Juneau needed a come-from-behind effort to edge the Warriors 16-13 in 2006, and used a late defensive stop to slip past Wasilla 13-12 last year.
“We’ve only lost to them by four points in two years. They’re blowing out some of these teams by 30 and 40 points,” Wasilla head coach Jim Shetter said earlier this month. “We’ve really played hard against them, and we’re hoping to play hard against them this year.”
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“We’ve got a challenge ahead of us,” Shetter said. “They’re loaded — very fast, very physical, very well coached.”
Juneau cruised to a 45-7 win over West Valley in Fairbanks last week, despite missing a few key players.
Among the missing talent was first-team all-state running back Silver Maake, who did not play.
Senior Lincoln Maka, a defensive standout last season, led the Bears in the backfield with 113 yards on eight carries. Quarterback Dakotah Smith posted 110 yards on 10 carries and sparked Juneau with two rushing touchdowns during a 23-point second quarter.
Smith also threw for 164 yards and two touchdowns for the Bears, who are the top-ranked large-schools team compared to the latest Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network Prep Football Poll.
Wasilla improved to 1-0 overall with a 21-14 win over Chugiak at Chugiak High School last week.
Senior running back Chris Crane led the Warriors with 99 yards rushing, 24 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
Crane tied the score at 7-7 with a 34-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and hauled in a 9-yard Adrese LaVern touchdown pass late in the half to give the Warriors the 13-7 lead.
Colony at Soldotna
Chances are the Soldotna Stars will have some added motivation when the Colony Knights hit Soldotna High for a nonconference match tonight.
“They certainly don’t want to lose, they’re last loss came to us two years ago,” Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said prior to the start of the 2008 season. “We’re on their field now, so I’m sure they’ll have quite a few things set up for us.”
Since dropping the 2006 season opener to Colony, the Stars have won 20 straight, a stretch that includes a pair of small-schools state championships.
Soldotna opened the 2008 season with a 55-22 nonconference win over Nikiski.
Anthony Griglione, an all-state quarterback who has moved to the running back slot, posted 172 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the win over the Bulldogs.
Chris Nolden led the Stars with 183 yards on the ground.
The Stars churned out 537 yards rushing in the game, but also gave up their fare share of rushing yards. Nikiski senior Beau Calderwood rushed for 229 yards and three touchdowns.
Colony suffered a tough 20-16 loss to North Pole last week in the Interior. The first-week matchup could prove to be key in playoff seeding. Last year, the Knights and Patriots finished the regular season tied at 3-3 in Railbelt play. With Colony’s win over North Pole during the 2007 regular season, the Knights won the tiebreaker and a spot in the postseason.
The Knights led 16-6 earlier in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Pats. North Pole quarterback Lee Jones scored on a pair of 1-yard runs in the fourth to give North Pole the win.
Colony quarterback Collin Murphy led the Knights with 73 yards rushing and gave the Knights the early lead with an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Tim Jaronik booted a 24-yard field goal and Matt Packa recovered a fumble in the end zone in the loss.
Palmer at Lathrop
Palmer travels north to open its Railbelt schedule against the Lathrop Malemutes.
Lathrop (1-0) survived a week one nonconference grudge match and scored an 8-6 win over Kenai Central.
Lathrop’s A.J. Allen notched a 96-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and the Malemute defense managed to preserve the win.
In a match of two of the top four teams in 2007, South Anchorage — a state semifinalist last season — beat state runner-up Palmer 19-6 at Anchorage Football Stadium.
The Moose built a 6-0 lead with a pair of Zach Zegzdryn field goals, but South scored 19 unanswered points to grab the win.
Palmer debuted virtually a brand new offensive backfield in the game. Dustin Silva made his first start at quarterback and juniors Coleman Ahrens (nine carries, 51 yards), Johnny Daly (seven carries, 57 yards) and Brennan Bohman (12 carries, 34 yards) represented the bulk of the yardage for a Palmer team that includes a number of first-time varsity starters.
“There’s a lot of guys who haven’t seen much varsity action,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said after the loss.
Skyview at Houston
Houston makes its Northern Lights Conference debut when the Hawks host Skyview Saturday at 1 p.m. at Terry Shurtleff Field.
The Hawks, who moved to the NLC from the Greatland Conference, opened the 2008 season with a lopsided win over a former Greatland foe.
Houston scored three times in the first seven minutes of a 47-8 win over Delta.
After starters Micah Ranum, Kyle Sumner and Bryan Mason scored early touchdowns, the Houston coaching staff took advantage of the opportunity to insert the second-team units.
Reserve running back Brandon Dukes led the Hawks with 87 yards and a touchdown.
Skyview is 0-1 after a season-opening loss at Barrow. The Whalers used a late score to post the 36-27 win over the Panthers.
Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
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