Down by five points with just over seven minutes left in the game, the Olympic Heights football team went on an 16-play, 85-yard drive that was capped of by a Reis Clark 5-yard touchdown run with 2:16 remaining to beat the West Boca Bulls 24-21 and run their record to 4-0 on the season on Friday, Sept. 16. The win also makes the Lions 1-0 in district play.

The winning touchdown was Clark’s third of the game, including a 65-yard scoring run on a pitch play on the Lions opening drive of the second half to give OH a 16-14 lead.

The game, played at West Boca, marked the first victory for OH over West Boca in the schools’ 13-year long rivalry. Going into the game, West Boca held a 9-0 win advantage over the Lions, having won the last three meetings by a combined score of 144-3, which includes a 77-3 drubbing in 2014. A post on the OH football team’s Instagram account (ohlionsfb) has a photo of the scoreboard at game’s end and the comment: “All Lions on the field 2 years ago, this was for you!!!”

The penalty-filled game saw West Boca get on the board first with 5:05 left in the first quarter. The Lions immediately answered that score by going on a 15-play 64-yard drive and scoring the tying touchdown with a Clark fourth and goal punishing run up the middle at the end of the first quarter.

That lead was short-lived however, as after the teams exchanged failed drives, the Bulls capitalized on a bad OH punt setting them up at the Lions’ 45-yard line. On the very first play of the drive, West Boca reclaimed the lead on a dump-off pass that was taken to the end zone, putting the Bulls up 14-7 with 9:35 remaining in the first half.

The Lions answered with a 12-play drive which featured a 15-yard Clark run, but the drive stalled at the Bull’s 15-yard line. After a penalty moved the Lions back to the 20-yard line, Omar Iqab hit what would turn out to be a crucial 37-yard field goal to draw the Lions within four points, 14-10, with 4:18 left in the half.

After Clark’s 65-yard touchdown run to open the second half put the Lions up 16-14 (the point after attempt was blocked), West Boca responded with a touchdown drive of their own to reclaim the lead 21-16 midway through the third quarter.

It looked like the Bulls were going to put the game away when they drove down to the Lions’ goal line midway through the fourth quarter, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved them back 15 yards and the Lions defense blocked the ensuing West Boca field goal attempt.

Then came the 16-play, 85-yard drive that will live in OH memory for a long time to come with the Lions moving down the field with short passes and punishing runs by the Thunder and Lightning duo of Clark and Jon Roseme which combined for over 200 rushing yards. Clark’s five-yard touchdown run was followed by his taking a pitch from quarterback Anthony Petillo into the end zone for the two-point conversion, putting the Lions up for good 24-21.

On their final possession of the game, the Bulls managed to move the ball down to the OH 18-yard line. With nine seconds left, a pass to the end zone fell incomplete, and the game-tying field attempt on the final play of the game was blocked, securing the win for the Lions.