From Deseret News archives:

High school football: Jaguars keep cool, down Olympus

Published: Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008 1:25 a.m. MDT
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West Jordan and Olympus each learned a lot about themselves Friday night, while playing an entertaining game in front of a near-capacity crowd.

But only West Jordan is 3-0.

The Jaguars drove 80 yards in less than three minutes to nip Olympus 35-28 in a non-region battle.

Quarterback Jace Rogers hit his giant tight end — D.J. Tialavea — on a 5-yard scoring pass that ended up being the difference.

"I knew they gave us too much time," said Rogers, explaining how he felt after Olympus tied the game with 3:25 remaining. "We were keeping our cool."

West Jordan coach Mike Morgan couldn't be prouder. He wouldn't answer — but only smiled — when asked how he felt about being 3-0.

"These kids overcame adversity to win this game," he finally said. "We responded after (Olympus) scores. We came up with the plays."

There was plenty of adversity — on both sides. West Jordan rushed for 352 yards, but gave almost half that back in penalties.

One penalty — an illegal block — came when Tyson Udy intercepted a pass in the end zone and ran 100 yards for a touchdown. The block was behind the play and likely would not have affected Udy's return.

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Olympus coach Mark Smith also noticed the ups and downs. But despite the loss, he was pleased the Titans' have shown improvement in each of their three games.

The Titans' spread offense put up a season-high in points. Olympus, which trailed 20-7 at halftime, came out in the second half and quarterback Spencer Harris hit sophomore Carter Young on a 64-yard touchdown pass on the first play.

Shortly afterward, Olympus recovered a Jaguar fumble. Then Harris tossed a short pass to Spencer Hille to give the Titans their first lead.

"We hit on maybe four cylinders in our first two games," said Smith, who couldn't help but smile despite the loss. "But tonight we hit on 5. I was very proud of the improvement we made.

"Preaseason (non-region) is over, and we've made progress. I'm looking forward to doing more of this in region."

Olympus starts Region 6 play next week at home against Cyprus.

On this night, though, the Titans turned things around in the third quarter. Their two quick scores seemed to surprise the visiting Jaguars, and West Jordan took a while to recover.

Finally, the Jaguas started riding the back of running backs Damien Maestes, who had 126 yards on 28 carries, and Brandt Henslee, who added 110 yards on 11 attempts. The Jaguars moved the ball and finally scored on a 5-yard run by Maestes. West Jordan then added a two-point conversion on one of its favorite plays — a short toss to Tialavea — who caught five passes on the night.

Olympus retaliated, taking advantage of two pass interference penalties, and tied the game when Hille caught his second touchdown pass, but there was still 3:25 left in the game.

Recent comments

Whatever happened to running the ball? there were atleast 10 pass...

Coaching.... | Sept. 13, 2008 at 8:12 p.m.

what D stats? olympus defence has not done anything all year!

what? | Sept. 13, 2008 at 10:06 a.m.

Hey OLY coaches! Why is it that there are only offensive stats...

we want stats.... | Sept. 11, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.

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