With the win, Olathe is 9-0 overall, 6-0 in league and is now the undisputed Western Slope League champion. Friday night’s blowout continued the team’s 23-game winning streak, which dates back to last season when they won the Class 2A state championship against Erie.
For the second week in a row, OHS’s starting defense came up big causing the Longhorns to commit four turnovers and giving the offense great field possession to work with all night. Despite the defense causing four turnovers, the Pirates offense couldn’t handle the ball well themselves either. OHS’s offense was credited with four fumbles before half time, something that OHS head coach Ryan Corn said he will be addressing during next week’s practices.
  
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Even with OHS’s four turnovers, the Longhorns couldn’t find a way to capitalize. The Pirates’ defense was too much for Basalt’s offensive line, which gave up numerous sacks throughout the night.
“Our defense shut them (Basalt) down tonight as far as playing assignment football,” Corn said. “That’s the one thing that our kids have done really well this season and that’s sticking to their assignments and knowing their roles.”
As the defense started to find themselves in control early, the Pirates’ offense, despite their turnovers, began to open things up as well.
One key element returning to action Friday night was senior Pablo Payan, who was nursing an ankle injury and missed last week’s Gunnison game.
Payan began scoring for the Pirates four minutes into the game with a 1-yard run. With Sergio Salazar’s extra point, Olathe led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.
“It was good to have Payan back tonight. He really had a heck of a game for us,” Corn said. “He just gives us that extra element of speed that not a lot of teams have.”
After the two teams exchanged possessions a couple of times, it was junior Kyle Piatt who added a 6-yard run five minutes before half time, putting OHS up 14-0.
The scoring didn’t stop there for the Pirates. After senior Kris Nieto’s interception late in the second quarter, it was Payan who ran to the right and found a seam busting out a 67-yard touchdown scamper to put the Pirates up 21-0 with two minutes to go before half. The Pirates added to their lead with 27 seconds left in the half on a Piatt 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Pirates a 28-0 lead.
Olathe added three more touchdowns in the second half, one of which came from Nieto’s first play from scrimmage as a running back and was a 46-yard sprint to the end zone. By the time the third quarter ended, the Pirates increased their lead to 42-0.
The Pirates’ final points came on a 16-yard run by Keifer Wollert, which put the icing on the cake and cemented OHS’s 49-0 victory.
Overall, the Pirates rushed for 401 yards. Payan led the Pirates’ ground attack with 111 yards on nine carries. Jurgens finished with 72 yards on seven carries, while Piatt rushed for 64 yards on 10 carries. Jurgens completed two out of seven passes for 26 yards with no touchdowns.
Corn was pleased with the victory, but knows there’s still a lot of work to be done before his squad faces off with Grand Valley next Friday.
“This is our last real test before the playoffs start,” Corn said. “Grand Valley is still looking to get to the playoffs and beating us would help. We expect it’s going to be tough.”
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