Colony, Houston and Palmer all post conference victories

MAT-SU - Peter Clemens the defensive back scored two touchdowns on interceptions, and Peter Clemens the quarterback tossed a 21-yard TD pass to lead the Houston Hawks to a 43-18 victory over Sitka in Great Land Conference high school football.

Jeff Nagel scored on an 80-yard kickoff return, and scored on a 4-yard run. Capping a game of big plays, Scott Lee scored on a 5-yard fumble recovery as the Hawks improved their record to 2-1 in league (2-3 overall), which puts them in control of a playoff berth.

In other Valley football results, Colony turned a 12-7 halftime lead into a 40-7 romp against West Valley, while Palmer got four touchdowns from Seth Skogstad and three more from Crispin Gentry as the Moose poured it on North Pole, 58-12.

Houston 43, Sitka 18

In the game at Sitka, the Wolves took a 12-0 lead in the first quarter.

Nagel got Houston on the board with a 4-yard run in the second quarter.

His 80-yard kick-off return for a TD opened the second half, and gave the Hawks the lead for good. Clemens returned his first interception 25 yards for a TD with 10:22 left, and Joe Foster caught a 215-yard TD toss from Clemens with 7:21 left.

That 18-0 spurt by the Hawks took less than five minutes of the third quarter.

Houston kept up the pressure with a minute gone in the fourth quarter when Lee returned his fumble recovery for a TD. After a Sitka score, Coddy Redford kicked a 21-yard field goal, and then added the PAT after Clemens returned his second interception for 32 yards and the final Houston score.

Foster caught three passes from Clemens for 36 yards. Travis Webb brought in two tosses for 13 yards, and Shaun Haragan caught one for 13.

Nagel ran for 149 yards on 29 carries, and Webb added 20 yards on seven hand-offs.

The Hawks play at Seward Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. Seward is 1-1 in the Great Land Conference. If Houston wins Friday, it will virtually lock up a playoff berth, because the team has beaten Anchorage Christian School and Sitka, while losing to top-ranked Nikiski.

Colony 40, West Valley 7

The second-ranked Knights are now 5-0, 4-0 in league.

Cole Magner, the Colony quarterback, scored four of the Knights six touchdowns. He put together keepers of 2, 4, 2 and 3 yards for TDs. Running back Josh Williams, who gained 88 yards, had a TD run of 7 yards in the fourth quarter, and John Fillman ran back an interception 90 yards for a TD with about four and a half minutes left in the game.

Magner gained 39 yards and Doug Lampton picked up 34, while Ryan Collins got 22. Sean Rappuhn gained 20 and Auggie Manelick gained 20, as Colony totaled 219 yards on the ground.

Palmer 58, North Pole 12

The Moose got three of Skogstads TDs, and a 35-0 lead, before the Patriots lit up their side of the scoreboard.

Skogstad, who gained 95 yards, scored on carries of 1, 2, 1 and 2 yards. He has 399 rushing yards on the season, and eight TDs.

Derek Hughes, who went into the game as the third-leading rusher in Alaska, scored on a 6-yard run in the first quarter (his ninth of the season) and finished with 160 yards on 13 carries. He now has 613 yards rushing, on 99 carries. The states leader, Gabe Krizman of Service, gained 202 in his game and now has 712 yards.

Gentrys scores were on a 4-yard run in the second quarter, a 1-yard run in the third quarter and a 3-yard run in the fourth. He finished with 45 yards on 17 carries.

Michael Beeson kicked a 21-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, and connected on six of seven point-after conversions.

Reserve running back Ali Larijani gained 107 yards on just 13 carries. Dustin Richmond gained 20 yards on three carries.

Because the Palmer running game was in high gear 415 yards quarterback Ben Conroy threw just one pass, an incompletion.