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Holladay • It took Olympus and running back Sam Seagle until the fourth quarter before finding the end zone Friday night.
But thanks to a stout defense and the leg of kicker Matt Foulger, the Titans managed to beat Kearns 15-6 and move to 2-1 on the season.
It wasn’t that Olympus was incapable of moving the ball, quarterback Seth Roberts was finding his receivers and tight ends open against the smaller Kearns defense during the whole game. Charlie Sherwood and Anthony Olsen were Roberts favorite targets on the night. Roberts was also elusive when he was called to run the ball, having quite a few chunk yardage plays during the win.
Seagle was also getting it done on the ground but once the Titans got into the red zone things started to fall apart, forcing them to kick.
“We need to work on keeping our foot down the entire drive,” Seagle said. “We need to get those scores when we are close in the red zone.”
Seagle’s performance was impressive, at times the Olympus offensive line was swallowed up by the larger Cougar defensive line. According to Seagle, it was the hard work of the offensive line that made his job a lot easier in the win. That hard work paid off when Seagle scored the only Olympus touchdown in the fourth quarter.
But it was the Olympus defense that kept the team in the game. Kearns quarterback JT Toia’lvao never looked comfortable in the pocket when it was able to hold up against the persistent Titans defensive line.
“They’re just dogs, they’re the reason we won. They don’t back down from anything. They execute every play and we couldn’t ask for a better defense and I’m proud of them,” Seagle said.
Max Herron had a major sack for Olympus in the first half to stall a promising Kearns drive. That same defensive line caused a Kearns fumble that led to a field goal.
Foulger, the Titans’ kicker, was the hero of the game early, as the only player on either side to score for the first 30 plus minutes of the game. His first kick of the game was nearly blocked and to open the second quarter his kick was blocked by Kearns. He would go on to make his other two on the night.
While Toia’lvao struggled tonight, throwing multiple interceptions — one to Nash Taylor and the other to James Smith — he was the lone Cougar to score in the game. His touchdown came on a 30-plus-yard scramble that looked like it was going to be a sack once the play began. Running back Levon Tate also had some big yardage plays that gave Kearns a very brief jumpstart before they sizzled on almost every single drive.
Kearns falls to 1-2 on the season with the loss.
While Olympus can savor this win, for now, the Titans have a tough stretch of games coming up starting next week with Murray. They will then play Brighton and East before facing off with Park City.
Kearns on the other hand will have a chance to get their season back on track next week as they face a Taylorsville team who was demolished versus Juan Diego this week. They will finish off non-region play versus Herriman on Sept. 10.
