Homer 16, Kenai 0
There is a new king of Division 3 football. The Homer Mariners, who won the state championship in 2022, held off the Kenai Kardinals’ bid to repeat as DIII champs in a frosty game played at Wasilla High School.
The game was scoreless until the final five minutes, when Homer’s quarterback CJ Burns capped off the longest drive of the day, 90 yards, with a touchdown run and a 2-point conversion to give the Mariners an 8-0 lead. Ultimately, the Burns score proved to be the difference in the game, as the Homer defense held the Kardinals scoreless.
Kenai had chances, getting the ball inside the Homer 10-yard line three times, but couldn’t manage to get on the scoreboard. The Mariners blocked a Buzz Vann field goal attempt in the first half, then stopped the Kardinals on a fourth-and-goal from inside the Homer 10. Another Vann field goal missed wide right in the second half.
The Kardinals did their best to take advantage of the cold conditions and both teams’ struggles to move the ball by turning the second half into a battle of field position. The plan worked well in the third quarter when Kenai pinned the Mariners deep in their own territory. Beginning the fourth quarter, however, Burns engineered the most impressive drive of the game from the Homer 10-yard line.
With about 4:30 remaining, the Kardinals had one more chance to score and tie the game, but the drive ended on a Tony Perez interception.
On the ensuing drive, Homer had the ball on the Kenai 1-yard line and could have taken a knee to end the game but opted to run it in again.
Soldotna 59, Chugiak 6
The Soldotna Stars are headed to the Division II State Championship once again. The Stars stomped the Chugiak Mustangs in Soldotna over the weekend to return to the title game.
Chugiak squeaked into the game after a bit of hullabaloo over a 4-way tie for fourth place in the Railbelt Conference, in which the Mustangs came out on top of a knot up of 3-4 teams Chugiak, West Valley, Eagle River, and Palmer.
Andon Wolverton returned after missing last week’s game against North Pole due to injury, running for 132 yards on six carries, including a 71-yard touchdown run. Wolverton also opened the scoring, catching a 13-yard touchdown pass from Owen Buckbee.
Buckbee turned in his best performance of the season, finishing the game 6-9 passing for 132 yards and five touchdowns.
Senior Wyatt Faircloth put the exclamation point on the Stars’ big win with 145 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Next up: The Stars head to Colony High School on Saturday to take on an old rival, the Lathrop Malamutes, in the D2 state championship for the fourth straight season. The game airs at 4:00 p.m. on ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM, and is streamed at radiokenai.com. Pregame coverage begins at 3:30