Bears in playoffs after win over Houston Hawks in Kodiak

KODIAK — The Kodiak Bears earned a Northern Lights Conference playoff berth with a 37-7 over Houston in Kodiak Saturday.

The Bears used an early lead and two players with more than 100 yards rushing to improve to 2-2 in NLC play and officially clinch the conference’s third seed in the upcoming playoffs.

Despite the loss, Houston (1-3) is still alive in the postseason race, and can clinch the NLC’s No. 4 seed with a win over Homer this weekend.

Senior Waylon Soptick ran for the Hawks’ lone score in the loss, a 28-yard run in the third quarter. He finished with a game-high 156 yards, and topped the 1,000-yard mark for the season against the Bears. Soptick is among state leaders with 1,131 yards on the ground and 10 rushing touchdowns.

Melvin Javier led Kodiak with 141 yards rushing and two scores, and Kerry Powers added 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Kodiak 37, Houston 7

Saturday, Kodiak

First quarter

Kodiak — Powers 5 run (Powers run), 3:02

Second quarter:

Kodiak — Powers 2 run (Yavorsky run), 11:35

Kodiak — Small 1 run (run failed), 7:02

Third quarter:

Houston — Soptick 28 run (Soptick kick), 8:28

Kodiak — Javier 28 run (Powers run), 1:16

Fourth quarter:

Kodiak — Javier 6 run (Stanford kick), 1:48

Individual statistics:

Rushing — Houston: Soptick 33-156, Barclay 1-1, N. Saechow 3-(-19), Rutta 1-2, Klewien 5-8. Kodiak: Yavorsky 7-4, LeVan 11-49, Javier 17-141, Powers 20-109, Small 2-21.

Passing — Houston: Soptick 0-1-0-0. Kodiak: Yavorsky 0-4-0-0.