Not many people picked Sky View over Olympus in tonight’s match up, as a matter of fact there was just one lone reporter that was brave enough to pick them over the Titans, and according to Head Coach Craig Anhder that reporter was his neighbor. That lone reporter will have bragging rights among his peers this weekend as the Bobcats clawed their way to a victory, dominating on offense, defense and just about every other area of the game.

Azure Cline opened the night up with her golden pipes singing the National Anthem. After last week when not much went right for the Bobcats, including the microphone not working during the opening ceremonies, Cline’s beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was a welcome beginning to a great night of Bobcat football.

It didn’t take too long for the Bobcats to put points on the board, with 6:54 on the clock in the first quarter the Bobcats moved the ball down the field, and Josh Egbert punched in a 45 yard field goal. Just three minutes later Egbert would repeat his previous fete from 37 yards out and Olympus found themselves down 0-6 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter what Egbert did with his right leg Junior Quarterback Nick Carver did with both of his, twisting his way through the defense and then turning on the burners for the first of four touchdowns on the night. Olympus looked like the coyote trying to keep up with the road runner as Carver pulled away from the defense as if they were standing still on his 34 yard scoring run. Egbert finished up the drive by hitting the first of three extra point kicks.

Olympus showed a bit of a life in the second quarter after a long drive stalled, they sent in Nick Christensen the big 6’0, 195 pound offensive and defensive lineman that also handles their kicking duties. Christensen kicked a 27 yard field goal that hit the left upright and took an Olympus to put the Titans on the board for their one and only time of the night. Christensen’s field goal put the score at 3-13 in favor of the Bobcats.

Carver finished off a long Sky View drive at the end of the second quarter, with just 2:15 left on the clock, running in from 7 yards out for his second touchdown. That score put the Bobcats up 3-20 heading into the locker room.

At halftime the crowd was pumped up from the first half of play, and was entertained by Sky View’s own Vistaun dance and drill team.

Sky View didn’t waste any time getting back to scoring after the break, with 10:57 on the clock in the third quarter, Carver busted out of the defense for his longest run of the night for a 48 yard touchdown. The Bobcats sent out Stacy Bair for this extra point try but it clanked off the left upright and bounced out for a miss. With just over a minute off the clock in the second half the Bobcats were up 3-26.

The Bobcats would wait until 7:52 in the fourth quarter to score for the final time of the evening. After a great drive down field it would be Carver getting it done on the ground one more time finishing the drive with a 7 yard carry to pay dirt. Egbert would finish 5-of-5 on the night with his final extra point, and sealed the final score at 3-33 for an exciting Bobcat victory.

As good as Carver and the offense were the defense made a statement last night. They harassed and hampered the efforts of the quarter back, running backs, receivers and the big men up front for the Titans.

Senior Titan quarterback Scott Porter spent much of the game hurried and mauled by the defensive front of the Bobcats. Porter was sacked nine times for losses that totaled 70 yards. Coach Anhder added, “You can’t say enough good about the defense. The defensive staff put together a great game plan, and the kids went out and executed that plan. When those two things come together you see the results, we were two feet away from a shutout if he doesn’t hit the upright and hit the pole and bounce it in. I was really pleased with the effort that our defense put out there and the intensity that they played with.”

The defense for Sky View kept the Titans out of the end zone and out of range of Nick Christensen except for the one scoring drive. The defense struck hard and struck often and contained the passing game of the Titans as well their big offensive threat in running back and line backer Brandon McBride. The Bobcats shut down one Titan drive after another, forcing Olympus to punt the ball eight times. Milyon Chantrey had a pair of returns each of 17 yards, while Konnor Christensen handled four returns with a long of 8 yards.

Tackling duties were handled by an entire pride of Cats. Yabitse Wells had four solo tackles followed by Tre’ Hansen with three solo tackles and was in on two assists. Cole Bangerter was a busy boy with two solo tackles and six assists. Milyon Chantrey, Garth Jolley, and Tyler Stephens each had two solo tackles, Chantry was in on three more assists, Jolley had a pair of assists and Stephens registered one assist.

