After breakthrough in ‘07, Wasilla is hungry for more

WASILLA — Last season, the Wasilla Warriors got a little taste of success. Wasilla won the Mayor’s Cup — the coveted prize awarded to the win of the annual Potato Bowl — for the first time since 2001 and advanced to the postseason for the first time since 2002.

And now the Warriors are hungry for more.

“We’ve got a lot of key players coming back,” Wasilla senior Chris Crane said Friday as the Warriors prepared to scrimmage Bartlett. “We’re definitely coming back with a force.”

Crane, who anchored Wasilla’s wishbone running game as a junior, is certainly one of those key players. The versatile back rushed for 683 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season, and added 233 receiving yards and four touchdown catches.

Those four touchdown catches were courtesy of one of the state’s top quarterbacks, Adrese LaVern, who is also back.

LaVern, in his first season with Wasilla after transferring from West Anchorage, led Valley signal callers with 1,041 yards passing and 13 touchdown tosses.

“We’ve got a pretty good returning backfield,” Wasilla head coach Jim Shetter said on Friday.

And if that’s not enough to worry opposing defenses, senior flanker Tim Orr also returns. As a junior, Orr snagged 19 catches for 385 yards and five touchdowns during the regular season.

The Warriors did lose fullback Beebo Russell (327 yards and six touchdowns), but have the hard-nosed Casey Katchinska to take his place.

Shetter said the Warriors’ offensive philosophy shouldn’t change much from last year.

“We’ll be running the wishbone a lot, but spreading it around a bit,” Shetter said. “We’ll mix it up — 60 to 70 percent run, 30 to 40 percent pass.”

If the Warriors do have a question mark offensively, it will be up front where the Warriors will have to fill the void left by the likes of all-state tackle Zach Orr and all-state center Chris Firey, who have both moved on to the college level.

Much of the Warriors’ offensive line from last year — which also included Tucker Minnick, Treven May and Quinn Dunphrey — graduated, but the Warriors feel there is a crew of reserves and junior varsity starters ready to fill the spots.

“They’re a little bit younger, but they’re doing well,” Crane said of the linemen who will pave the way for him this season.

Lining up at center is Jed Johnson, who did see action after Firey was lost to injury late in the ‘07 campaign. There is also Chris Lafe, a second-team all-conference selection at defensive end, who has been penciled in at one of the offensive guard spots. The Warriors also have junior Kaulen Pevan, a junior varsity starter last year, who Shetter and the Warriors are high on.

“He’s a big boy,” Shetter said of Pevin.

Shetter said Wasilla’s offensive line will be greatly aided by a pair of coaches new to the WHS staff. Former Dimond offensive coordinator Todd Whitehurst and Dan Blair, a longtime Colony assistant, will be in charge of leading Wasilla’s big boys up front.

Johnson and Lafe will also anchor the Wasilla defensive line, and will be joined by another up-and-comer, Chance Brinker. Shetter also noted sophomore David Green, who saw varsity time as a freshman.

Possibly the biggest hole on the defense was left by departed captain Shane Green, who is playing college football, along with Russell, at Valley City State University.

In line to take over Green’s duties as middle linebacker and captain of the defense is Katchinska.

“He was a stud inside backer last year and has taken that role,” Shetter said of Katchinska, who made one of the plays of the year for the Warriors last season.

Katchinska recovered a fumble in overtime to seal a win over the crosstown rival Colony Knights.

Joining Katchinska at linebacker will be James Langendorf and Tony Lapiz. Orr, LaVern and safety Chris Gross will be leaders in the defensive backfield.

Shetter said freshman Braden Kieper will see time at corner back.

Like his offense, Shetter said there shouldn’t’ be any major changes on defense either, in regard to philosophy.

Overall, what has impressed Shetter most, he said, is the attitude of the Warriors, who are eager to not only make another appearance in the postseason, but earn the right to play deeper into October.

“The attitude is a must,” Shetter said, noting the Warriors also had a school-record 103 players take the field for the first week of practice. “We could have all the players in the world, but you’ve got to practice hard every day, believe in yourself and work as a team. Our biggest goal is to make these kids play as a team.”

Wasilla, which suffered a first-round playoff loss to rival Palmer last season, will be tested early. The Warriors open the season with a nonconference clash at Chugiak, the school in which Shetter — a former CHS defensive coordinator — helped lead to a state title. After that, the Warriors make the trip to Juneau to face the defending state champion Crimson Bears.

It’ll be a tough two weeks to open the season, but Shetter is excited about the challenge.

“Playing the big schools is a good test for us to see where we stand and how much we need to work on,” Shetter said.

Juneau-Douglas has been arguably the state’s elite team during the past decade. The Crimson Bears have won two large-schools state titles in the last three years, and have reached the state semifinals in five straight seasons. But as tough as the Bears have been, Wasilla has nearly upset Juneau in each of the last two years.

“We’ve only lost to them by three points in two years. They’re blowing out some of these teams by 30 and 40 points,” Shetter said of the Bears. “We’ve really played hard against them, and we’re hoping to play hard against them this year.”

Shetter’s Warriors will host North Pole during the third week, and will also have key Railbelt battles against Lathrop and Colony at Veterans Memorial Field.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.