9/10/16
Olympia 49, Rogers (Puy) 7
(Puyallup, WA) On a perfect night for football the 1st half couldn’t have been more perfect for the Olympia Bears
especially running back Scott Gunther. After a change of possessions the Bears would take over on their own 30-yard line. After a sloppy 3-out 1st possession they quickly hit their stride with an 8-play 70 yard drive capped off with a 21-yard TD run by Gunther over the left side of the offensive line. Gunther made a cut to the outside and picked up and beautiful block from wide-out Skyler Davis which sprung Gunther into the endzone untouched. Davis added the PAT and it was 7-0 at the 5:02 mark of the 1st quarter.
Rogers would go 3 and out on their next possession thanks to a great play by the Bears Zaiden Hernandez who split blockers and shut down a screen play that looked to have plenty of green in front of Alema Gago if he could have got past Hernandez.
The Bears took over on their own 48 and 1 play later Gunther was gone, 52 yards into the endzone and just like that it was 14-0. The next Rogers possession really took the wind out of the sails of the Rams when Teren Effland picked off a Rams pass and returned 47 yards for the touchdown to make 21-0 with 2:13 to go in the 1st. The Bears erupted for 21 points in about 3-minutes of playing time to take control of the game.
The Bears thought they would get the ball right back after blocking a Rogers punt but the Referee called a roughing the kicker 15-yard penalty. When advised the ball was blocked, which turns the punter into a running back, the Referee refused to waive off the flag explaining to the Olympia staff that he felt there was still unnecessary roughness on the play. (Hopefully an official supervisor will advise him of the rule before he calls it in a game where it could impact the outcome as his interpretation is simply wrong.)
The 2 teams would trade possessions until ironically the Bears would block another punt that this time the official let stand and Olympia was in business on the Rogers 30. This drive featured no long run just a clean crisp drive with QB Ketner Young conpleting a pass, running the ball and Gunther finishing it off from the 5 for his 3rd TD of the 1st half and the Bears extended to a 28-0 lead.
Olympia would make it 35-0 with a 2 play drive. Gunther struck for the 4th time in the 1st half this time a 66-yard jaunt with some nifty moves down the near sideline. With the explosive run Olympia extended their lead to 35-0 at the 1:07 mark.
The damage had certainly been done but the bleeding wasn’t over as Olympia would get one final shot. Cody Barnett would come up with an interception on the Rogers 27 with just 20-seconds to play. Young would play action and then find a wide open Connor Clark for the touchdown. Clark was lined up right in front of the Rogers bench yet no one picked him up and the Bears took full advantage of the blown assignment.
That would take the game to halftime and the 42-0 score meant the entire 2nd half would be under a running clock. On Olympia’s 1st possession the 1st team came back out for a final possession but it only lasted 2 plays, this time it was Owen Shea who found a big hole over the right side of the offensive line and went 34-yards untouched to push the score to 49-0.
This capped off a brilliant performance from the big fella’s up front. Logan Wood, Aron Raymond, Ben Pitney, Tyson Holloway and Vinnie Baroga were dominating from start to finish.
Rogers who had moved the ball through out the game but could never put together a full drive into the endzone finally did so late in the 3rd quarter. QB Makaio Gillespie would get the Rams into position completing a 28-yard pass to Koby Barker down to the 3. Gillespie then hit Cade Barnett for the score to make it 49-7. The 4th quarter was filled with reserves and neither team would cross the goal line again for the final 49-7.
The Bears finished with 337 total offensive yards with 294 of it coming on the ground led by Gunther’s 183 yards on 14 carries and 4 TD’s. Ketner Young finished 4 for 7 for 43 yards and a score connecting with Connor Clark. For Rogers QB’s, Brydon Harlan and Gillespie combined going 18-36 and 148 yards with a touchdown. Barker led the receivers with 2 catches for 43 yards while Cade Barrett caught 7 balls for 32 yards and the touchdown.
The Bears improve to 2-0 in SPSL 4A league play and the Rams drop to 0-2. Olympia will host Bellarmine Prep next Friday and Rogers will face crosstown rival Puyallup.
Our Tommy Lowe of the Greene Realty Group Players of the Game were Scott Gunther for Olympia and Cade Barrett for the Rams. Our Proactive Physical Therapy Play of the Game went to Olympia’s Toren Effland for the pick 6 interception.
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