Hoover 36, Olympian 7

The Hoover Cardinals rode a comprehensive performance on both sides of the ball to a 36-7 win over the visiting Olympian Eagles.

The Cards flashed their own brand of ground-and-pound — the “ground” coming from their relentless running game, and the “pound” from their hard-hitting defense.

The Hoover backfield seemed to sprout ball-carriers, with Demontauz Gray, Daevon Bazzo, Zyair Velazquez, George Jones, Lewis Butler, and James Jeffries all toting the rock. Butler opened the scoring with a 5-yard second-quarter plunge, and capped the night with a 66-yard scamper. Jones also added a touchdown, his one-yarder coming just three plays after his game-long 75-yard run.

Bazzo and Velazquez swapped quarterbacking duties throughout the evening. Velazquez notched Cardinals’ only passing touchdown, on a 23-yard connection with Da’quan Walker. The senior signal-caller also scored on a 21-yard keeper in the second half.

The Hoover defense kept the Eagles from getting into any kind of rhythm. On Olympian’s deepest drive of the first half, Shaun Jones picked off a Garry Cannon pass in the endzone to end the threat. Cannon hooked up with Fiatau Leomiti for a 15-yard score in the fourth quarter, but found himself under pressure for most of the night.

Both schools open league play next week, as Hoover heads to 1-4 Morse and Olympian hosts 4-2 Otay Ranch.