Armstrong defeats Mars with strong first half

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

Andrew Schaffer | October 15, 2022

It was another big night for Armstrong’s offense in their 55-31 win over Mars. The offense was led by Cadin Olsen who threw for 346 yards and also surpassed 2,000 passing yards for the third consecutive season. “He’s comfortable in the pocket, we’re a pocket passing, down the field team, we’re not throwing bubble screens, we’re throwing the ball down the field, he just has a comfort in that pocket” said Coach Fabian. “It is always nice to do things like that” said Cadin Olsen.

Mars got the ball to start the game, the drive started at their own 35 yard line and they marched right down the field. Eventually Mars took a 7-0 lead on a 2 yard run by Evan Wright.

Armstrong started their first drive of the game at their own 32 yard line. They went three and out and punted it away. It was at that point where a game changing play occurred. The punt was mishandled and Armstrong recovered at the Mars 20 yard line. On the third play of the drive Cadin Olsen ran it in from 1 yard out which tied the game at 7 with 8:46 in the first quarter. “It was a big play, it settled our sideline down, that was a big answer for us” said Coach Fabian.

Mars got the ball back and on the very first play of the drive the ball was intercepted. Armstrong started the next drive. It didn’t take long for Armstrong’s uptempo offense to score when Cadin Olsen scored for a second time on a 1 yard run. That made the score 14-7 Armstrong with 7:19 in the first quarter. “We try to play pace, I think we’re best when we play pace, it is easy to do that when we got a three year starter at Quarterback” said Coach Fabian.

It was at that point where Armstrong didn’t look back. Mars did move the ball a little on the next drive but it stalled on a sack and again they had to punt it away. On the fourth play of the next Armstrong drive Cadin Olsen found Isaiah Brown for a 50 yard touchdown pass. “Right now he has really good chemistry with Isaiah Brown and his brother Ian Olsen” said Coach Fabian. That made the score 21-7 Armstrong with 4:23 in the first quarter. That would be the score at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was where Armstrong took the game over. Mars had a nice drive going but the ball was fumbled and Armstrong recovered at the Mars 15 yard line. On the second play Cadin Olsen found Dozick Zablocki for a 15 yard touchdown making it 28-7 Armstrong.

Later in the quarter after a Mars field goal. Armstrong extended their lead when Cadin Olsen found Kyan Kline for a 4 yard touchdown pass. That made the score 34-10 Armstrong with 1:34 left in the first half.

Armstrong put the game away on the next drive by Mars when Ian Olsen picked it off and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown which made it 41-10 Armstrong at the half. Cadin Olsen was 13 of 19 for 237 yards in the first half.

Not much occurred in the second half. Cadin Olsen surpassed 2,000 passing yards on the season on the second drive when Olsen completed a pass to Isaiah Brown for a 23 yard touchdown. After that Mars finally got a big play when Evan Wright scored on a 94 yard rushing touchdown. He would also add another score at the end of the game making the final score 55-31 Armstrong

Next week Armstrong travels to Highlands where the conference title will be on the line. “It’s where you want to be, it’s what we talk about all the time, if you can win that then that puts you in a good position for the playoffs said Coach Fabian.

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