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New “Juke King” Olivet sparks Lil’ Rebs to title

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

The thing that knocked us out was the touchdown pass to Blakely Roberts.

Maryville quarterback Jett Olivet did a lot of impressive things in directing the Lil’ Rebs to a 40-19 win over the Grace Rams in the Parks & Rec grasshopper league Super Bowl last Saturday at Maryville High’s Shields Stadium.

A couple of tasty moves saw the talented third-grader become only the fifth selection in Blount Press Row’s 15-year history to earn the designation “Juke King.” More on that in a moment.

Olivet scored touchdowns, extra points and played linebacker on defense in what was surely a full day. The tight spiral on the scoring toss to Roberts, though?

Eight-year-olds just aren’t supposed to be able to do that. Not that well, anyway.

“We had a very talented team, and we had a lot of kids on this team that had it,” Maryville coach Nick Meals said. “We played Halls in a bowl game before the season and got our backsides handed to us, and it was the best thing that could have happened to us. We became a different team after that.”

In running the table this season, the undefeated Lil’ Rebs outscored their opponents 278-61 in eight games. It was apparent right away the Rams would be no exception, speedy running back Sidney Orange taking the handoff on the game’s opening play and racing 60 yards to the house for a quick 6-0 lead.

“It was a wide-open hole,” Orange said, “and all I had was the safety to make a move on.”

Not long after, Olivet uncorked a 40-yard scoring burst that made him the stuff of legend.

Sprinting over the left side, the Lil’ Rebs signal caller left the BPR camera crew speechless when he unleashed savage jump stop on a would-be Grace tackler at the Rams 12-yard line. When he trotted the rest of the way to the end zone for the points, there was no doubt.

Olivet had just joined Maryville High’s Jordan Irvin (2016), Alcoa’s Ahmaudd Sankey (2019), Heritage’s Daniel Foxx (2020) and Maryville High’s Noah Vaughn (2021) in arguably the rarest fraternity in all of sports — the brotherhood of the Juke King.

“I knew he was going to try to go for my outside hip,” Olivet said, “so I went the other way.”

For subscribers needing a refresher on the Juke King award you can find a link to Vaughn’s selection here.

Maryville never lifted its foot from the gas after the Olivet score. Declyn Milligan’s half-the-field scamper set up Olivet for a second score as the Lil’ Rebs surged. Jase Merritt tacked on six more as Maryville pulled well clear in the second half.

“I knew we had to jump on them early,” Meals said. “The goal was to get up two scores and keep the lead.”

Several Lil’ Rebs defenders made sure the Rams were never able to mount a serious challenge once Maryville got rolling, none more so than interior lineman Cade Clapp. Grace never found an answer for the Maryville big man. We suspect that’s going to be the case for opposing offenses for years to come.

(Editor: We’re not sure we could block him, and he’s like eight!)

“What this boils down to is we’ve got a great group of boys and a great group of parents,” Meals said. “Couldn’t ask for anything better. ”