Bucs bounce Hawks out of playoffs

HOUSTON — While the Valdez Buccaneers made history, the Houston Hawks are forced to call the 2007 season history.

Valdez secured a spot in the postseason for the first time in the history of its five-year program with a 20-19 win over Houston that ended the 2007 campaign for the Hawks.

“We didn’t even have a winning season before this year,” said Lea Cockerham, the Buccaneers’ elated head coach said after the win.

Valdez erased a 13-0 first half deficit and scored a pair of touchdowns in the second half en route to clinching the Greatland Conference’s final postseason berth. The win allows the Buccaneers to travel to Soldotna this week to face the defending small-schools state champion Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

Soldotna clinched the Northern Lights Conference with a 44-0 win over Kenai on Saturday.

Houston showed balance on offense and was able to move the ball throughout the contest, but head coach Norm Bouchard felt the inability to complete some drives hurt his team.

“We just didn’t finish, and the season didn’t finish the way we wanted,” Bouchard said following the game.

Houston’s powerful running duo of seniors Brandon Parks and Israel Morales combined for 239 yards on the ground. Parks rushed for a game-high 158 yards and two touchdowns, and finished his senior year with a team-high 763 yards.

Morales added 81 yards on 10 carries. The bull-like fullback averaged more than eight yards per carry.

Houston quarterback Jordan Webb completed 14-of-30 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown.

Bouchard said he is happy with how his offense has developed. His regret is he wishes he could see the squad prosper even more.

“I wish we could show it more next week,” Bouchard said. “Now the running game is clicking pretty good, we’re able to throw the ball a little bit. It’s fun to do that, but we weren’t able to get down there and get the job done.”

Houston took the 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Webb hit Bryan Mason for a 10-yard touchdown. Parks scored his first touchdown of the contest — a 1-yard run — with six minutes left in the first.

Late in the first half, Valdez senior quarterback Aaron Failing threw the first of his two touchdown passes. He found junior Taylor Russell deep in the corner of the end zone for a 20-yard score.

Early in the third quarter, Valdez was forced to punt the ball, but junior James Rogers recovered a Houston fumble on the play to give the Bucs the ball at the 17-yard line.

Following a sack by Houston junior linebacker Anthony Origer, Rogers caught a 20-yard touchdown pass to give Valdez the lead.

“We gave them some opportunities and they were able to capitalize,” Bouchard said.

And in the fourth, Failing followed four straight Valdez option plays with the game-winning 11-yard touchdown run.

“They went down and got a drive done when they needed it,” Bouchard said.

Both Bouchard and Cockerham felt the contest proved that the Greatland Conference is no longer just two teams deep.

“There’s no question,” Bouchard said. “Valdez, Nikiski, Seward, Barrow — they’re all pretty even across the board.”

With just two weeks left in the season, there was a four-way tie in the Greatland Conference for third place.

“We’re hitting it right, coming up when there is parity across the league,” Cockerham said.

Valdez has struggled in the past, but Cockerham said he feels his program has taken the next step. The Valdez head coach feels there are two reasons for that — consistency and the fact many of the Buccanneers are becoming good football players and not just good athletes.

“We used to have great athletes that weren’t great ball players,” Cockerham said. “We don’t have a feeder program, so we’ve got to teach them as freshman. Now we’ve got some good ball players with great athletes on the team.”

Cockerham said that proves to be huge, especially in games like the contest against Houston.

“We can make those halftime adjustments, where in years past it wouldn’t have mattered,” Cockerham said.

The ability for Cockerham to be with the team has also helped. Cockerham, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States reserves, was deployed to Iraq for two years.

“Our assistant coaches did a great job of keeping it going, but we weren’t able to make big strides,” Cockerham said. “Last year we were able to get back to where we were a couple of years ago, and we were able to keep working on it this year.”

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

Valdez 20, Houston 19

Saturday, Houston High School

First quarter

Houston — Mason 10 pass from Webb (Contreras kick) 2:43.

Second quarter

Houston — Parks 1 run (kick failed) 6:09.

Valdez — Russell 20 pass from Failing (Hedberg kick) 1:44.

Third quarter

Valdez — Rogers 20 pass from Failing (Hedberg kick) 8:44.

Houston — Parks 14 run (run fail) 00:14.

Fourth quarter

Valdez — Failing 11 run (kick failed) 7:40.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Valdez: Failing 13-(-5), Starbuck 7-66, Russell 3-0, N. Rogers 1-0; Houston: Parks 29-158, Morales 10-81, Webb 5-(-24), Sumner 1-14, Elder 1-(-3).

PASSING — Valdez: Failing 10-21-2—156; Houston: 14-30-2—165.

RECEIVING — Valdez: J. Rogers 4-73, Russell 3-82, Starbuck 2-(-13), Hutchison 1-14.