West rallies past Olympus for first win of season

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SALT LAKE CITY — West High picked up its first win of the 2023 season in dramatic fashion with a 19-18 win Friday in the school's region opener at Olympus High.

"We've been in some tight games as of late, and we're just proud of these guys for finding a way," West head coach Olosaa Solovi said. "We just tip our hat to Olympus; they just did a great job, but I have a lot of respect for our boys. They just hung in there and we're proud of them. We'll take the W any way we can get it."

Solovi gave a special shoutout to his quarterback Isaiah SueSue, who threw a pair of touchdown passes in the second half to bring his team back from an 18-6 halftime deficit.

The first touchdown came on fourth-and-7 with 5:10 left in the third quarter when SueSue found Chanchi Pan open in the red zone, and the receiver ran it in for the Panthers' first touchdown after a pair of first-half field goals.

The second touchdown exemplified the type of "hang in there and find a way" attitude Solovi talked about when SueSue was forced out of the pocket and evaded the incoming defenders for a solid 10 seconds before spotting Luseni Fifita wide open at the back of the end zone. The touchdown tied the game at 18-18, and all it took was a successful point-after kick to seal the comeback win.

Olympus, who now moves to 2-2 on the season, appeared to be in the driver's seat early after a 90-yard kickoff return by Caden Lloyd in the first quarter and a Nic Brown touchdown run followed by a 2-point conversion just before the half. A series of missed opportunities kept the Titans from extending the lead, however, and the Panthers pounced on the opening drive of the second half.

SueSue fumbled on the opening drive, and Olympus took over on the 50-yard line. But the Titans fumbled it themselves on the very next play to give the ball right back. A 48-yard field goal attempt with 39 seconds left in the third would have been enough to win the game in the end, but the kick went wide.

An illegal substitution penalty on Olympus got West into the red zone on SueSue's game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, and the Titans committed several more penalties down the stretch to make a game-winning drive of their own difficult.

"It's a tough region. We just have a lot of respect for not just Olympus, but everybody in this region," Solovi said of Region 6 play. "We've got a long way to go, but, again, it's easier to work on things with a W than it is with a loss."

West welcomes Alta, who picked up its first loss of the season to East Friday, next week, while Olympus looks to get back in the win column against Brighton.