Crazy end to half sets tone in Olathe North’s homecoming victory over Olathe South

With a little over two seconds left in the first half, the Olathe South Falcons held possession trailing the Olathe North Eagles 20-6.

By halftime, Olathe North led 30-6.

It might be the craziest couple of seconds in the Kansas City metro this season. Olathe North (4-1) defeated Olathe South (3-2) 54-16 at the Olathe District Activity Center in North’s annual homecoming game Friday.

“It was a flurry,” Olathe North coach Chris McCartney said with a laugh.

Let’s break it down.

With just over one minute left in the first half, Olathe North started a drive on its own 17-yard line. The first-down play would dictate how the final drive of the half went, and senior running back Jacob Parrish got it off to a flying start with a 38-yard run into Falcons territory.

The drive continued and the Eagles set themselves up at the South 22-yard line with 16 seconds to go. But Olathe North quarterback Noah Palmer threw an interception to Olathe South’s Erwin Nash on the 2-yard line.

That was Olathe North’s third of four turnovers on the night, following fumbles from Parrish and senior running back Aquantez Love and an interception to come from backup quarterback Alex Samuelson.

All Olathe South had to do was bleed out the final 16 seconds and enter the half down a pair of touchdowns.

Instead, South set up in the shotgun. A deep throw by senior quarterback Whitley Cooper fell incomplete.

On the next play, Cooper scrambled right and was quickly hunted down by Olathe North linebacker Alex King for a safety that extended the score to 22-6 with 1.6 seconds to go.

Olathe South coach Craig Lewis said he wanted Cooper to throw the ball on every play to end the half, but the quarterback thought he could outrun his man.

“It’s a learning experience. They’re high school kids,” Lewis said. “I’ve watched Patrick Mahomes make some dumb plays every once in a while, and he’s really, really good. So (Cooper will) learn from that, and we won’t make that mistake again.”

That would be enough chaos for one half, right? Well, if your bingo card had a kick returned for a touchdown, with no time left on the clock, mark it off.

Parrish fielded the ball on his own 45-yard line and raced 55 yards for the TD. Olathe North converted a two-point conversion to make it 30-6 at the break.

“I picked it up, and I saw them coming, and I broke that tackle and I saw an open hole,” said Parrish, who scored three touchdowns Friday night.

When it was over, the teams had combined for five successful two-point attempts and three missed extra-point tries. A kicker (Olathe North’s Jason Scoma) even caught a 56-yard touchdown pass.

A wild night, indeed. And for a while, before things got out of hand, Olathe South was in the game.

“The first quarter we had fight going,” Lewis said, “and in the second quarter we lost fight and they won.”

The homecoming victory was big for Olathe North, which was coming off a 20-6 loss to Olathe West.

“It’s amazing,” Parrish said. “Last week we had a really tough loss, so I’m really glad we were able to bounce back and beat Olathe South.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 10:47 PM.