High school football: Titans stage a Titanic rally to slip past Leopards

Olympus overcame two interceptions early in the third quarter to score 17 unanswered points in the fourth period and earn a come-from-behind 23-19 Region 6 victory over visiting East on Friday.

"It was a great game," said Olympus head coach Mike Smith. "East is a good football team. We had some kids step up big and our kicking game was good."

Titans quarterback Spencer Harris threw 20 completions on 34 attempts. He passed for two touchdowns, including the game-winner late in the fourth quarter.

His first TD strike, a 21-yarder to Pat Brown with 3:04 to play, gave Oly a 6-0 lead. The touchdown capped a 10-play, 48-yard drive. His second came in dramatic fashion as the Titans trailed by three points with under two minutes to play.

"We were down last week and we panicked," Smith said."We did a better job of keeping our kids in the game this week."

Ed Fakahafua, the Leopards' go-to guy for most of the game, racked up 108 yards and a touchdown on 27 rushes. His score, a five-yard run late in the second, tied the game at 6-6 going into the locker room.

East High quarterback Tanner Curtis completed eight passes on 15 attempts for 84 yards. He threw for a 10-yard touchdown that gave East a 19-6 lead in the third quarter, but he was intercepted once as well.

Trailing 19-6 at the end of the third quarter, Olympus effectively shut down the Leopards in the fourth.

Stephen Hendriks connected on a 31-yard field goal with 11:04 to play to pull to within 19-9. Olympus then capitalized on a turnover, taking possession at the East 20 and scoring in six plays on a four-yard Cy Holt run with 7:50 to play, cutting the lead to 19-16.

East took over and marched down the field, even converting a gutsy fourth-and-one on a fake punt from its own 29. The drive stalled, however, when Curtis was flushed from the pocket and then fumbled the ball, recovering it after a 27-yard loss on third-and-9.

Oly got the ball back at the East 38 with 3:56 to play. Harris connected on passes of 12 and eight yards on the drive, and his 14-yard run gave the Titans first-and-goal at the 1 with 2:34 to play. Olympus ran two plays and burned some clock, but lost two yards in the process. On third-and-goal from the 3, Harris rolled right and hit Carter Young with a tipped ball for the go-ahead score with 1:20 to play.

East moved the ball inside the Titans 30, but time ran out and Oly sealed the victory.

"In this region, it's one game at a time," Smith said. "You've just got to keep carrying momentum into the next game."