The opening weekend for Alaska football featured a road win for the Kenai Kardinals and a road loss for the Nikiski Bulldogs.
Kenai 28 – Homer 14
Big plays lead to a big lead for the Kenai football team as the Kardinals defeated Homer 28-14 on Saturday at Homer High School.
In a non-divisional, season-opener Kenai scored two, first half touchdowns on pass plays: the first a 32-yarder from quarterback Kayden Daniels to Joey Sylvester and the second on a Daniels to Braedon Pitsch fourth down 23-yard completion.
Homer answered with Anthony Kalugin running the ensuing kick-off back for a 72-yard touchdown.
Halftime Score: Kenai 14 – Homer 6
Kenai opened the second half scoring with a 64-yard touchdown run by Tucker Vann. Homer used a 69-yard run to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Kalugin. The Kardinals closed the scoring with a 61-yard touchdown run for Zach Burnett.
Final Score: Kenai 28 – Homer 14
Kenai rushed for nearly 350 yards including 160 yards for Tucker Vann on 10 carries and 140 yards for Zach Burnett.
Nikiski 12 – Redington 30
The Bulldogs built a 12-6 halftime lead over Joe Redington High School on Friday night; however, Nikiski’s offense stalled and the Huskies scored 24-straight points for a 30-12 Redington victory in a non-conference, Division III season opener.
Redington amassed over 400 total yards lead by 152 rushing yards for Jaden Spalding and quarterback Wayde Bowman threw for three touchdowns.
Nikiski scored two touchdowns in the first half. Sam Berry scored on a fumble recovery returned for 19 yards. Quarterback Noah Litke found Michael Mysing on a 17-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first half.
