EDMONDS — Johri Fogerson and the O’Dea Fighting Irish put a quick end to the Meadowdale Mavericks’ successful season.
The senior O’Dea running back carried the ball twice in the first quarter, rushing for touchdowns of 74 and 75 yards on back-to-back O’Dea possessions as the Fighting Irish defeated the Mavericks 42-7 in a 3A state quarterfinal game at Edmonds Stadium.
Fogerson finished with 200 yards on eight carries — an eye-popping average of 25 yards per carry — and four touchdowns in leading O’Dea into a semifinal game at the Tacoma Dome against the winner of tonight’s game between Bellevue and Southridge.
“We’re back in the dome. We’ve knocked down the door we’ve been trying to knock down for two years and now we’re back in the T-Dome,” Fogerson said, referencing O’Dea’s past two seasons in which the Irish lost in the quarterfinals, both years to Kennedy.
Making its first state quarterfinal appearance in the school’s history, Meadowdale (7-5 overall) came into the game on a three-game winning streak and with the confidence to compete with the undefeated Irish. In contrast, O’Dea (12-0) was making its 14th straight 3A state tournament appearance.
“We had a lot of confidence coming into the game,” Meadowdale head coach Mark Stewart said, “but they certainly took it to us.”
Yes they did.
The Irish jumped to a 21-0 lead two seconds into the second quarter when quarterback Donald Lisowski scored on a 1-yard keeper. Lisowski’s score came two plays after Zach Fogerson, Johri’s brother, ran 72 yards on first-and-10 from the O’Dea 26. He made it to Meadowdale’s 2-yard line before being pushed out of bounds.
Johri Fogerson scored again on the Irish’s next possession, taking a hand-off on third-and-7 and going 30 yards for the touchdown. Two of Fogerson’s three touchdown runs came on third down.
“They’ve got a good football team,” Stewart said before reiterating that the Irish “certainly took it to us. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”
Meadowdale did its best to battle back into the game, converting a fourth-and-4 early in the second quarter and just missing an interception that most likely would have been returned for a score. With three minutes remaining in the half, Mavericks’ junior defensive back Nasser Kyobe nearly intercepted a Lisowski pass at the O’Dea 25-yard line with not a single Irish player in sight.
The Irish put up 14 more points in the third quarter while besting its season average of 39.7 points per contest.
“It was just too much speed and too physical,” Stewart said of the Irish.
Lisowski scored on a 28-yard TD run in the third quarter and after a 42-yard TD run by Johri Fogerson was negated by an Irish holding call, the senior quarterback completed a 41-yard pass to receiver Alonzo Jackson. That set up Fogerson’s fourth and final TD run of the night.
Johri Fogerson, who has compiled 2,155 total rushing yards this season to go with his 32 touchdowns (30 via the run), did not play in the fourth quarter.
The Mavericks got their lone score on a 2-yard run by sophomore Sam Werner. He finished with 10 carries for 26 yards. Sophomore Naji Moore-Taylor led the Mavericks with 97 yards on 21 carries.
“We’ve done a good job to get to this point. We’re one of eight teams left,” Stewart said.
At Edmonds Stadium
O’Dea1414140—42
Meadowdale0007—7
O’Dea—J. Fogerson 74 run (Farricker kick)
O’Dea—J. Fogerson 75 run (Farricker kick)
O’Dea—Lisowski 1 run (Farricker kick)
O’Dea—J. Fogerson 30 run (Grady kick)
O’Dea—Lisowski 28 run (Grady kick)
O’Dea—J. Fogerson 11 run (Farricker kick)
Meadowdale—Werner 3 run (Henao kick)
Records-O’Dea 12-0 overall. Meadowdale 7-5.
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