The rivalry was in motion. The players took the field in what was ready to be a statement for the Mesa Olympians. The stage was set on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Grossmont stole the show.
It took a mere 39 seconds for the Grossmont Griffins to storm down the field and reach into the end zone with a 17 yard passing touchdown. Mesa’s first drive resulted in a quick 3 downs, followed by a punt. Unfortunately, this pattern continued throughout a majority of the game.
In the first half, the Olympians continued struggling with defending the run and turned over the ball on offense twice in the opening minutes. Although Mesa had 2 turnovers, one of them could be justified considering it was a tipped ball that unluckily turned into an interception for touchdown. The Griffins took advantage of the opportunities and began running up the scoreboard. After 3 more touchdowns for the Grossmont offense, Joe Kennedy and the Olympian offense began to show some signs of light.
Shortly after the 2nd quarter began, The offense gathered some momentum and got into the end zone as Kennedy hooked up with tight end Gio Gonzalez for an 8 yard touchdown pass that put the score at 28-7 favoring the Griffins. This was a result of an impressive drive considering that the struggling offense only had 2 first downs in the first quarter.
The Mesa touchdown was great. But sadly, it would be the only one Mesa would see for the rest of the evening. The Olympians failed to produce points in the 2nd half and the Griffins offense was just too much for the defense to handle. The Griffins continued to score as the Olympians failed to find a rhythm offensively or defensively.
“We need to use our mistakes as an example and try our best not to repeat them” said Quarterback Joe Kennedy, “execution and good rhythm is the key to our offense and we have a lot of talent to be better than we have shown so far.”
Despite the marginal loss, there are some positive things to take away from the game. Late in the first quarter, star safety Josh Sakover chased down a long Grossmont breakaway run to force a very impressive fumble that resulted in a recovery for Mesa. “I saw the running back and thought there was no way I was going to catch him” Sakover stated, “but our coaches always preach effort to us and I just didn’t give up on the play.” The 2nd quarter also showed signs of improvement in the running game as the Olympians broke off for several long runs with many more first downs compared to the first quarter.
Overall, Mesa now has a record of 1-1 and looks forward to the rest of the season now that they have moved passed arguably their toughest opponent. “Our goal is to get better every week and to learn from the mistakes that were made,” exclaimed coach Browne. Their next match up will be in Glendale against Glendale College on Saturday, September 21.
