The Olympian Eagles have built on last year’s 11-1 record in impressive fashion and the best could yet be in the making for coach Gil Warren’s team, which opens the 2010 San Diego Section Division IV playoffs with a home game against the Brawley Wildcats on Friday, Nov. 26.
Kick-off is 7 p.m.
The second-seeded Eagles have been resting since putting the finishing touches on a 9-1 regular season showing with a 52-7 victory against Sweetwater on Nov. 12. Seventh-seeded Brawley (9-2) is coming off a 35-21 first-round victory against visiting La Jolla last Friday.
The winner of Friday’s quarterfinal-round match-up advances to play the either third-seeded Madison (9-1) or 11th-seeded Imperial (6-4-1) in the semifinals on Dec. 2. Should Olympian defeat the Wildcats, the Eagles would host any prospective semifinal playoff game.
“We’ve been practicing hard even though we’ve had the last week off (because of a first-round bye), but the kids are excited,” said Warren, whose banged-up team has continually produced magic on the field the second half of the season. “If we can continue to play the way we’ve been playing the last few weeks, we’ll put on a good showing. Brawley is 9-2. They have a great team and are well coached. It will be a great match-up.”
Metro-Pacific League champion Olympian is averaging 268 rushing yards per game and is led by a committee of performers given the team’s injury situation. Both Ian Autman and Alex Cornist are back in practice but of those two standout running backs, only Cornist may see limited duty in the quarterfinals.
Of late, Ricky Standard (35 carries, 338 yards), Akeem Foxworth (24 carries, 164 yards), Devon Flores (31 carries, 172 yards) and Kevun Ehm (19 carries, 106 yards) have combined to help shoulder the load left to Dre Gibson (98 carries, 620 yards).
Quarterback Cobrin Humphrey has turned into a cobra in the backfield with both his passing and running ability. Humphrey has passed for 1,047 yads and 10 touchdowns this season while also rushing for 234 yards and three TDs.
Steve Exum leads the Eagles receivers with 10 catches for 235 yards and four touchdowns. Justin Gaskin has nine catches for 170 yards and two TDs.
Cornist leads the team with 653 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Gibson has scored nine TDs.
Kicker Jovan Gonzalez has accumulated 59 kicking points on 44 PAT conversions and five field goals.
Defensively, Cedric Williams leads Olympian with five sacks while Arturo Cuevas and Anthony Marable each have four sacks. Jacob Samuel, Andrell Snowden and Randy Jones each have three interceptions.
Santana Leomiti leads the team with 67 tackles; Roderick Castillo has made 63 defensive stops.
Imperial Valley League co-champion Brawey is led by Donald Wharton and A.B. Oceguera. Wharton rushed for 1,112 yards and scored 19 touchdowns in the regular season while Oceguera rushed for 777 yards and scored 11 TDs.
Wharton rushed for two scores and threw for another in last week’s playoff opener against La Jolla.
