By MARK BRIANT
mbriant@soundpublishing.com

POULSBO — It had shaped up to be a battle between Olympic League titans, but at the end of this one, there was only one titan on the field.

Behind the dominant second-half performance by junior running back Dax Solis, North Kitsap blew off a third-quarter tie game and roared to a 38-14 victory at home over Olympic on Sept. 23.

With this victory, the Vikings are sitting comfortably atop the Olympic 2A standings with a 4-0 overall record and 2-0 in league. North Kitsap went into the game ranked eighth statewide but is likely to be awarded with a higher ranking. Olympic , 2-2, dropped to 1-1 in Olympic League 2A.

There was definitely a bit of cold-breakfast revenge, since the last two meetings between these two squads were close affairs (a field goal or less), including a 17-14 Olympic victory on a last-second field goal one year ago. This one stayed tight until early in the fourth quarter half when Solis suddenly came alive, pounding out TD runs of 66 and 48 yards, to bookend his 5-yard rushing touchdown in the third period. He finished with three TD’s, 141 yards rushing on just eight carries — all after halftime, and what started out as a usual tight contest became a blowout.

“I was very proud of the way the kids played,” said North Kitsap Coach Jeff Weible. “We’re lucky to be able to use Zach Clark and Dax Solis at running back, because they’re both equally good and it gives us the ability to rotate them in and out and keep them fresh.”

Weible also acknowledged the emotion behind this rivalry. “We always know that when we play them it’s going to be a fight, and this was. It was a very physical game.”

Olympic Head Coach Sal Quitevis noted his team lost four top players to injury, so they were not quite at full strength. Top Olympic rusher Logan Madison, running back Rollie Enriquez, Jayce Holcomb an Darelle White all went down during the game.

Up next: North Kitsap travels to face Sequim at 7 p.m. on Sept. 30.