ODA football gets wild win against Bradenton Christian

The Out-of-Door Academy head football coach Ken Sommers isn't sure he's ever been involved in a stranger fourth quarter. 

Only one game comes close, he said, and that is the Thunder's 19-point fourth-quarter comeback against St. Pete Catholic in 2015. He shook his head as he tried to think of more. 

"This was a toss-up game," he said. "Both teams deserved to win, or lose, depending on how you look at it."

In the end, he'll take the result, a 7-6 win against Bradenton Christian that featured 10 total turnovers, five for each team. More specifically, it featured a controversial muffed punt that BCS returned for a touchdown (ODA said the returnee called for a fair catch, the officials said he failed to catch the ball even though it never touched the ground), a snap over the kicker's head on the following point-after attempt that turned into a dropped two-point conversion which would have given BCS the lead, a blocked BCS field goal and a diving interception by ODA junior Jimmy Viard.

All of that happened in the fourth quarter. 

The quarter also featured what turned out to be the winning score, a six-yard touchdown run by Viard. 

"It takes time," Sommers said of his offense, which struggled to sustain drives and keep possession of the ball. He noted that his offensive line was not much of a push early in the game, but began to do so late as the BCS defense "loosened up." 

Sommers also said he was proud of the way his defense dominated and credited coordinator Chris Kempton for how the unit has developed.