OLYMPIA — When Cary Nagel took over as the head coach of the Olympia Bears this past spring, the buzzword around the program was intentionally “physicality.”
From day one, Nagel vowed to bring physicality back to Olympia. Through eight weeks, he and his coaching staff have made good on their promise.
But, over the past two weeks, a new buzzword has slipped into the zeitgeist of the Olympia football culture under Nagel.
“Resilience.”
One week after the Bears came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Bonney Lake on the road, Olympia had to dig itself out of another hole against Bethel on Friday, Oct. 23, trailing 13-7 entering the fourth quarter.
It had been a quiet night for Bears star running back Ibrahima Diallo up until that point, with just 15 yards on seven carries through three quarters. He banged up his knee shortly before halftime and was still gimpy walking onto the field to start the third quarter.
Diallo rushed for 109 yards and two crucial touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone, and senior safety Kam Kronmeyer stopped a game-tying two-point conversion with two minutes left to close out a 21-19 victory on senior night.
“Ibra is Ibra,” Nagel said. “He makes big-time plays for us. Our team is doing a good job of weathering the storms. We talk about that all the time. Their resiliency showed tonight.”
With the win, Olympia is 7-1 for the first time since 2011, when current offensive coordinator Trevor Houser was suiting up at quarterback for the Bears. They also secured the No. 2 seed in the South Puget Sound League South and will play Sumner in a crossover on the road next Friday, Oct. 30.
Olympia’s defense had its hands full in the first half against Bethel’s workhorse running back Deron Williams. On the Bison’s opening drive, he carried the ball all seven plays and finished off a 66-yard touchdown drive with a 1-yard plunge to give Bethel a 6-0 lead.
Bethel seemed to hold all of the momentum midway through the first quarter, as its defense forced an Olympia punt, and Williams continued to gash the Bears defense. But just inside Olympia territory, Bethel quarterback Gavin O’Malley threw a pass right into the waiting hands of Olympia senior cornerback Charlie DeBord, who raced untouched for a 62-yard pick-six. A successful extra point pushed Olympia in front 7-6.
“That’s probably the craziest momentum swing we’ve had the entire season,” DeBord said. “A moment like that can really feel like we’re not stuck when it was a really bad first half for us. It pushed everybody to try so much harder and work so much harder as a unit.”
Williams continued to move the Bison down the field on the ensuing drive, but it was the passing game that vaulted Bethel back in front as Dylan Burton caught a 21-yard touchdown from O’Malley. Bethel’s drive took almost nine minutes off the clock.
Olympia only ran 11 first-half plays on offense compared to Bethel’s 31, and the Bison had 211 first-half yards to the Bears’ 47, with Williams rushing 25 times for 157 yards and a score.
After Bears quarterback Easton Ertman threw an interception to start the second half, Olympia’s defense honed in on Williams, holding the Bison to just one first down in a scoreless third quarter. Olympia had a chance to take the lead in the final minute of the third, but Noah Faalili, last week’s hero against Bonney Lake, couldn’t connect with an open Liam Hudson in the end zone on fourth down.
Olympia’s defense stymied Williams to force a three-and-out to start the fourth, and Diallo finally broke free for a 60-yard touchdown run on a toss play along the left sideline. It wasn’t a painless touchdown by any means, but Diallo knew he needed to put the team on his back.
“I got my knee hit really bad. It was like 10 out of 10 pain, but I’m not the type of guy to go out for that. I just thugged it out,” Diallo said.
The Bears defense quickly got the football back into their offense’s hands with another three-and-out, and Diallo once again came up clutch with a 33-yard touchdown run out of the T formation to bump Olympia’s lead to 21-13.
But the back-and-forth action wasn’t done just yet. After a solid kickoff return by Rayden Shanks put Bethel in Olympia territory, Williams once again put the Bison on his back with a seven-play drive aided by a Bears unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Williams scored a 4-yard rushing touchdown with 1:57 to play in the fourth quarter, but he was stonewalled by Kronmeyer on a run to the left side on the two-point try.
“We were trusting our play call by our coaches. They set us up, put us in a great position, and our guys made a great play,” DeBord said.
David Ukwu picked up the final first-down run to wind down the clock and put the cap on a 21-19 win on senior night. The Bears rushed for 256 yards, led by Diallo’s 124 and Ukwu’s 44. Elijah Butler added 41 yards.
Olympia has won in a variety of ways this season, including running-clock blowouts and nail-biting thrillers. The Bears also battled with Graham-Kapowsin in their lone loss of the season.
The locker room knows they’re worthy of playing football beyond Week 9, and they believe they should play at least once more at Ingersoll Stadium.
“Olympia’s proven so much this year with a completely new coaching staff. We’re putting our names on the map,” DeBord said. “As a team that wasn’t very respected in the past, I think we’re becoming a lot more respectable. That’s really cool to be a part of.”
Olympia (7-1, 4-1 SPSL) will visit Sumner (7-1, 4-1 SPSL) in a crossover on Friday, Oct. 30.
