At the beginning of the season, Olympian head coach Gil Warren said his team would pass the ball enough to, in his words, “keep the other team’s defense honest.” True to form, the Eagles passed just four times in last Friday’s season opener at Granite Hills … and won 36-28.
“We will primarily be a rushing team,” Warren said.
Olympian won its 11th consecutive regular season game by doing just that: running the football. The Eagles (1-0) attempted 57 carries with the result being 445 rushing yards.
Granite Hills coach Randy DeWitt admitted his team was helpless on defense against the South County invaders. “We just couldn’t stop them,” he said.
Alex Cornist did most of the damage with 28 carries for 185 yards and four touchdowns while Dre Gibson rushed 14 times for 130 yards and Asante Gibson had six carries for 110 yards. Asante Gibson had the Eagles’ biggest gain of the night at 54 yards.
Cobrin Humphrey completed two passes for 53 yards to push Olympian’s total offensive output to a staggering 498 yards.
Brandon Casillas caught one pass for 39 yards while Dre Gibson had the Eagles’ other pass reception that was good for 14 yards.
Olympian was challenged throughout the contest by the East County Eagles, who managed to chip away at the Eagles’ early advantage to close the score to 30-28 in the fourth quarter on a 30-yard scoring pass from Cory Lockman to Matt Millien. But the South Bay Eagles answered that challenge with a touchdown of their own.
Dre Gibson had three kick-off returns for 92 yards, including a big gainer that went for 78 yards.
Olympian scored 20 points in the third quarter to maintain its lead.
The Eagles will likely receive the toughest test in their history when they host seventh-ranked Torrey Pines in their home opener Friday. The Falcons are 2-0 after recording back-to-back shutout victories against Paloma Valley (35-0) and Cathedral Catholic (10-0) to kick off the season.
