Bears rush out of Houston with win

HOUSTON — A ferocious ground attack from the Kodiak Bears spoiled Houston’s homecomeing on Saturday at Terry Shurtleff Field.

The Bears put up a 46-0 victory over the Hawks behind a dominating rushing game that generated more than 450 yards.

Charlie Johnson, a 200-pound sophomore, led Kodiak with 12 touches, consistently grinding out double-digit yardage gains. Junior Riley McFarlin had 155 yards for two touchdowns and senior Alex Woodell added a touchdown of his own.

Leading all this from under center was junior Matthew Chavarria, who rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown, which came late in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Chavarria didn’t need to go to the air much, completing just one pass on three attempts for the game. That completion was a 39-yarder to Raphael Matautia for six points.

After the game, Kodiak coach Todd Cook was happy his team made it to the field. The game was originally scheduled for Friday, but a cancelled ferry forced it back to Saturday.

“We had a rough go of it coming over here,” Cook said. “Our ferry was cancelled due to 12-foot seas and our bus broke down on the way up.”

The travel delays were a distant memory for the Bears when the game began under cloudy afternoon skies.

The game began the way it would end, with a run by Houston’s Brandon Dukes. Dukes finished with 17 carries for 107 yards. But despite his initial 17-yard gain, the Bears closed the door and forced a punt.

Kodiak drove 78 yards on its first drive, but the Hawks defense was stout just shy of the red zone. The Bears settled for an Elmer Cortez 39-yard field goal, his first of two on the day.

Although the scoreboard was lopsided, Houston head coach Norm Bouchard said his Hawks never quit.

“They earned the points they got today,” Bouchard said. “They were not given to them like we have done in the past.”

After holding the Bears to three points, the Houston sails went slack two plays later. With the ball on Houston’s 20, Kodiak linebacker Zack Watkins jumped a slant pattern to intercept the ball and returned Zack Qual’s pass for an easy touchdown.

The Hawks generated little on the ensuing drive, but the defense made a big stop on the next Kodiak drive. Again deep in Houston territory, a Bears receiver slipped to the ground and left cornerback Aaron Richardson wide open for an easy interception.

“We were able to move the ball on offense,” Bouchard said. “We are showing signs of getting better.”

Kodiak’s ground game wore down Houston. The Bears mounted a sustained drive of its own before halftime, largely on Johnson’s back, and capped it with a 26-yard handoff to Woodell. The point after attempt failed due to a bad snap.

“We wanted to keep it simple. We wanted to get the basics of our offense going today,” Cook said.

After a Houston three-and-out, the Bears had their one reception of the day. The touchdown grab gave Kodiak a 22-0 lead after another bad snap muffed the point-after attempt.

The Hawks attempted to get on the scoreboard before the break, but Houston failed to capitalize on a big catch by Dukes from Beau. The Bears ate up most of the remaining first half with an eight-play drive capped by Cortez’s second field goal.

To start the third quarter, the Hawks caught the Bears sleeping and recovered an onside kick attempt. However, this only led to another Hawks punt after three plays.

The defense stepped up to force another Kodiak turnover when Kevin Daily-Nemi knocked the ball loose and Koddi Reddish recovered.

“Our defense played really well for the first three quarters,” Bouchard said.

When Houston turned the ball over on downs, Kodiak wasted little time. On the first play of the drive, McFarlin started right, countered left and ran for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Hard running by Dukes and Tyler Barron led the next Houston drive and pushed the Hawks to Kodiak’s 29-yard line, but the offense could not seal the six points.

Chavarria then scored on a 53-yard touchdown run and a fumbled Houston snap gave the Bears the ball back, leading to McFarlin’s second touchdown and the final, 49-0.

The clock ran out on Houston as Dukes was driving the haw downfield, but it was too little too late.

“As far as our games go this season, this was a pretty good team,” Bouchard said of Kodiak. “We were playing tough out there, coming out and hitting. We are definitely a better team then we were two weeks ago.”

Houston will need every ounce of their toughness next week, Bouchard added, as the Hawks take on the Wasilla Warriors of the Railbelt Conference.

The Bears face the Kenai Kardnals in a key game in the Northern Lights Conference.

“We look at today to see what we need to improve on,” Cook said about preparation for Wasilla . “We definitely (need to) step up the intensity.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.

KODIAK 46, HOUSTON 0

Terry Shurtleff Field

Saturday

First Quarter

Kodiak — Cortez 39 field goal, 6:49

Kodiak — Watkins 20 interception of Qual (Cortez kick) 6:00

Second Quarter

Kodiak — Woodell 26 run (point after attempt failed) 8:56

Kodiak — Matautia 39 pass from Chavarria (point after attempt failed) 5:22

Kodiak — Cortez 29 field goal, 0:49

Third Quarter

Kodiak — McFarlin 80 run (Cortez kick) 6:40

Kodiak — Chavarria 53 run (Cortez kick) 1:38

Fourth Quarter

Kodiak — McFarlin 21 run (Cortez kick) 11:19

Individual Statistics

PASSING — Kodiak: Chavarria 1-1-0 39, Lepola 0-2-1 0; Houston: Frank 6-14-0 40, Qual 3-10-1 37.

RUSHING — Kodiak: Johnson 12-105, McFarlin 8-155, Woodell 8-46, Parsons 7-40, Chavarria 7-83, Lepola 2-32; Houston: Dukes 17-107, Ch. Buzby 4-1, Qual 2-(-1), Barron 4-6, Co. Buzby 1-(-1).

RECEIVING — Kodiak: Matautia 1-39; Houston: Dukes 2-39, Barron 2-5, Richardson 1-0, Lapham 3-21, Co. Buzby 1-12.