Olympic, QB Chance Cato rally to beat Ardrey Kell, keep conference title hopes alive

Trailing 13-0 in the middle of the third quarter on “Senior Night” was hardly a recipe for success for Olympic High’s football team Friday.

But junior quarterback Chance Cato and head coach Brandon Thompson said the Trojans relied on previous hardships to battle back and eventually take a 14-13 victory over Ardrey Kell that keeps the Trojans alive in the South Meck 4A Conference championship race.

Olympic improved to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference entering next Friday’s regular-season finale at Berry Academy.

“There wasn’t any panic,” Cato said. “We just had to keep working hard and made plays.”

Cato did just that with touchdown passes to De’Angelo Hall and Alex Wiley IV in the game’s final 12 1/2 minutes — and Elvin Morales’ crucial extra point conversions were the difference in the victory.

“We’ve had some close games and had to show some resilience this year,” Thompson said. “This was a big win for us. We were playing for a lot and they were playing for a lot because seedings are on the line.”

Both passes were lobs to Cato’s receivers in one-on-one coverage, Hall for 4 yards on fourth-and-goal with 31.2 seconds left in the third quarter and to Wiley for 27 yards on third-and-13 with 1:31 left in the game.

Ardrey Kell quarterback Gavin Adams, who also threw for two TDs, drove the Knights as far as the Olympic 45 before four straight incompletions ended their final drive with 37.4 seconds left.

The loss dropped Ardrey Kell to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the South Meck 4A.

Three who made a difference

Chance Cato, Olympic: Completed 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns and rushed nine times for 33 yards.

Alex Wiley IV, Olympic: Caught six passes for 84 yards including the winning 27-yarder — with all six catches coming in the second half.

Gavin Adams, Ardrey Kell: Completed 12 of 24 passes for 125 yards and touchdown passes to Cavalli Montgomery and Justin Bossert.

Notable

▪ Defenses dominated much of the opening half as Olympic didn’t record the game’s initial first down until 3:24 left in the first quarter and Ardrey Kell didn’t get its initial first down until 8:10 was left in the first half.

▪ Olympic’s 7-2 start marked the ninth time in school history the Trojans had started that well (or better) in their 58-year history. The best final records came in 1993 (11-2) and 2022 (11-1).

▪ The teams were meeting for the 15th time that began in Ardrey Kell’s first year of 2006. Kell still leads the series 9-6 and the home team had won six straight games.

They said it

“The two big throws they had were good throws and good catches. We had good coverage on both. You just have to tip your hat to them.” — Ardrey Kell coach Greg Jachym

GAME SUMMARY

Ardrey Kell 0 6 7 0 - 13

Olympic 0 0 7 7 - 14

SECOND QUARTER

AK: Cavalli Montgomery 3 pass from Gavin Adams (Kick failed)

THIRD QUARTER

AK: Justin Bossert 22 pass from Adams (Nathan Edwards kick)

O: De’Angelo Hall 4 pass from Chance Cato (Elvin Morales kick)

FOURTH QUARTER

O: Alex Wiley IV 27 pass from Cato (Morales kick)