Ever since he became Olympus High's new football coach, Mike Smith has been dreading this week. He didn't want to have to play his old team, the Copper Hills Grizzlies.
As it turns out, it wasn't so bad. Smith's Titans put together another solid effort and captured their third straight win, 24-7, in a non-region game.
"I really didn't want to see them on the schedule my first year," Smith said. "Those guys are great coaches. I know all of them."
He didn't want to beat them. Fortunately for Olympus, his players did.
Running back Terry Isaia rushed for 154 yards and defensive back Sam Williams had a pair of interceptions as Olympus continued its perfect record.
Next week, Olympus starts region play knowing this is its best start in years.
"We separated the season into three parts — the preseason, the regular season and the postseason," Smith said. "We feel pretty good where we're at, but now everybody is 0-0. That's the way we look at it."
Last year, Olympus had a 1-2 record at this point and the Titans were 0-3 in 2007. So Smith and his Titans are doing something right.
Olympus led 17-0 at halftime and was successful moving the ball with varied runs and passes. Despite a few scares, they were never threatened after that. Copper Hills was able to move the ball, but penalties, three turnovers and three failed fourth-down conversions prevented the score from getting too close.
That fact was all too noticeable to Copper Hills coach Kai Kapele, but he was still upbeat despite the loss.
"We're getting better," said Kapele, whose team is 0-3 entering Region 3. "We've got West Jordan next week, and they're a rival. We're excited about that."
In reality, Copper Hills always felt like it still had a chance. That's probably because the Grizzlies' Colten Fogarty and wide receiver Chandler Johnson had great games.
Fogarty was the Grizzlies' workhorse, gaining 133 yards on 24 carries. Johnson's electrifying quickness was especially noticeable on quick passes. Quarterback Quin Wright tried to give him the ball as much as possible. Chandler ended up catching four passes and he ran the ball three times. Chandler also had another long pass negated due to one of the team's penalties.
"They beat us up in the second half," said Smith. "We got a little conservative."
That only became noticeable when Fogarty scored on a 1-yard run to get Copper Hills within 17-7. But on the next drive, quarterback Spencer Harris handed the ball to Isaia on a fourth-down play, and the speedster ran 51 yards for a touchdown.
"That was probably the big play of the game," Kapele said. "If we hold them there this might have been a different game."
Kapele also pointed out a failed pass play early in the game that, if completed, would have given Copper Hills the ball deep in Olympus territory while only trailing 10-0.
He might have been right, but Oly had only a couple of penalties, one turnover and owned a 326-305 advantage in total yards.