A lot has been made of Odessa High’s football team embracing the fast-paced offense of second-year head coach Dusty Ortiz and his staff.
The vertical attack orchestrated by offensive coordinator Creighton Reed has energized the Bronchos and their fan base with the possibility of putting the ball in the end zone on every snap.
Odessa High doesn’t move anywhere, however, without a solid running game.
The Bronchos proved that in their season-opening victory against Lubbock Monterey, rushing 25 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns in the 42-39 overtime triumph.
Of the 25 running plays, only two were stuffed for negative yardage (4 yards lost) and two were stopped for no gain.
The others were all positive plays by running backs Marcos Marichalar and Carlos Sanchez and quarterback Jaylien Jones.
Which, in turn, correlates to success in the passing game.
“Coach Reed does a great job,” Bronchos’ running back coach Jon Brooks said. “He’s a run-first guy, we call a lot of run plays.
“Even our pass plays have run tags on them. Every time we throw it there is usually a run option and any time we get good numbers or a good box, then we’re getting the football and our guys are running really hard.”
The committee of running backs is going to get a little bigger this week, as well, with the return of sophomore Jorge Valdez.
Valdez jumped onto everyone’s radar during spring practices and his performance in the spring game cemented his status as a player the Bronchos could count on to get positive yardage each time he carries the football.
He suffered an injury during the scrimmage against Abilene Cooper and has been working his way back to full strength the past two weeks.
Valdez adds the extra dimension of speed to the Bronchos’ backfield.
“Marcos, he’s our big back and works a lot between the tackles,” Brooks said. “Carlos is a converted wide receiver and I was a little worried about how he was going to be carrying the ball in traffic but he’s done a great job.
“Jorge has more speed than the others. Having him back will open up more for us offensively.”
Brooks is also working with his group on the little things that don’t show up on highlight reels, but stand out when coaches are breaking down video of the game.
“He’s really helped me learn how to wait for the pulling blocker to get in front of me,” Marichalar said. “And ball security and being a better blocker.
“Last week felt good being able to help the team out and get those yards, the first downs that we needed. We started out good and then the second half started slow and then we started picking things up; this week I think we need to start both fast.”
Jones is the wild card for the Bronchos.
He escaped pressure several times against the Plainsmen to extend plays.
When the pass protection did break down, he was able to move the ball up the field for positive yards, gaining 61 yards on 11 carries, with touchdown runs of 8 and 27 yards.
He even surprised Reed on a couple occasions.
“We knew Jaylien could run, but he showed some speed on a couple plays,” Reed said with a smile. “I thought our running backs did a great job for us and having Jaylien back there is a bonus.
“And getting Jorge back is going to be huge for us.”
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