AURORA — AURORA – In a game filled with massive linemen, bruising backs and veteran leaders, Sergio Salazar was the unlikeliest of heroes Saturday afternoon.

Salazar, generously listed as a 5-foot-7, 149-pound kicker, is the only freshman to make the Olathe varsity this season. And that youth might have showed, as he badly missed two potential game-winning kicks late in regulation during the Class 2A state championship game at Legacy Stadium.

But given a third opportunity, during overtime, of the Pirates' battle with Erie, Salazar came through in a big way. His extra point was the difference in Olathe's 22-21 victory against the Tigers, earning the school its first state football championship.

“It felt pretty good,” the overwhelmed Salazar said amid a horde of celebrating Pirates shortly after the game ended. “I just tried to put the two previous kicks behind me and make this one.”

While Salazar’s kick provided the difference on the scoreboard, there were plenty of factors that led to that point. In a game that went pretty much according to script, Olathe (14-0) and Erie (12-2) stood toe to toe for more than four quarters.

The Tigers, who were trying to add a championship to the Class A title they won in 1997, appeared to take control on Michael Chambers’ 14-yard touchdown run with 5:58 left in regulation. Although a two-point conversion would have put Erie up by seven points, the Tigers settled on Ryan Hawkins' point after for a 15-9 lead.

Olathe quickly answered, getting a 57-yard touchdown run from David Rhodes on the next play from scrimmage. The Pirates could have gone up by one, but Salazar’s kick never got past the line of scrimmage, leaving the score tied at 15 with 5:40 left to play.

Olathe had one final opportunity in regulation, after Garhett Jurgens recovered a fumble at the Pirates’ 35-yard line with less than a minute to play.

Rhodes, the Rocky Mountain News' championship game Most Valuable Player, broke free for a 36-yard gain a couple of plays later to move the team into Erie territory, and then a short pass from Jurgens to Dylan Markley set the Pirates up at the 29.

Salazar lined up for a 41-yard field-goal attempt with 3.3 seconds left, but his kick was blocked by the Tigers' Cees Doxsie and Stephen Boyd as time expired.

“I have a lot of confidence in (Salazar),” Olathe coach Ryan Corn said. “This was not like him. He’s been great all year, but I think any time you throw a freshman into these type of pressure situations, especially when he’s a kicker, it’s tough.”

Erie got the ball first in overtime, using three successive runs by Alex Ortega to put the ball in the end zone for a 21-15 lead. But the lead would stay at six points, as Hawkins' point-after attempt clanged off the left upright.

As it had done more and more in the second half, Olathe turned to Rhodes to start its overtime period. Rhodes, a 5-9, 213-pound senior who seems to get stronger the longer the game goes on, bulled his way in on three carries, using a thunderous forearm shiver on a defensive back to clear his way for the final yard on a 2-yard touchdown run.

“We tend to do better in the second half, because we wear teams out,” said Rhodes, who picked up 168 of his 223 yards rushing and all three of his touchdowns after halftime. “Our offensive line opened up holes, and (Erie was) having hard time tackling. We were just shaking off tackles.”

Rhodes score set the stage for Salazar, who split the uprights despite an intense rush coming on all sides from the Tigers’ defensive front.

“To go 14-0, boy it’s a great feeling,” Corn said. “Any time you can win a state championship, it’s a great feeling. The kids won it, and they deserved it.”

Salazar started the scoring on the first possession of the game, drilling a 36-yard field goal after Markley returned the opening kick 65 yards to set Olathe up at the Erie 27. It would stay that way until the second quarter, when Erie started to take control behind the running of Ortega.

Ortega, a 5-9, 165-pound junior who had 2,115 yards rushing entering the contest, was nursing a deep thigh bruise that kept him out of the Tigers' semifinal win against Platte Canyon.

After only carrying the ball once in the first quarter, Ortega started to hit his stride in the second quarter. He picked up 50 yards on a 76-yard Erie drive that came up empty when Gregory Reese was stopped inches from the goal line on a fourth-down play early in the second. That led to a safety as Brandyn Neumann brought down Jurgens in the end zone on the next snap, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

Ortega scored his 37th touchdown this season on the ensuing possession, sliding in from 1-yard out to give Erie an 8-3 lead that it would take into the intermission.

Rhodes put Olathe back on top on the first play of the fourth quarter, powering in from 3 yards out, but Jurgens was stopped short on the conversion run, leaving the score at 9-8 with 11:55 left in regulation, setting up the frantic finish.

Ortega said that, even though the Tigers finished with 311 yards on the ground, it was hard to break through against the Pirates defense.

“We had our chances to win the game,” said Ortega, who finished with 137 yards on 27 carries. “(Olathe) flew around everywhere, and we couldn’t find any seams. They were good at shedding blocks, and we couldn’t find any openings.”