Champions! Hawks make program history with first state football title

ANCHORAGE — Many of Houston’s 11 seniors stood along the sideline at Palmer High School as freshman during a cold October day in 2016 as the Hawks fell in the state championship game. Now those seniors finally know what it feels like to win a title.

Houston used 34 unanswered points to storm to a 41-8 win over Barrow during the Division III First National Bowl Saturday afternoon at Anchorage Football Stadium.

“In that 2016 game, we tried to bring all the players we could with us. A lot of those kids were on the sidelines,” Houston head coach Glenn Nelson said of his seniors after the win. “They saw what it took to get there, and they saw when we didn’t finish. It kind of stuck with them through the years. They got in the weight room, went to camps. They understood what it might take. Today, they brought it to the field, and they finished.”

Tucker Croghan is one of those seniors.

“It feels pretty amazing. Freshman year, we went to state and got sent home with a loss. This year, coming back senior year feels great,” Croghan said. “Just amazing.”

With the win, the Hawks cap a historic 2019 season in which they rewrote the Houston football record book. Houston beat Barrow on the road for the first time and scored its first win over Alaska small-schools power Eielson. Houston, which first fielded a football team in 1997, finished undefeated for the first time, and the Hawks, 10-0, earned their school its first state football title.

“I’m really excited. My senior year, we won a state championship and we’re 10-0,” senior Kennedy Fono said.

Houston is also only the second Valley football program to cap an undefeated season with a state title. Palmer did both in 1995.

“It feels amazing. We worked hard all year for this, and to come out and do it, it means something totally different,” senior Owen Mulhaney said. “It’s real.”

Mulhaney led Houston with a game-high 177 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the win. He gave the Hawks their first lead with a 7-yard score midway through the first quarter. After Barrow jumped ahead 8-7, Mulhaney broke free for a 37-yard touchdown to put the Hawks back on top. Mulhaney added a 36-yard touchdown run. Houston scored five times on the ground. Quarterback Gavin Mulhaney (14 yards) and Fono (36 yards) added scores. Croghan, one-third of Houston’s wishbone backfield, praised the Hawks in the trenches.

“There is no one we can thank more than our line,” Croghan said. “We’ve got the best line in the state.”

Houston finishes the season averaging 42 points per game. Owen Mulhaney said the Hawks didn’t do anything different Saturday.

“It’s what we’ve been doing all season. But the final game, the state championship, it meant more,” Mulhaney said.

The Houston defense also stepped up and slowed down the Barrow offense and its massive quarterback, 6-foot-4 senior Anthony Freaun.

The Hawks sacked Freaun five times. Arguably the biggest came late in the second quarter. With Barrow facing 4th-and-8 and its own 46, Houston defensive end Jeremiah Barrett drug Freaun down for a 14-yard loss.

“That was awesome. Last year in the playoffs, Jeremiah Barrett tried to sack him three times on the same play and he failed. We showed him that clip throughout the year. When he had his chance this year, when he got back there he wasn’t going to let him go this time,” Nelson said.

Barrow beat Houston 18-7 in the DIII semis last year. Barrett’s sack of Freaun Saturday came at a crucial time with the Hawks clinging to a 14-8 lead with 2:04 to play in the first half. Barrow was forced to turn the ball over on downs due to the sack. The Hawks chewed up the final two minutes of the half and capped the quarter with Gavin Mulhaney’s 14-yard touchdown.

Houston held Barrow to 150 total yards in the game, 96 passing and 54 rushing. Houston also scored a defensive touchdown. Tolupo Falaniko returned an interception 60 yards for a score in the fourth quarter.

The Houston defense finished the season allowing an average of only 7.1 points per game, by far the best in the state.

Ervin Feleti scored Barrow’s lone touchdown, a 1-yard plunge in the first.

Nelson, in his seventh year, is Houston’s fourth head coach in program history, following Mat Bredburg, Norm Bouchard and Todd Whitehurst. Bouchard, Houston’s activities director, hired Nelson following the 2012 season.

“I thought if we could make the team competitive and make the playoffs, we’d be successful,” Nelson said. “I’d always dreamed of coming and playing for a state championship. Doing it with an undefeated season, and to be able to do it with players who are going to be legends at that school makes it more special.”

Nelson shares a sideline with Hawks defensive coordinator Jared Barrett, who has been a coach with the program for the past 16 years. Barrett was a member of Houston’s first football team in 1997 and is the first Houston graduate to play football at the college level.

“This is everything to me,” Barrett said.

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

Houston 41, Barrow 8

Division III First National Bowl

Saturday, Anchorage Football Stadium

First quarter:

Houston — O. Mulhaney 7 run (Whitted kick) 6:31

Barrow — Feleti 1 run (Tuai pass from Freaun) 0:20

Second quarter:

Houston — O. Mulhaney 37 run (O. Mulhaney run) 4:07

Houston — G. Mulhaney 14 run (Whitted kick) :07

Third quarter:

No scoring

Fourth quarter:

Houston — Ke. Fono 36 run (kick blocked) 6:32

Houston — Falaniko 60 interception return (kick failed) 5:12

Houston — O. Mulhaney 36 run (Whitted kick) 4:51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Barrow: Dias 11-29, Feleti 12-51, Serino 7-9, Freaun 5(-35); Houston: O. Mulhaney 23-177, Ke. Fono 9-56, G. Mulhaney 5-(-2), Croghan 1-2, Ratcliffe 1-(-2), Bunn 2(-10).

PASSING — Barrow: Freaun 7-22-2—06; Houston: G. Mulhaney 0-1-1—0.

RECEIVING — Barrow: Tuai 2-56, Nobleza 2-21, Goodwin 1-10, Serino 1-0; Houston: none.