This time last year, Cascia Hall's Robbie Colburn was a team trainer.
His decision to return to the game this year as a player is one that his coaches and teammates greatly appreciated on Thursday night.
With Cascia Hall clinging to a three-point lead and under two minutes left, Colburn scooped up a backward pass and returned it 8 yards for a touchdown that iced the cake in the Commandos' 24-14 victory over Glenpool at Ray Siegfried II Stadium.
"Coach really talks about filling your role and doing what you need to do and that's what I tried to do tonight," Colburn said.
To make sure Glenpool didn't try any late heroics, Colburn intercepted a pass just 19 seconds after his touchdown to allow Cascia Hall to run out the clock.
"As we're called the Blue Swarm Defense, we just swarmed around the ball and did our job," Colburn said.
A three-year starter on Cascia Hall's varsity baseball team, Colburn played football his freshman year before giving up the sport.
"There was just that feeling in the back of my mind (to play)," Colburn said. "When spring practice rolled around I thought 'Why not?'"
Despite having a 10-0 lead after the first quarter, Cascia Hall trailed 14-10 at halftime, but Miguel Rosendo gave the Commandos the play they needed with a third-quarter interception, which he returned to the Glenpool 12.
"He's one of the only starters that we have back and he did a great job," Cascia Hall head coach Joe Medina said of Rosendo, who also rushed for 43 yards and kicked a field goal and three extra-points.
Three plays later, Cooper Bethel scored from 2 yards out to give the Commandos a 17-14 lead.
"At halftime I told them that we were here before," Medina said. "Last week we were behind at half so we drew from that experience, but I told them that I don't want to be in this position anymore."
Glenpool's Parker West was impressive in the first half, rushing for 109 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns.
Cascia Hall was primed and ready in the second half, however, limiting Glenpool to 29 yards on 22 plays and forcing four turnovers.
"That's our program," Medina said. "We build our program on defense for games like this and our defense kept us in the game."
Glenpool began its second-quarter rally when West ripped off a 43-yard run and scored four plays later from 12 yards out. On the point-after attempt, Warriors holder Austin Head took the snap and ran the option to the left side and pitched to kicker Colby Meece, who quickly pitched right back to Head who then threw to quarterback Sean Davis for the two-point conversion.
On the ensuing drive, Cascia Hall was whistled for three penalties with a Daulton Cardwell sack mixed in which forced a Commandos punt that went just 3 yards thanks to Glenpool's rush.
West quickly gave Glenpool their first lead on a 12-yard TD run.
Glenpool dodged an early bullet after they touched a punt and Cascia Hall recovered at the Warrior 21. Despite Cascia Hall having first-and-goal from the 5, Glenpool's defense forced the Commandos to settle for a field goal with the defensive stand highlighted by Branson Straessle's pass breakup in the end zone on second down.
Cascia Hall took a 10-0 first-quarter lead on Camden Cecchini's 2-yard run.
Cascia Hall 24, Glenpool 14
| Glenpool |
0 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
- |
14 |
| Cascia Hall |
10 |
0 |
7 |
7 |
- |
24 |
CH: FG Rosendo 27
CH: Cecchini 2 run (Rosendo kick)
GP: West 4 run (Meece pass to Davis)
GP: West 12 run (run failed)
CH: Bethel 2 run (Rosendo kick)
CH: Robbie Colburn 8 fumble return (Rosendo kick)
| CH | GP |
First Downs | 10 | 6 |
Passing Yards | 43 | 0 |
Comp-Att-Int | 4-13-0 | 0-6-3 |
Rushes-Yards | 40-182 | 36-145 |
Punts-Avg | 6-22.0 | 4-29.5 |
Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 4-1 |
Penalties-Yards | 11-79 | 2-4 |
Original Print Headline: Colburn helps Cascia Hall hold off Glenpool
High School Football
The Tulsa World is looking for photographers to shoot all the action surrounding high school football games - the fans, the bands, the mascots, the cheerleaders and plays on the field. This will be in addition to the staff photographers we send to area games.
We covered 30 schools and had more than 900 photos to choose from when we created this gallery. See what we liked or see all the galleries from Week 2. If you like a photo, you can buy it.
