PHOTOS: West Orange hands Olympia 34-6 loss in season opener

When West Orange first-year head coach Dee Brown looked up at the scoreboard, he liked what he saw.

In his first official game at the helm of the football program, Brown saw his Warriors pick up a dominating 34-6 win in front of a raucous home crowd Friday, Aug. 23.

“It’s a wonderful feeling anytime you wake up Friday morning looking for a win and you find one on Friday night,” Brown said. “That was always one of our goals — to win the home opener. I’m humble because it’s never easy to get a win on Friday.”

Things escalated quickly for the Warriors (1-0) right out of the starting gate. On the first two drives of the game, the Warriors converted on a fourth down deep in Olympia (0-1) territory before quarterback Julian Calvez capped each drive off with a rushing touchdown.

Coming off of his first varsity start last week in the Warriors’ preseason matchup with Bishop Moore, which saw him amass five touchdowns total, Calvez continued his multi-touchdown streak with three (two rushing, one passing) Friday night.

“I was just in the moment, just living,” Calvez said. “God’s blessed me with the talent to do that. My coaches do a great job of coaching me everyday and making sure I’m right every time.”

By the time Calvez recorded his last score — a pass that bobbled around in the hands of Terrell Walden before he brought it down and walked into the end zone — the Warriors found themselves up 21-0 with 1:11 left in the first quarter. The opening quarter of the game took a full 36 minutes to play.

While West Orange would continue its domination and add on two more touchdowns (one on a short run by Sinica Sigler and another on a reverse by Matthew McDoom), the defense for the Warriors proved to be just as efficient.

Outside of a 21-yard field goal by Titans kicker Colby Kintner — which was set up by an interception of West Orange backup QB Taylor Huff — the Warriors held the Titans to just three points in the first half and three points in the second half. Kintner would go 2-for-3, with his lone miss coming from 27 yards out with 52.6 seconds left in the second quarter.

Though the Warriors were largely dominant on both sides of the ball, there is still room for improvement, Brown said. 

“Sometimes in games you have ebbs and flows, so we are just trying to get our kids to get on a more consistent level of high play,” Brown said. 

Next up for West Orange is one of the toughest tests of the season, as the Warriors travel down the road to Apopka to take on the Wekiva Mustangs (1-0) Friday, Aug. 30.