ARVADA — After watching Faith Christian shoot itself in the foot during the first half and with his team’s offense low on ammunition, Olathe coach Ryan Corn opted to shoot from the hip.
Corn junked his team’s flexbone offense for a never-used “pistol” formation, and it paid huge dividends for the Pirates.
Trailing 8-0 at halftime and 11-0 five minutes into the third quarter, the Pirates roared back for a 14-11 victory Saturday in the Class 2A quarterfinals and will play top-seeded Florence in the semifinals.
Kyle Piatt rushed for 83 of his 90 yards in the second half, including a 34-yard touchdown sprint late in the third quarter, and Keifer Wollert threw a 37-yard scoring pass to Taylor Carlson with 9:45 left in the game as Olathe won the battle of 2A’s past two champions.
“I’ve been begging Coach to put it in,” Wollert said of the pistol offense. “We’ve practiced it the last couple of weeks, but this is the first time we used it in a game.”
In the flexbone, Wollert lines up under center, with Piatt a couple of yards behind him and two other backs in slot positions close to the linemen. In the pistol formation, Wallert is in the shotgun with Piatt to either side.
“Everything we had seen on film was (Wollert) under center,” said Faith Christian coach Blair Hubbard. “Our coaches did a great job preparing for (the flexbone), but we had trouble with (the pistol) on the fly.”
The Eagles (9-3) held Olathe to 43 yards in the first half with one first down on 22 plays. But the Pirates had 180 yards, including 143 rushing, in the second half.
Olathe was fortunate to be down by just 11 points with 7:02 left in the third quarter. The fifth-seeded Eagles lost two fumbles inside the Pirates’ 12-yard line and turned the ball over on downs at the Olathe 23, failing to convert fourth-and-1, in the first half.
Faith Christian forced a fumble and recovered the ball for a safety, then scored on Evan Marshall’s 11-yard interception return and Dylan Phillips’ 30-yard field goal for the 11-0 lead.
Olathe 0 0 6 8 — 14
Faith Christian 2 6 3 0 — 11FC — Safety, Tucker recovered fumble in end zone. FC — Marshall 11 interception return (kick failed). FC — FG Phillips 30. O — Piatt 43 run (pass failed). O — Carlson 37 pass from Wollert (Piatt run).
