The time of year has arrived when one loss will end your season, some call it the 2nd season. The High School Football Playoffs are a special time of year. Only 16 teams in each conference are still playing football. Records sometimes don’t tell the whole story, so we will go inside the numbers.
#10 Safford(6-4) vs #7 Odyssey Institute(8-2)
The only common opponent this season was Florence. Safford defeated them 48-19, Odyssey Institute beat them 16-12.
Safford has scored 357 points this season and given up 221. OI has scored 329 and given up just 199 on the season.
The Minotaurs rely on junior running back Chris Weaver to carry the offense. He has 269 carries for 2256 yards and 23 touchdowns on the season. He has 236 more carries than the next player on the team.
Quarterback Carson Snyder has thrown for 559 yards and 8 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
Safford has also relied on the ground game this season. They have rushed for 2742 yards and 31 touchdowns as a team this year. Sophomore CJ Scrivner is the leading rusher, just 35 yards shy of a 1,000 yard season.
The Bulldogs leading passer this year is Mason Duros. He’s thrown for 695 yards and 11 touchdowns with just 3 interceptions.
By the numbers, Safford has had the tougher schedule this season. Their average opponent power point ranking is 14.8. The average opponent record is 5.8 wins and 4.2 losses. Of their 10 games, they played 6 playoff teams with a record in those games of 2-4.
Odyssey Institute’s opponents averaged a power point ranking of 20.5. Their opponents had an average of 4.1 wins and 5.9 losses. They played just 3 playoffs teams this season with a record in those games of 1-2.
| Odyssey Institute | Category | Safford |
| 8-2 | Overall | 6-4 |
| 2-2 | League | 4-1 |
| 6-0 | Non-League | 2-3 |
| 0-0 | Head to Head | 0-0 |
| 1-0 | Common Opponent | 1-0 |
| 5-0 | Home | 2-3 |
| 3-2 | Away | 4-1 |
