Polk’s defense dominates in 29-0 rout
Published 6:50 pm Wednesday, October 14, 2009
History repeated itself for Polk County on Friday night. Once again the game time weather was rainy and overcast as it seems to have been all season.
More importantly for the Wolverines was the history of bouncing back after a tough loss.&bsp; Not since Coach Ollis&squo;s first year has Polk County lost back to back games.
It was clear early that tradition was not going to change on this night with Polk shutting out Mitchell 29-0.&bsp; &bsp;
The Wolverines dominated the Western Highlands Conference game, holding Mitchell to just 141 yards of total offense while forcing four turnovers.
On offense Polk averaged almost five yards a carry with Keenan Littlejohn (81 yards on 16 carries) and Andre Overholt (62 yards on 16 carries) leading the way. Each had two touchdown runs for Polk.
&dquo;It was a big win for our football team,&dquo; said Polk County head coach Bruce Ollis. &dquo;One thing we talked about during the week was rushing the football and we rushed it very well and we talked about pitching a shutout and we did that.
&dquo;It&squo;s the most complete football game we played all year. We hemmed up their quarterback (Logan Jensen), who is a very talented player.&dquo;
Polk repeatedly took advantage of a &dquo;short field&dquo; created by timely interceptions with excellent return yardage. Three players recorded interceptions for Polk with Andre Overholt (2), J.J. Maxwell and Justin Blackburn all getting in on the action. &bsp;
Overholt had his usual elusive returns down the sidelines on his interceptions and Maxwell took several defenders with him refusing to go down easily on his return. &bsp;
Justin Blackburn started the barrage with the initial pick on Mitchell first possession.
Polk wasted no time in capitalizing on Blackburn&squo;s play, marching methodically down the field. The drive was aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on Mitchell at the end of an Overholt run. &bsp;
Overholt&squo;s first touchdown came on a 2-yard run less than five minutes into the game. The 2-point conversion failed and Polk led 6-0 and never looked back.
Jacob Christianson kicked a 35-yard field goal with approximately three minutes left in the half, making it 9-0 Polk. &bsp;
Keenan Littlejohn ran for his first score of the night capping the Wolverines&squo; first-half scoring with seven seconds left.
The score was set up by&bsp; Overholt&squo;s first interception of the night which was returned to the 4 yard line with 21 seconds left.
Christianson added the extra point to make it 16-0 at the half.
The second half continued with the dominance of Polk&squo;s defense producing Maxwell&squo;s interception and Overholt&squo;s second.
Overholt and Littlejohn continued to add to their totals with their second scores and the Wolverines closed out the game with a convincing 29-0 shutout win. &bsp;
&dquo;As a head coach getting the shut out is a big deal, but it was the first time I thought we were physical for the entire game,&dquo; said Ollis. &dquo;It was a complete victory for us.&bsp; All of our players played well and we knocked them off the ball up front.&dquo;
Mitchell falls to 3-4 and 1-2 in the WHC. Polk, now 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the WHC, remains in the conference chase and will travel to Avery County next Friday.