North Pole (7-0 overall, 5-0 in Railbelt play) has already locked up the conference title, thanks to a 14-7 win over the Moose last week.
Colony (4-1), Palmer (3-2) and Juneau-Douglas (3-2) make up the Railbelt’s final three playoff teams. Order of finish will be determined after Palmer hosts Wasilla (3-4, 1-4) and Juneau-Dougals travels to Colony.
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“We have to beat Juneau,” Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said after Colony’s 27-13 victory over West Valley last week.
With a win over the defending large-schools state champions on Saturday evening, the Knights will improve to 5-1 in Railbelt, lock up the second seed and host the conference’s No. 3 seed in the first round of the playoffs.
Palmer needs a win and some help.
With a win over Wasilla, the Moose would improve to 4-2 in conference play, and would then need a Juneau win over Colony to force a three-way tie at 4-2.
Of those three teams, the squad which has allowed the least amount of points in conference play would be awarded the second seed, and the third seed would be decided by head-to-head play between the final two teams.
Palmer has currently given up the least amount of points of the three teams, 67, but not by many.
Colony has allowed 69 in conference play, while Juneau has given up just 73 to Railbelt opponents.
Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said the Moose coaching staff hopes the players don’t focus too much on the just the numbers.
“Defensively, we’re always trying to shut folks down,” Christiansen said. “We’ve got a big challenge for us this week, and we’re trying not to think about next week. We don’t have things under our own control other than trying to win this game and play good defense.”
While Palmer sports the conference’s second-ranked scoring defense, Wasilla will bring the conference’s third-ranked scoring offense to Machetanz Field tonight at 7 p.m.
Wasilla senior running back Chris Crane is second in the Valley with 751 yards rushing and eight touchdowns.
The Warriors lost all-conference quarterback Adrese LaVern due to a season-ending injury early this year, but junior quarterback Cody Pfeifer has filled in admirably, completed 31-of-74 passes for 552 yards and seven touchdowns.
Senior Tillerman Kroon has become Pfeifer’s target of choice with at least one catch in each of the last five games. Kroon has also caught three touchdowns.
The Palmer defense, meanwhile, is allowing only 12.2 points per game this season, which is fourth-best at the large-schools level.
Offensively, the Moose have accumulated more than 1,500 yards on the ground. Junior Brennan Bohman leads Palmer with 559 yards and four scores. Fellow junior Johnny Daly has 325 yards and has scored in four straight games.
Colony eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark with 305 yards on the ground in the win over West Valley. Senior Collin Murphy leads Valley rushers with 794 yards and 13 scores. He has at least one rushing touchdown in every game this season.
Junior Matt Jaronik scored for the third time this season against West Valley, and is one of four Knights with 250 or more yards rushing.
Jaronik has 363 yards, and has chipped in 18 catches for 188 yards.
The Knights host the Bears Saturday at 7 p.m.
Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
Comments
1 comment(s)hambone wrote on Sep 26, 2008 4:51 AM: