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SALT LAKE CITY — Coming off a five-game win streak and a bye, Olympus opened up its state playoff run with a 49-21 home win over Woods Cross, advancing to the 5A quarterfinals.
Olympus looked well rested to start, and came out firing. The Titans scored on their first possession on a lateral pass to Luke Campbell, who ran it into the corner of the end zone from 10-yards out for the early 7-0 start.
Relying on a heavy run game, Woods Cross couldn't get much going against Olympus' defense, which effectively stopped the Wildcats in place after already stopping the run against East over a month ago.
Olympus quarterback Max Rice found Campbell again after evading a swarm of defenders and then hitting a pass down field for a 31-yard touchdown.
Later, Rice found Sam Ngata on a long reception, which included Ngata stiff-arming a defender en route to a run to the Woods Cross 4-yard line, setting up a caught pass in the end zone by Caden Lloyd to give the Titans a 21-0 lead.
And it was all Olympus from there.
After being stuck on their side of the field for much of the first half, Woods Cross relied on its defense to slow down Olympus' momentum. The Wildcats got to Rice on one play, sacking the senior quarterback, knocking him out of the game with an injury.
Rice was replaced by Luke Espersen at quarterback.
With time running out in the first half, after quarterback Jesse Simmons threw an interception that Olympus took back to the 1-yard line for another score, Woods Cross got on the scoreboard with a 47-yard pass to Ricky Sanchez that set up a 1-yard rushing touchdown.
But Olympus' Lloyd kept the lead out of reach with a 95-yard kickoff return to maintain a 28-point lead over the visiting team.
Rice returned in the second half under center and quickly found Tommy Nelson for a 45-yard over-the-shoulder catch to open up the quarter. It was then a 31-yard rushing touchdown by Nate Heugly to give the Titans a 49-7 lead.
Woods Cross managed two scoring drives late in the game on rushing touchdowns, but it was too little, too late.
Olympus ended the night with five different scorers and Rice throwing four touchdowns.
