By Sarah Almond

After suffering two heavy losses in the preseason, players on the Olympus High School football team were frustrated and discouraged. Resiliency, determination and teamwork quickly turned the tides, and the Titans went undefeated in their region for five weeks straight. 

“We had a pretty tough preseason,” Head Coach Aaron Whitehead said. “But as we continued on, we started to pick up momentum each week and now we’re doing quite well. The last four games we’ve been averaging 44 points.”

A Salt Lake native, Whitehead graduated from rival high school Skyline in 1991 with dreams of going to law school and pursing a law degree at the University of Utah. 

“I started coaching little league when I was 21 with some friends, and I was able to help coach the sophomore team at Skyline. I was hooked,” Whitehead said. “So I went into education and it was the best decision I’ve ever made.” 

Whitehead has been teaching social studies for 16 years, finding his place as football coach and teacher at Olympus High School in 2009. 

Since coming on as head coach at Olympus, Whitehead has taken each year season-by-season to build a solid football program with depth, talent and dedication. With 81 players on this year’s team, the Titans have managed to go 4-0 in the region, clenching the 28th spot in the state.  

“What’s been fun is this is a team that really enjoys being with each other and working with each other,” Whitehead said. “They’ve faced adversity and have been able to find resolve and overcome the challenges.”

Evenly split between classes, Whitehead feels good about the depth on this year’s team. Even with 32 seniors making post high school plans, Whitehead has faith in the up-and-coming players. 

“Each year we have a pretty big group of seniors. But this year we have a lot of juniors that are contributing,” Whitehead said. “We have really good depth this year. It’s the first year in a long time that we’ve got some good depth.” 

Even with reliable depth, the team has some star players that have had outstanding seasons this year. Senior tailback Quinn Meyer is having a monster season, rushing more than 100 yards per game and having 125 carries for 991 yards. 

With 11 touchdowns this season, Meyer, a returning starter, is just starting to get looks from colleges and universities around the nation. Defensive linebacker Nate Hoole, a senior, has also had a promising season – averaging well over 10 tackles per game.

Last season the Titans fell short of making it to the playoffs. Instead of being discouraged, however, the team decided to set a goal of qualifying for the playoffs and has been working tirelessly to reach that goal. 

“Every year is special, and this year is no exception,” Whitehead said. “But this year is just a lot of fun. The kids are fun to be around and they are really doing great.” 

The Titans played their final season game at rival high school Skyline on Fri. Oct. 23, with the first round of the playoffs beginning on Oct. 30.