Another big win for Juneau

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Frontiersman sports editor

WASILLA - This just in. Juneau-Douglas is pretty darn good.

In their first appearance in the Mat-Su Valley since joining the Railbelt Conference, the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears cruised to a 59-7 win over the Wasilla Warriors at Veterans Memorial Field in Wasilla, Saturday.

Quarterback Chris Hinkley tossed three touchdown passes and ran for another, and running back Josh Lehauli posted rushing and receiving touchdowns as the Bears improved to 5-0 overall, and 4-0 in Railbelt play.

The Crimson Bear offense ran pass routes for nearly 20 minutes prior to the contest, and the diligence appeared to work.

"We just work on execution all of the time," Hinkley said. "We're pretty sharp this year, hopefully we keep that going."

Hinkley completed 9-of-14 attempts for 212 yards.

"They're consistent, and they execute very well," Wasilla head coach Joe Gardner said.

Juneau's execution, and a variety of Crimson Bear weapons proved to be crucial in the win.

"Tonight I thought a key in the game was we got a lot of our players in," Hinkley said. "We got a lot of our sub players in the game, and you couldn't' even tell. It looked just like the starting (offense) was in there."

Four different Bears posted running touchdowns, and three different receivers caught touchdowns in the win. Even a pair of lineman got in on the running action. Guard Justin Behrends recorded four carries for 37 yards and a score. Tackle Joe Monagle ran the ball three times for 13 yards.

Lehauli led the Bears with 104 yards on nine carries.

Juneau scored three times in the first quarter, and reached the end zone four times in the second quarter to basically put the game out of reach by halftime. After Wasilla scored early, Hinkley connected with Ryan Fagerstrom on a 34-yard scoring pass. Juneau made the two-point conversion to move ahead 6-7.

Less than three minutes later, Hinkley hit Angelo Katasse on a 5-yard scoring pass. In the second quarter Hinkley dumped a screen off to Lehauli, and the speedy running back hit the sidelines and went 56 yards for the score.

Hinkley, Tres Saldivar and Joe Kohan also posted running scores in the first half.

Wasilla jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. On the third play from scrimmage, Warrior senior quarterback Zach Bennett tucked away the ball and rumbled for 79 yards - deep into Bear territory. Senior running back Jake Wade capped the short drive with a 3-yard

plunge.

The offensive outburst for Wasilla, represented a large chunk of the Warriors' total yards. Juneau held Wasilla to 157 yards on the ground and 17 in the air.

Late in the third quarter, Juneau stopped Wasilla two yards from the end zone. Wasilla junior Jeffrie Champion returned a kickoff 76 yards to put the Warriors on the Bear 10-yard line. Wade and Bennett posted runs of four and five yards, respectively, within the 10, but Juneau held Bennett just inches from the end zone on fourth down.

Bennett led the Warriors with 92 yards rushing on 12 carries. Wade added 55 yards on the ground.