Thunder football's perfect record snapped by Saint Stephen's

East County
Sports

The Out-of-Door Academy Thunder is undefeated no longer.

ODA (5-1) lost to rival Saint Stephen's Episcopal (5-1) 48-7 on the road. It is the Thunder's eighth-straight loss to the Falcons.

The Thunder had a chance to snag momentum in the second quarter. Down 7-0, ODA quarterback Tyler Beasley saw wide receiver Connor Pope streaking down the field. A catch would have meant a touchdown — but the two couldn't connect. The miscue led to an ODA punt, which was botched. Saint Stephen's capitalized on the mistake with a touchdown run from D.J. Clark.

The score made it 14-0 in a flash, and ODA was never able to threaten the Falcons again, until the game was out of reach.

The Thunder had just 109 total yards. ODA got 74 of them on a touchdown run from Colin Castro, the lone offensive bright spot. ODA struggled with the physicality of Saint Stephen's defensive line, particularly senior Dylan Davis, who was awarded game MVP honors for wreaking havoc all night.

Despite the offensive struggles, coach Chris Kempton said he was most disappointed in his team's tackling. The Thunder kept trying to tackle Clark and other Falcons up high, he said, which was ineffective and goes against the way the team practices tackling. That will need to be fixed over the next seven days, before the team travels to Northside Christian.

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Ryan Kohn

Ryan Kohn is the sports editor for Sarasota and East County and a Missouri School of Journalism graduate. He was born and raised in Olney, Maryland. His biggest inspirations are Wright Thompson and Alex Ovechkin. His strongest belief is that mint chip ice cream is unbeatable.