Birds of prey? Seahawks score win over Huskies

KNIK — In a gritty battle between winless teams during the second week of the Alaska football season, the Seward Seahawks scored on offense, defense, and special teams to beat the Redington Huskies 22-6 Friday night at Redington High School.

Collin Mulaly picked off Redington quarterbacks three times, and the Seahawk defensive backs pulled down five Redington passes to stop the Huskies from gaining momentum on offense.

The Husky offensive attack centers around quarterback Kyler Rumfelt’s uncanny knack to ignore attempts to tackle him. Rumfelt’s led all runners with 109 yards on 27 carries. Rumfelt the rusher could pound away at the middle of the defense for yards, leaving would be tacklers with arms full of air, or he could dance and spin around the edge like a pinball, bouncing off defenders for extra yards.

“He’s a man,” Seward head coach Kelly Cinereski said of Rumfelt.

Rumfelt the passer opened up the game in the second half when the Huskies were trailing. Rumfelt’s passes often fell in the hands of Seward’s defense, throwing four interceptions. The Seahawks also intercepted the one pass that Tyler Holsapple threw.

Shane Sullivan set up the first Seahawk score with a 27-yard sprint that nearly reached paydirt before Sullivan was pushed out of bounds at the three yard line. Gabriel Shrock was able to score on the next play with a run up the gut. Shrock led all Seward runners with 37 yards on 12 carries.

The Redington rushing attack suffered from losing senior Isaiah Hall to injury early in the first half. Seward used tight formations and a balanced method of attacking the line of scrimmage to piece together 109 yards on the ground. Quarterback Gunnar Davis shifted the running attack to his trio running backs with deceptive fakes and option plays to the outside. The Seward offensive line that features three freshmen drew high praise from Cinereski in blocking for the balanced rushing attack.

When rumbling Rumfelt wasn’t bowling over Seward defenders, the Huskies had a hard time finding ways to get first downs.

“With his leadership skills, he’s doing great,” Huskies head coach Mathias Weinberger said of Rumfelt. “But our offense right now is one dimensional.”

Seward won the turnover battle 5-4, usually an indicator of who will have the best chance to win the game. Oddly enough, with nine turnovers in the game, neither team was able to turn the turnover into a touchdown.

Senior Eli Benson is not typically a ball carrier, but when the Huskies forced the Seahawks to punt from their own end zone, Benson jumped on the fumbled snap in the end zone and got the Huskies on the scoreboard. Benson recovered another fumble for Redington. Weinberger was impressed with Benson’s performance handling his offensive duties snapping the ball as the center. It was Benson’s first game at that position.

Negating the two -point conversion attempt after Redington scored on the Seward snap snafu, the Seahawks answered on the very next play. Christopher Kingsland sliced through the Husky kickoff team for 69 yards and outraced the coverage to the end zone. Just before the end of the first half. Beau Freiberg put the game out of reach when he intercepted a Rumfelt pass for 41 yards to the end zone early in the third quarter. Seward suited up only 20 football players for the game.

“I’m thrilled with the win, anytime we can get a ‘w’,” Cinereski said.

The Seahawks move to 1-1 and will play Eielson next week. The Huskies will travel to Nikiski with an 0-2 record.

Seward 22, Redington 6

Friday, Redington High School

First Quarter:

Seward - Shrock 3 run (Freiberg 2 point conversion) 3:01

Second Quarter:

Redington - Benson fumble recovery (Failed 2 point conversion) 4:19

Seward - Kingsland 69 Kick-off return (Freibert 2 point conversion) 4:07

Third Quarter:

Seward - Freiberg 41 Interception return (Failed 2 point conversion) 7:39

Fourth Quarter:

No Scoring

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Seward: Freiberg 7-11, Davis 7- -24, Sullivan 6-40, Mullaly 3- -3, Shrock 12-37; Redington - Paris 1- -2, Holsapple 1-2, Hall 11-18, Rumfelt 27-109.

PASSING - Seward - Davis 2-3-0-2-; Redington Rumfelt 10-26-4-95, Holsapple 1-0-1-0

RECEIVING - Seward - Sullivan 1-2, Freiberg 1-20; Redington Bowman 3-34, Holsapple 4-34, Ingraham 2-27.