Ethan Dursteller a big sack for a 13 yard loss. Corbin Lee dropped the quarterback for a 9 yard loss, and Kacey Shaw teamed up with Jaden Camphouse for another 9 yard loss. Tre’ Hansen had a solo sack for a 3 yard loss and teamed up with Connor Chambers for a drop of another 4 yard loss. Camphouse had a 6 yard solo sack of his own. Joseph Humphries and Porter Chadwick each had solo sacks for 8 yard losses. The double Kyle team of Kyle Jorgensen and Kyle Johnson teamed up for a 6 yard sack. Milyon Chantrey and Garth Jolley each dropped the quarterback with solo sacks of 1 yard.

Carver had a decent night throwing the ball going 12-of-27 for 123 yards and one interception. The interception came on a pass that was tipped by Brandon Burger and was caught by an Olympus defender. Coach Anhder praised his quarterback saying, “Nick Carver ran our run game very well, we do need to clean up some of the passing game. There were some things there where we just weren’t on queue. I think with a little time we’ll see, like we see with our running game coming into place, that our passing game can get a little more in sync with a little better rhythm.”

The O-Line was outstanding for the Bobcats as Carver was not sacked once. Recognizing his teammates Carver said, “I feel great, my offensive line did real good. Everyone did real good. We probably didn’t even need to pass the ball tonight because we just kept running and running and our offensive line kept blocking and blocking, our receivers were doing great too. The game was a big confidence builder we came in 0-and-2 and nobody picked us to win, it’s a big confidence builder going into Brighton next week.”

Carver’s passes went to a host of Cat receivers. Zach Allen was the big recipient of the night catching five balls for 62 yards. Mitch Larsen had a solo catch for 21 yards, while Nate Payne caught one ball for another 18 yards. Sean Gero and Corbin Lee each added 9 yards, Gero on two catches while Lee had one. Alex Watts had a pair of catches for 4 yards.

The running game was also by committee. Leading the way was Carver with twelve carries for 150 yards and 4 touchdowns. Alex Watts had a big night with nine carries for 68 yards, followed by Sean Gero with seven touches for 25 yards.

The old cliché says when it rains it pores could have been used last night. Except instead of cats and dogs it was raining yellow flags. The officials dropped their hankies twenty six times during the game. Having won on both sides of the ball and on special teams the Cats probably would have gladly let the Titans win this area of the game. Sadly Sky View dominated this facet also getting hit with sixteen flags for 131 yards in penalties, four of which were personal fouls. The Titans received eleven of the little yellow gifts for 70 yards in penalties.

After the game Head Coach Craig Anhder was pleased with the effort of his team. Anhder commented, “I don’t think a lot of people had picked us to win; that follow high school football, and had seen Olympus beat Northridge. But, these kids, they play with a lot of character. They have the passion in their hearts, and they believed in themselves still, and I was really proud to see them step up to the plate and demonstrate that character in a tough test.”

As for next week Coach Anhder and staff will have another tough test when they head to Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights ten miles south of Salt Lake. It will be a battle of the cats as the 4-A Bobcats will square off against the 5A Bengal Tigers of Brighton. Speaking of that match up Anhder commented, “I haven’t seen anything on Brighton yet . . . so we need to get in the film and check that out. We played a great team in Olympus and so we’ll enjoy it for the moment, and then get right to work and figure out what we need to do put our kids in a place to demonstrate their character and their heart again.”

Brighton will be looking to make a statement coming off a tough 49-37 loss to Cottonwood Friday night. Brighton will head into next week’s game 0-2-1, losing a 5 point decision to Freemont a week ago, and a finishing in a 0-0 tie with Davis two weeks ago.

Sky View moves to 1-2-0 on the season losing a close game to Northridge two weeks ago before a tough loss to Highland of Idaho last week. Sky View will close out their preseason schedule at Brighton next week, before beginning region play against a tough in-valley rival match up against the 1-2-0 Mustangs of Mountain Crest.

The kickoff at Brighton is scheduled for next Friday, September 9th at 7:00 p.m.

Offensive Stats

Scoring Summary