The Irish’s Dice Roll Against Garfield

The O’Dea Fighting Irish are making a final push for seeding in the regular season with a game against the Garfield Bulldogs this Friday, October 21st at 5:00 P.M. at Memorial Stadium. This game is high stakes for them heading into the post season; below is the best and worst case scenarios the Irish can put themselves in.

Best Case Scenario:

It is going to be a grind for the Irish to secure this best-case scenario. Everyone must do their job for them to prosper.

The Irish defense must shut down ex-O’Dea wide receiver Sejhe Jackson to beat the Garfield offense. The running back core for the Bulldogs is a lot weaker than their wide receiver core, putting a lot of pressure on the Fighting Irish secondary. Junior corner back Kyan McDonald especially must come up big to shut Jackson down.

The run game from the Bulldogs should be no problem for the Irish. With senior defensive tackle Anthony Hall and senior defensive end Christopher St. Louis in the trenches for the Irish, the Bulldogs will struggle on the ground if the Irish seniors continue to dominate.

To have the best offensive success, the Irish must keep up their strong run game. The Garfield defense seems to be their weak suit, especially in their recent loss against the Rainer Beach Vikings. If the strong running core of juniors Jason Brown and Christian Winn stay gaining consistent yardage on the ground for the Irish, and on top of the ever improving wide receiver core of senior Darien Maragh and Andrew Tran, the Irish will certainly dominate the Garfield defense.

Though, after Garfield’s loss to Rainer Beach, who the Irish dominated 22-0 earlier in the season, they will be coming out with fire and toughness to rank high in the post season.

If the Irish do their job, they will earn a bye week on October 23rd.

“We got to dial in our mechanics and get healthy,” senior full back Beckett Swanson shared on what they will do during their bye week.

With the regular season coming to a close, the Irish hope to make a final push in the post season and win state. A win against Garfield will be key for their success if they all continue to dominate on both sides of the ball. The best case for them includes a win against the Bulldogs that will secure a well earned bye week to help them recover and 2nd in Metro League standings going into the post season.

Worst Case Scenario:

The worst thing the Irish can do is let Jackson get hot. He is the star on offense for the Bulldogs. On top of the emotions that come with playing his old high school. He will be the party starter for Garfield’s offense and will put up about two touchdowns on the Irish if he is not contained.

The Irish should not have a problem offensively with the amount of pure weapons they have in Brown, Winn and Maragh, but assuming these players are not hot, they may struggle to get the ball in the endzone.

If the Irish do not get their starting offense hot and do not control the wide receiver core for Garfield, their post season will be significantly different. They would not have earned their bye week to physically heal their star players and be one hundred percent ready for the post season push for the state championship. They also will be lower in Metro League standings giving themselves a harder run in the post season in hopes for a state championship victory.