It wasn’t pretty, but Olympia prevails
Itwas appropriate that a fog began to hover during the fourth quarter of a Class 8A football playoff opener at OlympiaHighon Friday night.
This gamewas ugly, and the fog appeared to be trying to cover it up, but Olympia persevered. The Titans eliminated Oak Ridge 7-6 and coach Travis Gabriel said a win is a win, and there are no style points in football.
“I didn’t think it would come down to one point, but both teams had just one touchdown and it was a great defensive game,” Gabriel said. “I’ll take a win. It was an ugly game, but I’ll take it.”
Aided by Oak Ridge (3-6) mishandling a firstquarter punt, and then a fake punt by Olympia (6-3) to keep the drive alive, Titans running back Rommarrus Hinson scored an early touchdownfromfour yards out. The all-important extra point was provided by Jose Colunga, and it gave the Titans all the cushion they needed.
This game had a little bit of everything. There were 19 total penalties and tempers flared at times. A member of the chain crew even stormed off the field after getting into a tiff with an Oak Ridge coach.
Both teams combined for 11 sacks, but the biggest one came as Oak Ridge threatened late in the game. Hinson’s younger brother, Rashad Hinson, chased down Oak Ridge quarterback Roddrick Henry with just over one minute left to play and
Olympia took over downs and ran out clock.
Running back Hinson shouldered the load for Olympia with 100 yards rushing on16 carries.
“He’s a workhorse. He runs the ball hard; he doesn’t quit. He keeps grinding,” Gabriel said. “That’s what we needed tonight. We needed his hard running, his vision, and we were able to keep the ball moving and the clock running. He was our offense tonight.”
on the