Bears take down Foss, lock up playoff berth

HIGH SCHOOLS: Jordan Pine runs for 210 yards, two TDs in Olympia’s 17-7 victory

AARON WASSER; For The Olympian | • Published October 30, 2009

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OLYMPIA - A loss Thursday night would have meant scoreboard watching and uncertainty for the Olympia High football team.

The Bears took care of business, however, taking down visiting Narrows League opponent Foss, 17-7, at Ingersoll Stadium, locking up the No. 2 seed in the league headed into the playoffs. The Bears (8-1 overall, 7-1 Narrows) will most likely play host to Rogers next week in the opening playoff round.

Olympia put away Foss late thanks to Jordan Pine runs that were as long as they were important.

The senior running back finished with 210 yards on 31 carries and a pair of touchdowns – the second of which went for 19 yards and put the Bears 10 points ahead with 3:48 to go in the game.

“They’re a good, physical football team, and I think we were able to wear them down at the end a little bit,” Olympia coach Bill Beattie said of the Falcons (5-5, 3-5). “Jordan stepped it up, and I can’t say enough about the defense. It was a good team effort tonight.”

But it wasn’t easy. Foss scored first on one of the few mistakes Olympia’s defense committed.

Falcons receiver Grayson Bullinger got behind the secondary, and quarterback DaVonte Peterson found him for a 57-yard scoring pass.

That was just one of several first-quarter highlights for the Falcons’ signal-caller as he completed seven of 12 pass attempts for 127 yards in the quarter.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, that was about all the Bears were willing to concede.

Peterson finished with 191 passing yards and completed 12 of 21 attempts.

He was injured and left the game following a Sam Gauksheim sack with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Foss didn’t complete a pass the rest of the game and it didn’t have much of a running game to fall back on.

The Falcons rushed the ball 22 times and had just 8 total yards to show for it.

Much of the credit for that paltry figure goes to the Bears’ defense.

Julian Cruell, the Falcons’ primary runner, carried the ball 16 times and came away with positive yardage only eight times.

In addition to rush defense, Olympia held Foss in check through the air for the majority of the game.

The Falcons had only 64 passing yards in the second half and Bears defenders sacked Foss quarterbacks three times through the final two quarters.

The Bears also pulled in three interceptions, the biggest of which came with Olympia clinging to a 10-7 lead with 8:45 to go in the fourth quarter and the Falcons driving.

The Bears’ Tui Magalei grabbed an interception at the Olympia 5-yard line, which started the Bears on a 95-yard scoring drive to put Foss away.