Career nights lead Moose to big Potato Bowl win

PALMER — On a night its top running back ran past the 300-yard mark, Palmer proved its offense was far from one-dimensional.

Junior running back James Nisbett rushed for a career-high 305 yards and senior quarterback Cameron Christiansen threw for a career-best three touchdown passes to lead the Palmer Moose to a 41-12 win over the Wasilla Warriors in the 34th annual Potato Bowl at Machetanz Field in Palmer Friday night.

Nisbett needed only 90 seconds to post the first of his two touchdown runs and Christiansen tossed a pair of first-quarter touchdown passes as the Moose (8-0, 6-0) completed their first undefeated regular season since 1996.

Palmer, led by Nisbett, had its typical night on the ground, finishing with more than 340 yards rushing for the sixth time this season. But Christiansen also enjoyed a career night throwing the ball.

“We were looking to try some different things, and we got most of them in there,” said Christiansen, who set season high’s for completions, attempts and touchdown passes in the win.

Although modest compared to the statistics compiled by some of the rival quarterbacks in his conference, Christiansen continued to be his efficient self, completing 8 of 11 passes for 105 yards and three scores. He connected with Daniel DeLay, Hayden Niekamp and Dylan Myers on touchdown scores, and threw more than nine passes in a game for the first time in his varsity career.

“There were a few experiments, a few things we needed to try, but when it came down to it, the bread and butter stuff is what we stuck with,” Christiansen said.

That bread and butter, obviously, is the running game.

Behind Palmer’s front five (center Lance Cassagranda, guards Caleb Nielsen and Ben Button, and tackles Nick Benshetler and Cole Frohling), the Moose finished with 361 yards rushing on the wet turf. For Nisbett, who ran for his career-best 305 on 22 carries, it was just what the Moose have become accustomed to doing.

“We just stuck to our game plan, our normal game plan,” Nisbett said.

That game plan involved feeding the ball to Nisbett, who needed only three plays to give the Moose an early lead. Nisbett capped a quick, three-play, 65-yard drive with a 44-yard scoring burst to push Palmer to the 6-0 advantage. He added a 29-yard run the second, and nearly broke away for another score in the third, but was stopped at the 1-yard line after sprinting 72 yards toward the end zone.

Palmer scored 34 of its points in the first half, and Christiansen threw all three of his touchdown passes in the first two quarters. Christiansen connected with DeLay on a 30-yard strike on Palmer’s second offensive series of the game.

“That kid can get the ball anywhere,” Christiansen said of DeLay, who finished the game with two catches for 68 yards. “It might look like a good throw, but a lot of times it’s a great catch.”

Christiansen dumped a short, 3-yard pass over the line of scrimmage to Niekamp in the end zone late in the first quarter. He hit Myers with a 9-yard scoring strike in the second.

Myers said the key was the touchdown 90 seconds into play.

“It was huge. It set the tone,” Myers said as he clutched the Mayor’s Cup trophy after the win.

While the offense rolled, the Moose defense also excelled during the first half. Wasilla was held to negative rushing yards in the first half, and the Palmer special teams forced a fumble on a Wasilla punt that led to a Palmer safety.

“We did a really good job on defense in the first and second quarter,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said. “It made it possible for us to control the game.”

Palmer and Wasilla entered the contest on the opposite sides of the Railbelt standings, but Palmer was aware of Wasilla’s ability to move the ball on offense. Despite it’s 1-6 mark, Wasilla entered the contest averaging more than 28 points per game.

“They’ve got the potential, but they haven’t put four quarters together yet,” Myers said.

Even with a 34-point lead at halftime, Rod Christiansen was still aware of Wasilla’s ability.

“They’ve come back on a lot of teams in the second half,” the longtime Palmer head coach said. “They’ve scored on everybody in the second half.”

Wasilla posted both of its scores during the final two quarters. Senior quarterback Ben Fielder scampered into the end zone from 21 yards out in the third. He also connected with Isaiah Dawkins on a 30-yard score in the fourth.

Palmer earned the coveted Mayor’s Cup, the traveling trophy given to the winner of the annual Potato Bowl, for the 25th time in 34 years. It also allowed the Moose players to bring the Cup back to Palmer after the trophy’s one-year stay at Wasilla High.

“Finally, the trophy comes back,” Myers said. “It’s been a long 12 months.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him @matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.

Palmer 41, Wasilla 12

Friday, Machetanz Field

First quarter:

Palmer — Nisbett 44 run (kicked failed) 10:30.

Palmer — DeLay 30 pass from Christiansen (run failed) 5:25.

Palmer — Safety, Wasilla fumbled out of end zone, 5:25.

Palmer — Niekamp 3 pass from Christiansen (kick failed) 2:03.

Second quarter:

Palmer — Myers 9 pass from Christiansen (Pempek kick) 6:10.

Palmer — Nisbett 29 run (Pempek kick) 3:20.

Third quarter:

Palmer — Christiansen 5 run (Kahler kick) 11:52.

Wasilla — Fielder 21 run (kick blocked) 6:58.

Wasilla — Dawkins 30 pass from Fielder (fun failed) 2:31.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

RUSHING — Wasilla: Rilatos 16-24, Fielder 6-18; Palmer: Nisbett 22-305, Heun 7-25, Merritt 3-14, Myers 1-12, Christiansen 1-5.

PASSING — Wasilla: Fielder 12-29-0—159; Palmer: Christiansen 8-11-0—105.

RECEIVING — Wasilla: McGregor 5-43, Dawkins 4-77, Rilatos 2-34, No. 13 1-20, Dedrick 1-5; Palmer: Myers 3-28, DeLay 2-68, Nisbett 2-11, Niekamp 1-3.