Forest Hill Holds Off Olympic Heights

     The Forest Hill Falcons withstood a comeback and beat the Olympic Heights Lions 34-28 on Thursday night at Corey Lewis Stadium in a District 13-7A game. The Falcons remain in contention to win the district title.
     Forest Hill(6-1, 3-1) got a 21-point margin at the end of the first half. Running back Bryan Jones contributed two touchdown runs in the first quarter. He scored from 20 yards away at 8:45 and reached the end zone on the Falcons first play of their next possession with an 83-yard run around the left end and down the left sideline with 4:51 left in the quarter.
     The Falcons made it 21-0 at the 9:35 mark of the second quarter. Running back Chaz Eaton angled toward the right sideline and scored on a 48-yard touchdown.
     The momentum changed to begin the second half as Olympic Heights(3-4, 2-2) scored in their first two drives of the third quarter to get back in the contest. Wide receiver Michael Ippolito caught a 70-yard touchdown pass on the right sideline from quarterback James Micioni at 10:35. They cut the lead down to 21-14 when running back Reis Clark sprinted through the middle and scored from 10 yards out at the 5:36 mark.
     The gap went back up to 14 points for Forest Hill with 4:03 to go in the third. Eaton rushed around the left side and down the left sideline for an 86-yard touchdown run.
     OH kept it close in the fourth quarter. Micioni faked a handoff and rolled in from four yards away for a score at the 9:37 mark.
      The Falcons answered back when Jones broke several tackles in the middle of the field and pulled away for a 61-yard touchdown run with 7:53 remaining. They missed the extra point and were up 34-21.
     The Lions responded quickly as Micioni threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ippolito on a fly pattern with 5:56 left. The six-point deficit would be the closest that they would come to take the lead.
     Olympic Heights had one more possession and opportunity to score. They loss the ball on downs at the Falcons four-yard line with 22.4 seconds to go when a pass to the front right side of the end zone was broken up.