Olpe dominates Northern Heights, 51-13, to claim bragging rights
Jimmy Kegin
Saturday, September 2, 2006
Olpe — OLPE — Small-town high school football rivalries always mean the chance for local bragging rights, but on Friday night, the power in this longstanding feud between Olpe and Northern Heights was decidedly one-sided.
By the time the smoke cleared from a season-opening offensive onslaught from Olpe, the Eagles had crushed county rival Northern Heights 51-13, rolling up more than 400 yards of total offense on the hapless Wildcats.
The scoring barrage — led by Olpe senior Jordon Pargman’s four touchdowns — stunned more than just the Wildcats’ defense.
“I’m very pleased,” Olpe coach Mike Plunkett said. “They caught me by surprise. We’ve been struggling in practice as far as keeping our emotion throughout. I think tonight they stayed pretty emotional the whole game. So, I think as much as anything, I’m pleased with that, and we executed well.”
Olpe cruised early in the contest to a 31-0 lead behind a bruising running game, racking up 101 yards on the ground before halftime. The Eagles scored on four of their six possessions in the first half.
Using a steady diet of off-tackle runs from seniors Drew Pettijohn and Michael Schmidt to begin the game, the Eagles’ running game then created a wide-open field for senior quarterback Tanner Coble and the play-action fake.
A 46-yard completion set up the first score of the evening, a 1-yard rush from Pettijohn.
Just two minutes later, Coble hit Pargman for a 31-yard strike for the Eagles’ second score.
The multi-talented Pargman soon showed he was just getting warmed up. Late in the second quarter on defense, he snagged an errant pass from Wildcats’ quarterback Jake Weakley and returned it 27 yards for the touchdown.
Pargman reasoned it was all part of the rivalry’s emotions.
“It’s a pretty good rivalry, so we were pumped up and ready to go,” Pargman said. “That helps. We had a lot of people backing us and (our) experience helps. This one was one of our biggest games, we were really looking forward to it, and we really needed to start out strong.”
The Eagles’ defense was just as dominant, holding the Wildcats to just 33 first-half yards.
“I thought the big thing was to make sure that they didn’t decide that the game was over at halftime,” Plunkett said of his squad. “They came out and continued to play hard.”
Olpe’s offensive juggernaut continued in the third quarter as the Eagles opened with a nine-play, 67-yard scoring drive that culminated with Pettijohn’s 2-yard drive into the end zone.
Northern Heights was reeling and could not find the brakes.
“I’ve predicted all summer long that we were going to have a rough start,” Wildcats coach Greg French said. “We’ve got a lot of kids that have never played varsity football before. We’re still sitting on our goals of getting better as the season goes on, and this will be a great learning tool for us.”
Pargman’s third and fourth touchdowns came while playing tailback late in the third quarter.
“He had a heck of a game,” said Plunkett of Pargman.
Led by Weakley, Northern Heights got on the board late in the game with two fourth-quarter scores, a nine-yard run from Colter Henning and a 22-yard touchdown reception by Hayden Parks.
Afterwards, Plunkett wondered whether his team fully understood the significance of the outcome.
“I hope the kids realize what they’re capable of,” Plunkett said. “Sometimes, I’m not sure that this group does. As long as they don’t decide that it’s going to be easy, because it remains to be seen how good either one of us is.”
Plunkett knew that the Wildcats were not the same team as in recent seasons.
“At this time, I think they were a little bit better team last year than what they are right now,” Plunkett said. “I believe they’ll come along.”