Montrose - Daily Press

Joel Blocker
Daily Press Sports Writer

OLATHE—The Olathe Pirates continued their dominant streak Saturday, defeating the Salida Spartans 52-7 to advance into the second round of the Class 2A State Playoffs.

With the win, the Western Slope League champs continued the team’s 25-game winning streak, which dates back to last season when they won the Class 2A state championship against Erie.

Olathe High School's Casey Davis, left, and Pablo Payan take down Jesse Phillips of Salida during the third quarter of action against Saturday afternoon. The Pirates defeated the Spartans to advance into the second round of the Class 2A playoffs. (Joel Blocker / Daily Press) Advertisement

The Pirates have executed their offense to perfection all season and Saturday’s victory was no different. Despite going a three-and-out on their first series, the Pirates scored on their next five consecutive possessions to take a 38-0 lead into halftime.

“For our first playoff game we really did some goods things and some bad things,” OHS head coach Ryan Corn said. “Our offense took a little while to get going but once they started rolling they were tougher than snot to stop.”

Junior Kyle Piatt started the scoring for the Pirates two minutes into the first quarter with a one-yard touchdown run. Pablo Payan then added the two point conversion and the Pirates went up 8-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was all Olathe as they continued to pound the ball right down the teeth of the Spartans defense. It was obvious that Salida had no response on how to shutdown the triple headed monster in the Pirates backfield.

Senior running back Dylan Markley began the scoring onslaught for the Pirates with less than three minutes into the second quarter. With a 19-yard scamper and with a two point conversion, the Pirates lead 16-0.

“In playoff football, the team that wins is usually the team that gets on top,” Corn said. “We always felt that’s been our philosophy  and we have pushed these kids all season on scoring early and often.”

Defensively, the Pirates were relentless all game on bringing a variety of blitz packages and constant  pressure. The Spartan offense had no response to the pressure and were constantly punting throughout the first half.

“Defensively, I thought we did what we needed to do to win the game,” Corn said. “We really stopped their offense and shut them down with what they wanted to do. That was our whole game plan to keep applying the pressure.”

On Olathe’s next offensive possession, it was senior Garhett Jurgens who sprinted down the field breaking numerous tackles before finally diving into the end zone for an Olathe touchdown. After a failed two-point conversion and with only six-minutes to go before halftime, it was the defending state champs up 22-0.

The scoring didn’t stop there for the Pirates. With one minute and 42 seconds left before half, it was Payan who scored from one-yard out and with a two point conversion Olathe went up 30-0.

Being down by 30 points, Salida really needed to get some momentum rolling their way and just when it couldn’t get any worse for the Spartan sideline, their offense fumbled the ball and gave the Pirates great field possession with only a minute to go before half.

A few plays later, Olathe made Salida pay. It was Jurgens who threw the ball down field to junior Zach Cosper, who made the catch for a touchdown and with only 15 seconds left before half the Pirates led 38-0.

“We came out in that first half and ran our usually double tight offense,” Corn said. “We out powered them by smashing the ball down the field. Overall our kids played patient football throughout first half and didn’t force anything.”

With a running clock through most of the second half, the Spartans found themselves down big and an unrealistic chance of finding anyway of getting back into the ball game despite cracking the score board early into the fourth quarter. The Pirates added two more touchdowns, one of which came on an interception return for a touchdown by Markley.

Overall, the Pirates rushed for 279 yards. Jurgens led the Pirates’ ground attack with 89 yards on nine carries, while scoring one touchdown in the game. Payan finished with 79 yards on 12 carries. He also scored a touchdown. Markley added 65 yards on nine carries, while Piatt had 46 yards on ten carries. Jurgens completed his only two passing attempts for 25 yards and one touchdown. Cosper had one reception for 25 yards and scored on Jurgen’s passing play.

With the win, Olathe will have to hit the road next weekend and travel to either Kent Denver, or travel to Erie, the team they beat in the state championship game last season.

“Were not sure where we go from here,” Corn said. “All I know is we’re on the road next week no matter what.”

 

Comments

JHS wrote on Nov 20, 2009 9:01 PM:

" C'mon people this is High School Football, there has to be a winner and a loser. I am sure we can find better things to complain about. Sorry Spartans you were a good team, apparently your fans are not as quality as you. Good luck in the future. GO OHS. "




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Nothing better wrote on Nov 20, 2009 6:31 PM:

" Really you all have nothing better to do than complain about this story? How sad, maybe you should go to the games, and support our teams! Oh and Mary, how were the Spartins "outleagued" going into this game? They are both from the same league "




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Give me a break wrote on Nov 19, 2009 8:50 PM:

" Someone call the Waaaaaaaaambulence!!! "




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Curious wrote on Nov 19, 2009 11:26 AM:

" CM thanks for responding. My work schedule hasnt allowed me to attend any games this year. My observation has come from reading about the Pirates in the newspaper.
The only stats I see listedfor the entire game are from the starters. So if 20 points were scored in the second half why dont the stats list any JV? Which is what prompted my original question. "




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cm wrote on Nov 18, 2009 6:33 PM:

" if you have attended any of the ohs games, you would see that the JV has played at least one quarter of nearly every game, and 2 quarters at times. "




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Curious wrote on Nov 17, 2009 7:49 PM:

" When Olathe is up 38 points coming off the half, do they play 2nd string? Looking at this article, it looks like the starters played until the very end. Isnt that running up the score? If so, what would the point be? A win is a win even by 1. And YES I live in Olathe. "




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colorado native wrote on Nov 17, 2009 6:35 PM:

" PLEASE! Any newspaper in the country will do the same thing. If a team wins, they arent going to say " they won buy a whole lot" They wouldn't be able to get a job in any journalism areas! We have lost in football and other sports, and it's not fun, but we DEAL WITH IT, and move on! GOOD JOB PIRATES, and all the best of luck in the future to all the Salida athletes. "




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Mary wrote on Nov 17, 2009 5:52 PM:

" Really, this is high school football. Your sportswriter is not too professional. Way to tear down a team of good hearted, hardworking high school football players. Everyone knew the Spartans were outleagued in this game, but they played their hearts out under horrible conditions. Be careful Pirates, It's gonna hurt bad when you lose. Let's see if your sports writer puts the same spin on it when it's you. "




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SM wrote on Nov 16, 2009 11:21 PM:

" i am glad to see your guidelines listed, apparently they do not include your writing staff. encouragement of a collegial, non insulting tone.....pounding the ball right down the teeth of the spartans, there was no response....i realize you are a sports writer for the paper this team plays for, perhaps degrading spartans after a brutal game is your idea of following your collegial and non insulting tone. would hate to see when you went outside your guidelines. wow im impressed. "




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PirateAlum wrote on Nov 16, 2009 1:51 PM:

" Keep it up boys! Everybody is behind you 100% "




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Arrrgh wrote on Nov 16, 2009 10:15 AM:

" Alright Pirates! Keep on working hard..Sooooo proud to be a Pirate! "




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pirate fan all the way wrote on Nov 15, 2009 8:29 AM:

" great job olathe! go all the way.very nice job the team is doing .take state again .GO PIRATES!!! "




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