of the football seniors and their families, including Rafi and Ari Fein-Wallace:
Sorin Smith:
Gabe Crawford:
Esayas Brigham:
Jack Freeborne:
And Ford Fitterer:
Here’s our full video of the ceremony:
- Amaya Stagi
- Sophie McNamara
- Ella McNamara
- Hannah Niguidula
- Reese Bailey
- Luka Jaramillo
- Sadie Stover
- Lilli Athan
- Nayeli Martinez
- Izzy Baber
- Annaleise Heinrichs
- KC Martinez
- AJ Nackviseth
- Ariana Trevino
- Izzy McKamey
- Alex Call Terrazas
WSHS cheer coach Nadine Nguyen told us that this senior class “has been the heart of our team, showing dedication, leadership and spirit every step of the way,” and that they truly have inspired the team with their hard work and unity, leaving a lasting legacy for the program.
Here are photos of some of the senior cheer members alongside their families, including Nayeli Martinez:
Ella McNamara (left) and sister Sophie:
Hannah Niguidula:
Ariana Trevino:
And Izzy McKamey:
Here’s our video of the cheer seniors (apologies for the audio quality; the organizers had to use a portable PA system and it was overpowered by the halftime crowd noise):
WSHS had also been planning to honor their senior band members on Thursday night, but the decision was made to recognize them at a future WSHS sporting event.
As for the big game itself, it began with a hard-fought scoreless first quarter, as both teams traded possessions but couldn’t convert points. WSHS missed a field goal with 8 minutes left in the 1st quarter, and the Wildcats played stout defense and recovered O’Dea fumbles on two consecutive possessions to stall drives by the Irish:
Early in the second quarter, O’Dea scored on a touchdown run, and with the extra point took a 7-0 lead with 11 minutes left in the quarter.
About 5 minutes later, the scoring flurry began as the two teams combined for 5 TDs in the last 7 minutes of the first half, starting with an O’Dea TD run to take a 14-0 lead with 6:24 left in the 2nd quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, WSHS senior LJ Moody (#3) took a long return to midfield to give the Wildcats great field position. Not long after, Moody struck again, hauling in a long pass from junior QB Desmond Parkinson (#12):
The Wildcats couldn’t convert in the red zone, and attempted a field goal, but it was blocked and returned by O’Dea all the way to the WSHS 20-yard-line. A couple of plays later, O’Dea scored on short run to extend their lead to 21-0 with just over 3 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.
After the kickoff, WSHS put together a nice drive and then cashed in on long TD pass from Parkinson to junior Justice Nguyen (#1). The extra point was blocked, and the score was 21-6 with 1:36 left before half.
O’Dea took the kickoff and wasted no time, hitting a long TD pass to make it 28-6 with 1:25 left in the 2nd quarter.
WSHS then put together a quick drive (featuring several pass connections between Parkinson and Moody), capped off by going for it in the red zone on 4th down in the final seconds of the 1st half, as Parkinson and Nguyen connected on another TD pass:
Then the Wildcats pulled off a successful 2-point conversion on a pass to junior Aidan Croppi, to make the score 28-14 in favor of O’Dea at the halftime break.
O’Dea struck quickly in the opening minutes of the 2nd half, scoring on a TD run to take a 35-14 lead. This was followed by another TD with 8:20 left in the 3rd quarter to make it 42-14, which was the score after three quarters.
In the final quarter, the Irish defense continued to bottle up the Wildcat offense, and O’Dea added two more TDs to make the final score 56-14.
Up next for the Wildcat squad: Playoffs! Details and opponent are TBD; we will post game information as soon as it’s confirmed, dependent on tonight’s area high school football results.
