Of Olympus' seven region victories this year, five were of the 1-0 variety. So when Jeff Brown headed home an early goal in Wednesday's 4A first round playoff game with Bonneville, the Titans knew that might be enough.
Sure enough, Olympus played outstanding defense and protected that 1-0 lead for 65 minutes to punch its ticket to the 4A quarterfinals. It will host Springville, which upset Region 6 champion East in a shootout, this Friday at 4 p.m.
"I told them, 'I'm not real excited that we're not finishing some of these good chances that we're getting, but I'm thrilled you have this strength (defensively),' " said Olympus coach Chris Sonntag.
Anchored by defenders Connelly Buchanan, Nick Chistensen and Chris Anjewierden, the Titans' backline has been outstanding all year. In fact, including the playoff clean sheet, they've shut out five of their past six opponents.
"Connelly plays center back and he's directed it so perfectly this year. He's just a smart, smart kid, and you look at him and you wouldn't think he'd be that intimidating player," said Sonntag.
The lone goal came in the 15th minute on a wonderful set piece service from Amer Sasivarevic, who placed the ball precisely where it needed to be in the box for Brown to head past Bonneville's keeper.
"We've been working on that the last couple of practices, that one just happened to come to me. It was great service. … Luckily it went in," said Brown.
Fifteen minutes after setting up the goal, Sasivarevic was involved in a nasty collision at midfield and didn't return after suffering a rib and nose injury. Sonntag expect a drop off when he inserted Michael Driggs into Sasivarevic's attacking midfield spot but it never happened.
"Michael Driggs stood up. He had been playing sparingly in varsity and was just awesome," said Sonntag.
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