With three of the four playoff berths in the Medium School Football division earned and the Nikiski Bulldogs all but locked into a playoff spot in the Small School Football division; central peninsula teams play outside of their respective conferences in week seven of the football regular season.
Kenai 45 – North Pole 8
In a possible preview of a possible playoff pairing, the Kenai Kardinals faced the North Pole Patriots on Friday night at North Pole. Kenai has clinched a spot in the playoffs, representing the NLC; North Pole will be the top seed from the Southeast Conference into the Medium School playoffs.
The Kardinals dominated North Pole 45-8 behind a power running game and stifling defense. Kenai’s defensive created three interceptions, including two for Chase Gillies. Kenai lead 25-0 at the half. Andrew Welborn and Chase Gillies both scored two rushing touchdowns.
Kenai improves to 5-1 on the season.
Nikiski 28 – Thunder Mountain 21
The Nikiski Bulldogs played out-of-division opponent Thunder Mountain on Friday night, another long road trip for the Bulldogs.
Nikiski lead 20-14 at the half and held the lead until 6:20 remaining in the game when Thunder Mountain took its first lead at 21-20. Nikiski converted a 4th down on the 10-yard line with under 3:00 remaining en-route-to a game-winning TD pass from Cade Anderson to Ryker Riddall with under 2:00 remaining for a 28-21 lead.
Final Score: Nikiski 28 – Thunder Mountain 21
Soldotna vs Lathrop @ SoHi Saturday Game Time: 2:00 p.m.
ESPN 1140AM
The Soldotna Stars faced their fourth Large School opponent of the season with Lathrop (Fairbanks) traveling to the Stars on Saturday.
After allowing a game-opening, kick-off return of 90 yards for a Lathrop touchdown, the Soldotna Stars rolled to a 55-14 victory over the Malamutes with eight touchdowns on nine possessions. The SoHi defense created four turnovers including three interceptions. SoHi’s sophomore quarterback Brandan Crowder threw for four touchdowns and the Stars rushed for four touchdowns.
SoHi improves to 7-0 on the season and extends its state record consecutive win streak to 36 games.
The Stars travel to Kenai to face the Kards for the Northern Lights Conference football championship on Saturday at KCHS. Both SoHi and Kenai have clinched playoff berths into the Medium School Football playoffs set for Saturday, October 1oth at Dimond High School.
