The Olympian High School football team is 1-1 on the season after defeating host Sweetwater, 49-0, on Friday. Eagles head coach Paul Van Nostrand said he is hoping his team can build some momentum for the remainder of the season.
The OHS coach said there were many positives Friday night despite the team suffering two injuries, one of which required an ambulance to take a player off the field early in the fourth quarter.
“We played with a lot of energy and good focus,” said Van Nostrand, whose team ran up a 21-0 lead on the winless Red Devils with 4:11 still to play in the first quarter. “The kids played hard. The did everything we asked them to do this week.”
Olympian led, 7-0, just 22 seconds into the game. Sweetwater fumbled on the first play of the game and Eagles senior running back Adrian Samano promptly broke off a 42-yard run around end on the visitors’ first play from scrimmage.
Samano would be the player carted off by an ambulance later in the game with a dislocated ankle. However, before he departed the playing field, he scored two touchdowns. His second score – a 50-yard run in the second quarter – gave Olympian a 35-0 lead.
The Eagles got the ball again after a Red Devil punt. A 33-yard pass from Garry Cannon to Paul Thompson Jr. moved the ball to the SuHi 13-yard line. Cannon scored a couple plays player on a six-yard keeper to double the score.
After receiving another Sweetwater punt, it took the visitors just one play to score as Michael Kipling broke away on a 75-yard run.
Ralphie Gomez’s third PAT of the quarter made it 21-0.
Olympian’s defense continued to dominate the game. The Eagles took over on downs at the Red Devil 42-yard line and a completion to tight end David Morgan quickly repositioned the ball at the Sweetwater 9.
Kipling scored his second TD of the game on an ensuing five-yard run just two plays into the second quarter.
28-0 Olympian.
After Samano’s strike from long range, the Eagles sent in their reserves to finish the first half.
Olympian scored on its first possession in the second half to up the score to 42-0 and initiate a running clock. Noah Lacsina got the touchdown on a six-yard run.
Trey Curry scored on a 15-yard run to end the third quarter and complete scoring in the game.
Samano’s injury occurred just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter on the ensuing kickoff. Play was stopped about 20 minutes before Samano could be removed from the field.
The running clock resumed until the game finished with no further scores by either team.
Van Nostrand said his team needs to stay on a tight schedule to record further success.
“We had a couple of injuries in this game and we’ll need to overcome those injuries,” the Eagles sideline boss explained. “We obviously played better than our first game (a 14-13 loss to visiting Mt. Carmel last Friday). We’ve got to ready for Morse, our next opponent (next Friday). We need to have another good week of practice to get ready for them.”
Sweetwater dropped to 0-2 on the season after being outscored 88-0. Red Devil head coach Brian Hay said he’s not surprised by the team’s start.
“We knew we were very young and very inexperienced, so this start is not necessarily a surprise,” Hay explained. “But there was a lot of improvement from last week (a 39-0 loss at Santa Fe Christian last Saturday). As this game went on, there was more improvement.
“We’ll get our ineligibles and our injured back in two or three weeks and we’ll be even more improved.”
WEEK 2 SCOREBOARD
Non-league
Olympian 49, Sweetwater 0
Mater Dei Catholic 28, El Capitan 14
Bonita Vista 54, Imperial 6
Eastlake 34, El Toro 28
Mar Vista 28, Clairemont 7
Grossmont 28, Otay Ranch 27
San Marcos 50, Chula Vista 0
Patrick Henry 40, Hilltop 14
El Cajon Valley 28, Montgomery 0
El Centro Southwest 49, San Ysidro 0
South Delta (Canada) 48, Southwest 22
Lutheran 44, Temecula Prep 26
Eight-Man
Oceanview Christian Academy 70, Foothills Christian 44
Calvary Christian Academy 52, Warner Springs 0
