Palmer 7, Soldotna 76
The Soldotna Stars were playing schoolyard ball against the visiting Palmer Moose on Friday, dominating the game from the outset, pulling away quickly and winning by a score of 76-7.
Wyatt Faircloth continued his commanding season performance, rushing for two touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of 9 and 25 yards respectively, then adding a TD reception on a Zac Buckbee pass early in the second quarter.
Speaking of TD passes, Buckbee threw for two more against Palmer, connecting with Leigh Tacey on a 40 yard bomb with 11 minutes to go in the second, then again in the second on a 4 yard strike to Faircloth two minutes later following a Trevor Michael interception.
With the Stars up 35-0, Gehret Medcoff and Colin Peck took over. Medcoff gashed the defense for rushing scores of 44 and 39 yards. Peck added another TD courtesy of a 30 yard outside run.
Carrying a 56-7 lead into halftime, the Stars turned the ball over to their JV in the second half.
With the win, SOHI improves to 3-0 on the season and is tied with Eagle River for 1st place in the Northern Lights Conference. The Stars travel to Bartlett this weekend in a non-division outing on Friday. The Golden Bears come in with a record of 1-2, and are coming off a 56-21 win over Juneau Douglas.
Nikiski 14, Seward 38
The Nikiski Bulldogs took a step backward after their offensive display against Eielson last week, dropping their first road game to the Seward Seahawks 38-14.
The Bulldogs offense wasn’t as sharp as it was at home last week when they put up 66 points against Ben Eielson Ravens. The Seahawks defense proved a much stiffer challenge, keeping Nikiski QB Ethan Ellis on the run all night, and sacking him 5 times. Seward Junior, Hunter Kurtz, also intercepted two Ellis Passes.
With the win, Seward improves to 2-0. The Seahawks take on Ben Eielson next week. The Ravens beat Valdez 60-14 last week.
Nikiski drops to 1-1 following the loss. The Bulldogs host Valdez in their third 9-man contest this Friday. The Buccaneers come in with an 0-2 record after their loss to Ben Eielson.
Kenai 54, Redington 14
The Kenai Central Kardinals bounced back from last week’s tough road loss to the Barrow Whalers by putting on an offensive show in a 54-14 shellacking of the Redington Huskies.
There may have been a few nerves for Kenai when Redington scored on their opening play of the game, a 50 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Christian Ingraham to wide receiver Doyle Bond. If there was any hand wringing happening on the Kenai sideline, however, it didn’t show as the Kardinals responded by scoring 54 unanswered points, going up 54-8 before Redington tacked on a touchdown against Kenai JV players in the final minutes.
For Kenai, Senior running back William Wilson put the team on his back during the first half, carving up the Redington defense with rush after rush up the gut. Following the opening score, Redington showed some resiliency on defense, putting the Kardinals in two fourth down situations, but in both instances Kenai simply handed the ball to Wilson who did the rest of the work, muscling his way to first downs. When all scores were tallied, Wilson came away with two rushing touchdowns, and one receiving touchdown.
Zeke Yragui put on a show on both sides of the ball this week. The senior quarterback rushed for one touchdown, threw for two more, and added on a pick six in the 3rd quarter just for good measure. Yragui’s first TD pass came on a 40 yard dart to the let side to running back Bobby Hayes – the second week in a row those two have connected for a score – and his second a pass to William Wilson in the flat at the 27 yard line. Wilson took it the rest of the way, sneaking inside the right pylon.
At 2-1 in the Mid-Alaska Conference, the Kardinals now sit in 4th place behind Houston (2-1), Barrow (2-1), and Homer (3-0). Kenai faces a big test at home this weekend with the Homer Mariners coming to town. Homer has looked unstoppable thus far, with wins over Barrow, Redington, and Kodiak by scores of 38-12, 66-16, and 52-0 respectively, although, Kenai will present Homer’s toughest road challenge this season.
Football Schedule: Week Four
Friday, September 1st
Nikiski vs Valdez @ Nikiski 6 p.m. KSRM 920AM, 92.5FM and streaming at radiokenai.com
SoHi @ Bartlett @ Bartlett 6 p.m. ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM and streaming at radiokenai.com
Saturday, September 2nd
Kenai vs Homer (Homecoming) @ Kenai 2 p.m. ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM and streaming at radiokenai.com