Kenai 84, Redington 0
In what may be a team record, the Kardinals completely dominated the Redington Huskies at Ed Hollier field on Saturday, with both teams braving a nasty horizontal rain.
Scoring 7 TDs in a seemingly endless 1st quarter, the Kards scoring parade was led, as usual by Zeke Yragui, Bobby Hayes and William Wilson. Hayes notched 4 TDs, Wilson 2 and Yragui accounted for 3, with 2 TD passes and an interception run into the end zone.
Also scoring for the Kards were Cole Langham, Makai Johansen, Sawyer Vann, and Logan Myers twice.
Capably filling in off the bench at QB was Tony Perez, who made 2 TD passes in the mercy-clocked 2nd half.
The Redington squad never quit, was noted to not flinch from passing, and while they knew they were outclassed in this game, were the beneficiaries of needed experience and also good sportsmanship, shown by both squads.
The Kards are now 4-2 for the season.
West Valley 13, Soldotna 69
The Stars wasted no time hitting the gas pedal against West Valley on Friday, running away with a 69-13 win over the Wolfpack.
Really, it would be more accurate to say the Stars wasted no time smashing the gas pedal through the floor so hard they had to Flintstone themselves the rest of the way, which would be fitting, since Soldotna makes a habit of running the ball at will all over the field. They led the Wolfpack 62-8 at halftime.
SOHI jumped on the scoreboard moments into the game with an 80 yard kick returned for a touchdown by Andon Wolverton. Wolverton would later add on a 19 yard touchdown run, earning himself Player of the Game honors.
In typical Stars fashion, the ground-and-pound game was firing on all cylinders, featuring some familiar names. Wyatt Faircloth scored a pair of TDs – 35 and 17 yards; Colin Peck added two more himself – 35 and 24 yards; Quarterback Zac Buckbee connected with wide receiver Leigh Tacey on a 65 yard catch and score; Jakob Kemp netted a 52 yard TD scamper; and Michael Dickinson chipped in with a yard TD run to give the Stars their 62 point halftime total.
Andrew Pieh added another interception notch to his belt as well.
The Stars are now 6-0, ranked #1 in the state by both the Alaska Sports Broadcaster Network and Maxpreps, and will likely be able to kick things into cruise control for a bit, with the winless Mustangs coming to town this Friday.
Through 6 games this season, SOHI has put up a scoring differential of +331. You should probably read that twice.
Nikiski 18, Seward 34
It was a tale of two halves between Nikiski and Seward on Saturday, when the Bulldogs fell to the Seahawks 34-14. With wind howling and rain pelting the field, Nikiski’s defense looked impenetrable after two quarters, they led 12-0 at the half.
Throughout the first half, Seward employed a pistol formation offense, but struggled mightily with the elements. There were a several dropped snaps, and quarterback Brett Gilmore couldn’t quite get on the same page with his backfield. In the second half, however, the Seahawks abandoned the shotgun, and lined up an I-formation of fullback Gideon Shrock, and running back Kupuono Albino behind Gilmore under center, and that made all the difference.
With the duo of big men powering between, and just off the Tackles, Seward mustered an offensive response for which Nikiski had no answer. Seward took the lead back at 14-12 after their first two drives in the third quarter. Aside from one successful Bulldogs drive in the 4th quarter, the second half was largely the Albino show, who put up 4 touchdowns, and over 150 yards rushing.
Highlights for the Bulldogs were Truit McCaughey, who crossed the century mark in rushing yards, 66 coming on a single touchdown run, and Seth Payne who caught 2 Ethan Ellis passes, and hustled 50 yards downfield to deliver a key block on the McCaughey touchdown in the second quarter.
With the loss, Nikiski falls to 3-2; Seward improves to 5-0, and now ranks 10th in the state in ASBN’s latest poll.
The Bulldog’s next stop is Valdez this Saturday at 12 p.m..
