O’Dea v Ferndale - 3A Playoffs 2019
I have watched O’Dea football for several decades, albeit typically from the opponent’s stands, until this year. My oldest brother, Bill Marsh, coached for many years at Eastside Catholic in Sammamish. He played a vital role in building a wildly successful football program there. O’Dea, coached by second-winningest-coach-in-WA-football-history, Monte Kohler, has been a powerhouse football program for a long time, and was (and still is) Eastside’s arch-rival. But this year is different.
My nephew, Luke, Bill’s youngest, is the starting wide-receiver at O’Dea. It was quite the paradigm shift to simply be standing on O’Dea’s sidelines, much less in the trenches documenting their first playoff game of the 2019 season. But when it’s family, allegiance changes quickly. I have had the privilege of shooting the Seahawks for many years, as well as my alma-mater in the state title game, my brother-in-law as he played at Seahawk’s Stadium, my brother Bill as he traveled California to coach a non-conference game, and now my nephew, Luke (jersey #83). O’Dea won convincingly, 42-7, and head to the Round of 16 beginning on November 15, 2019.
The last time I stood on the turf at Memorial Stadium in Seattle, I was the starting wide-receiver/corner for Cascade Christian in Puyallup. We traveled up to play Nathan Hale, a much larger, non-conference foe. It was the King 5 game of the week, though we were significant underdogs as we were a new 1A program playing a staple 3A school. We put up a good fight, losing 48-45. A lot of life and football has happened since that game in 1999, TWENTY years ago.
