Three games into the 2009 season, Odessa’s big-play offense finally showed up.

That was bad news for Coronado, because right now its offense cannot match the pace set by the Bronchos, or any team for that matter. For the second straight week, the Mustangs were victimized not only by the other team but by their own mistakes, and the result was a 46-7 rout at Lowrey Field on Thursday night that leaves the Mustangs in an 0-2 hole in District 2-5A play.

Penalties, sacks and negative plays constantly put the Mustangs (1-2, 0-2 in 2-5A) in second- and third-and-long situations, and they were never able to recover. Of their six first-half drives, four ended on downs and two resulted in punts. In the second half it was two turnovers and two punts sandwiched around the only Coronado touchdown of the game.

“We would have big plays and then something bad would happen, something stupid would happen,” said Coronado quarterback Rick Henderson, who was 26-of-38 passing game but for just 177 yards and an interception. “We couldn’t find a way to get it in the end zone soon enough, not until the fourth quarter when we got a big play going. We’ve got to step up and play. We’re better than this.”

Odessa, meanwhile, put up the kind of numbers it did in 2008 when it was the second-place finisher in district play. Quarterback Derrick Teegarden was an efficient 14 of 19 for 253 yards and a touchdown, and he also ran for two scores, the second one a 58-yard keeper on the option that allowed the Bronchos (2-1, 2-0) to finally start cutting loose.

Bradley Marquez added 127 rushing yards and scored on a 68-yard run, and Gabriel Rodriguez highlighted his seven-catch, 162-yard performance with a 66-yard catch and run for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage in the second half. And just for good measure, Ronnie Marquez ended the scoring with a 55-yard touchdown with a little more than 4 minutes left in the contest.

“We made some big plays, and it’s not bad to have that kind of talent in the skill positions where you can make big plays happen,” Odessa coach Ron King said. “But there are some things we’d like to be able to do to grind it out sometimes. I’m not going to turn down long runs, but we’ve got to be more consistent because big plays aren’t always going to happen for you.”

While Odessa was finding its groove, Coronado was finding nothing but frustration. Henderson was sacked six times in the game, five of those in the first half, and three of them led to Mustang drives stalling out.

It wasn’t until late in the game that the Mustangs finally broke a string of 71/2 scoreless quarters when third-string running back Banner Owen scored on a 6-yard touchdown run with 5:55 left in the game.

Starting running back Cameron Owens was out with a high ankle sprain suffered last week, and backup Darius Petrie suffered a left leg injury during the first quarter.

“We moved the ball and moved it well, and then we’d do something that backs us out of there and we weren’t able to overcome that early,” Coronado coach Butch Henderson said. “That’s when you need to be able to put them in while the defense is battling and it gives them some help and you’re able to stay close. That puts the pressure back on Odessa.”

Instead, it was the Bronchos who put the pressure on and kept it there. Leading 7-0, Teegarden kept around right end when the Mustangs played the pitch man on the option but not the quarterback, and he shook a tackle from Leonard Tello at the 5-yard line to reach the end zone and push the lead to 14-0. Following a punt by Coronado, Bradley Marquez took a handoff on the draw, got around the corner and used his blazing speed to go 68 yards untouched to push the lead to 20-0.

Those two runs helped the Bronchos decisively win the first-half yardage battle, out-gaining Coronado by more than 100 yards (293-191). Odessa then turned up the defensive effort in the second half to expand that distance, finishing with 492 yards against a Coronado defense that had allowed just 276 per game coming in.

“(The defense) played well and when (Odessa’s big plays hit), we lost out swagger for a little bit and let them pop two quick ones,” Butch Henderson said. “We came back and played well after that, but we’ve got to learn to handle those situations when they happen to us.”

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ODESSA 46, CORONADO 7
Odessa 7 13 17 9 — 46
Coronado 0 0 0 7 — 7
First Quarter
ODE—Derrick Teegarden 1 run (Craig Branum kick); :00
Second Quarter
ODE—Teegarden 58 run (Branum kick); 7:40
ODE—Bradley Marquez 68 run (kick failed); 4:45
Third Quarter
ODE—Gabriel Rodriguez 66 pass from Teegarden (Branum kick); 10:56
ODE—Branum 29 FG; 9:11
ODE—Marquez 4 run (Branum kick); 3:35
Fourth Quarter
ODE—Branum 33 FG; 8:37
COR—Banner Owen 6 run (Taylor Swift kick); 5:55
ODE—Ronnie Marquez 55 run (kick failed); 4:16
TEAM STATISTICS
ODE COR
First downs 19 11
Rushes-yards 28-239 22-94
Passing yards 253 177
Comp.-att.-int. 14-19-0 26-38-1
Punts-avg. 1-42.0 3-28.0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-yards 5-40 3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Odessa, Bradley Marquez 9-127, Derrick Teegarden 8-75, Ronnie Marquez 9-38; Coronado, Banner Owen 7-54, Rick Henderson 12-31, Darius Petrie 3-9.
PASSING: Odessa, Teegarden 14-19-0—253; Coronado, Henderson 26-38-1—177.
RECEIVING: Odessa, Gabriel Rodriguez 7-127, Tyler McQueen 3-40, Johnny Campos 1-29, Jonathan Lara 2-14, B. Marquez 1-8; Coronado, Stephen Hazuka 4-34, Brandon Valderaz 2-31, Trevor Payne 2-29, Keith Scioli 4-28, Greg Allen 8-20, Kale Dudding 1-17, Sterling Jones 2-7, Ryan Carpenter 1-4, Owen 1-4, J.J. Johnson 1-3.