OLYMPIA — All eyes were on Ingersoll Stadium Friday, Oct. 2 to see if the Olympia Bears were “for real.”
The Bears entered their Week 5 matchup against Graham-Kapowsin with an unblemished 4-0 record and coming off a game that saw running back Ibrahima Diallo break a school record in eye-popping fashion, grabbing the attention of media pundits around the region.
Up to this point, Olympia hadn’t faced a challenge like Graham-Kapowsin, with its ensemble cast chock full of Division I talent.
So, after 48 minutes of football under the Ingersoll Stadium nights against one of the premier teams in the state, are the Olympia Bears indeed “for real?”
After Friday night, the answer from head coach Cary Nagel is far from no.
Graham-Kapowsin built a 24-point lead after three quarters, but Olympia assembled a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives in a 37-19 loss to the Eagles. It wasn’t pretty at times, but the Bears’ resilience amid injuries and penalties was a welcome sight for Nagel.
“Our team proved that they’re fighters. We showed a lot of resilience in this game,” he said. “There were a lot of things going on that were out of our control, but I thought our boys fought really hard.”
Pre-game, the Olympia Bears were motivated to stun the state. They knew they had never beaten Graham-Kapowsin in the history of the program, and with the momentum building quickly in the state’s capitol, it felt like the perfect time to pull off an upset in front of a packed house.
Graham-Kapowsin threw and landed the first punch of the night; highly touted junior quarterback AJ Tuivaiave blistered the Olympia defense on the first possession with chunk pass after chunk pass. His 9-yard touchdown flip pass to Blake Pearson put the Eagles on the board just 103 seconds into the game.
Olympia’s plan offensively was to chew up as much of the clock as possible and keep the football out of the hands of the potent Eagles. The Bears’ plan worked to perfection in the first quarter, as a 13-play drive took nearly nine minutes and resulted in Aden Carr scoring the tying touchdown run from 12 yards out.
Bears linebacker David Ukwu announced himself to the big stage with a nine-yard sack of Tuivaiave late in the first quarter to put the Eagles well behind the chains. But as the first quarter transitioned into the second, Tuivaiave continued to be surgical in the passing game, and the run game came alive. Pearson found paydirt for the second time in the first half with a 5-yard plunge 90 seconds into the second quarter.
Once again, Olympia killed off eight minutes with its next drive on another 13 plays. The passing offense behind Braden Barrett and Charlie DeBord moved the Bears deep into Eagles territory. But at the Eagles’ 12-yard line, Diallo was stopped short on a fourth-and-3 run.
In the final three minutes of the first half, Graham-Kapowsin took a firm hold of the momentum. It took just eight plays for the Eagles to put up 10 points in two possessions before halftime. Tuivaiave started the rally with a 52-yard bomb to Jayce Halasz on the first drive, and Trevon Mayfield scored a 14-yard touchdown run.
Unlike its first two possessions, Olympia’s ensuing drive took only a minute off the clock, and the Bears punted it back to the Eagles with 30 seconds left. Two long passing plays from Tuivaiave later, and the Eagles were able to cash in on a 43-yard field goal as the halftime buzzer sounded, giving GK a 24-7 halftime lead.
After Barrett threw an interception to George Woods on the opening drive of the third quarter, Mayfield burned the Bears defense for a 68-yard touchdown run to put the Eagles up 31-7.
A 14-play drive for Olympia was not helpful this time, as it took eight minutes off the clock during the Bears’ comeback bid but did not result in points inside the red zone.
Barrett and Ryder Smith made some magic happen midway through the fourth quarter. Smith had to play defense on an underthrown ball in the middle of the field, but as he tapped the ball into the air and away from the defenders, he caught it, ran through Woods and maintained his balance for a 35-yard score.
Pearson responded by securing his third touchdown of the night on a 5-yard run, and Diallo broke off his first big run of the night with two minutes left on a 22-yard touchdown. Diallo finished with a season-low 103 yards on 29 carries.
“We stuck to what we’ve done well the whole year, and I thought it paid dividends for us,” Nagel said. “There’s some things that we’ve got to get better at in terms of physicality.”
As the Eagles finished off the victory over the Bears, both teams headed home frustrated with a long night of penalties. Olympia was called for 17 penalties for 156 yards, while Graham-Kapowsin was called for 13 penalties for 137 yards. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were frequent on both sides.
“Penalties always hurt you no matter what. I know our guys wanted to mix it up and be tough and physical tonight. I think it was a physical game for the most part, and some calls just didn’t go our way,” Nagel said.
Olympia also lost DeBord and Barrett for the game due to right leg injuries. DeBord may be sidelined for longer with an injury he suffered in the second quarter, and Barrett was helped off the field in the fourth quarter after taking a big hit. Easton Ertman stepped in at quarterback.
Barrett had his best day at the quarterback position this season before his exit, throwing for 101 yards on 6-of-10 passing with one touchdown and one interception. Olympia has rarely thrown the ball this season due to Diallo’s success and the preseason injury to starter Tucker Downing, but Nagel wanted to throw different looks at the Eagles defense.
“We’ve been working on it since Tucker’s been out. We’re giving Braden more and more to process, and I think he did a good job tonight at completing some great balls downfield,” Nagel said.
Olympia (4-1, 1-1 South Puget Sound League) will look to get back on track Thursday, Oct. 8 at Spanaway Lake (1-4, 0-2 SPSL).
