Championship bound: O’Dowd comes up clutch again, upsets No. 1 Liberty on road

BRENTWOOD — Adversity is a friend to Bishop O’Dowd. 

A late bus ride to Brentwood, a delayed pregame meal and a heavy rainstorm couldn’t stop the Dragons in their quest to reach an NCS title game. 

In one of its best performances of the season, O’Dowd upset top-seeded Liberty 23-15 on the road behind a clutch defensive performance in the second half to advance to the title game where it play Amador Valley for the North Coast Section Division II championship. 

“We’ve been working so hard and we faced a lot of adversity,” said running back Saliou Sow, who rushed for 142 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. “The bus got delayed, we had to rush a pregame dinner and it was raining. We still came out here and put on a show.”

In just his third season as head coach, Hardy Nickerson has taken the Dragons back to an NCS title game for the first time since 2018. 

“I am so proud of our kids,” Nickerson said. “Nobody has given us much respect all year and our guys have just taken it and they just kept working and working. And man, this is such a great feeling.”

Quarterback Devin Wilson delivered a winning performance despite the conditions as he completed 10 of 17 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown to Washington-bound receiver Deji Ajose. Sophomore Zach Brien, who played in place of starter Vince Santucci, made all three of his field goal attempts from 31, 25 and 17 yards out.  

“We’ve just been building and stacking,” Wilson said. “We were 4-6 in 2022, we were 6-5 last year. Now, we’re sitting at 10-3. It’s just something that we’ve been working for all spring and all summer.”

O’Dowd’s trip to Brentwood got off to an unpleasant start. The team bus didn’t leave Oakland until 4 p.m., much later than the Dragons scheduled. On the ride to the game, a heavy fog caused traffic and some discomfort on the bus.

“Coach even had to wipe down the windshield for the bus driver,” Wilson said. 

The game, originally scheduled for 7 p.m., was pushed back to 7:15 to allow O’Dowd to warm up. 

But when the game got going, it was all O’Dowd. Strong special teams play got O’Dowd off to a fast start. 

On the opening kickoff, Elliot Lewis recovered a fumble to give O’Dowd possession, 12 seconds into the game. The Dragons made good on Lewis’ recovery as Sow found the end zone from three yards away. 

On the next Liberty possession, the Lions fumbled a punt attempt and gave O’Dowd the ball inside the 25-yard line. Brien knocked in a 31-yard field goal to give the Dragons a 10-0 lead eight minutes into the first quarter. 

Liberty found its groove in the second quarter after Angelo Orgoglio intercepted a screen pass, giving Liberty momentum when it most needed it. Liberty’s offense responded in a big way, driving 58 yards in three plays capped off by a 3-yard touchdown from star running back Jaxon Bell. 

Bell finished Friday’s game with 161 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.

O’Dowd took the momentum back after a Wilson to Ajose 43-yard screen pass touchdown on the next possession gave O’Dowd a 17-8 lead going into halftime. 

The Dragons looked primed to pull away in the third quarter. O’Dowd scored on another Brien field goal, this time from 25 yards to take a 20-8 lead. 

Liberty closed the gap to five on a 34-yard touchdown-run from junior running back Benjamin Hill. 

O’Dowd went back to its run game in the fourth quarter. The Dragons chewed up nearly six minutes off the clock using a 14-play drive that ended in a Brien field goal from 17 yards away that made the score 23-15 with just under two minutes left. 

Still a one score game, Liberty gave itself a chance in crunch time. The Lions drove down to the O’Dowd seven-yard-line with one last chance on fourth down to score and possibly tie the game with a two-point conversion. 

But as O’Dowd has done all season, the Dragons played its best when the stakes were highest. O’Dowd played its coverage perfectly and forced an errant throw to the right sideline that sailed out of bounds, icing the game and punching its ticket to the NCS Division II title game. 

“This team is just special,” Nickerson said about his team’s ability to win games in the clutch. “Were we perfect? No. But when we needed plays, we came up with it.”

For Liberty, head coach Mike Cable said early mistakes put the team in a hole early. 

“We gave them 10 points to start the game,” Cable said. “Penalties and self-inflicted wounds came back to really be our demise.” 

O’Dowd will turn around and prepare for another big test next week against Amador Valley and its star quarterback Tristan Tia. 

O’Dowd has tested itself against the East Bay Athletic League this season, defeating perennial powerhouse Monte Vista twice this year. But O’Dowd will not take the Pleasanton school lightly. 

“We’re just focused on containing them,” Wilson said. “We’ll watch film, see what they like and don’t like and gameplan around their offense.”