Colony, Wasilla host home openers

Colony and Wasilla will host their first home games, and Houston and Palmer will take their first trip down the road as local teams enter the second week of the Alaska prep football season.

Colony hosts Soldotna, a former Northern Lights Conference foe, Friday, 7 p.m. at Colony High School. West, a Cook Inlet Conference Squad, travels to Wasilla to face the Warriors, Saturday at 3 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field.

The Palmer Moose open Northern Railbelt play with a 6 p.m. date on Friday against the West Valley Wolfpack in Fairbanks. The Moose are the first local team to make the trip up the Parks Highway this fall.

The Houston Hawks fly south for a Greatland Conference battle with the Seward Seahawks. The battle of the birds will be Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Soldotna at Colony

The Soldotna Stars (0-1) may be still recovering from the workover they received from the North Pole Patriots. The Patriots, who are normally used to losing by double-digit margins, blanked the Stars 51-0 last week.

Colony (0-1) showed many promising signs in its 28-17 loss to the East Thunderbirds last week at Anchorage Football Stadium.

The game marked the debuts of many new starters at key positions and the game could have been a sneak peek of things to come.

Wide receiver and defensive back Justin Schwartzbauer led the Knights on defense with a pair of interceptions and had three receptions on offense.

Rhett Magner made his Colony varsity debut at quarterback and threw for 120 yards. Magner also had a pick on defense.

Running back Shawn Olivera, in his varsity debut, ran for a pair of 1-yard scores.

This week's contest is Colony's second of three non-conference games.

West at Wasilla

For the second straight week, the Warriors (0-1) will face a team out of Anchorage and the Cook Inlet Football Conference.

Last week the Warriors suffered a 35-20 loss to Dimond High.

Fumbles proved to be costly for each team, with a total of 11 fumbles and six fumbles lost in the contest. Wasilla put the ball on the ground five times and had three turnovers.

The Lynx got out to a 28-0 lead in the first half, but Wasilla made it respectable by hitting the end zone three times in the final two periods.

Danny Ament figured into all three scores, diving in from 1-yard out and throwing a pair of touchdown passes. Ament hit George Wagner on a 15-yard strike and found Jeff Henry on a 43-yard pass in the second half.

Jed Wade rushed for 103 yards, which included an 82-yard rumble in the third quarter.

West (1-0) defeated small-school power Kenai 17-6 in non-conference action last week on the Peninsula.

Anthony Williams led the Eagles with 108 yards rushing. Williams also scored on the game's opening kickoff and booted a 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

The Eagle defense only allowed 139 yards in total offense.

Palmer at West Valley

The Moose (0-1) looks to rebound from a 41-13 loss to the Service Cougars.

Palmer was able to move the ball at will despite the loss. The Moose ran the ball 48 times for 329 yards, but threw the rock just eight times for seven yards.

A balanced Service offense proved to be the key in the contest (215 yards rushing and 183 yards passing) as the Cougars found the end zone six times.

Palmer also had four fumbles in the contest.

Allen Franklin led the Moose with 121 yards. Mike Weber added 113 yards and two touchdowns.

The Wolfpack (0-1) suffered a 22-16 loss to the defending state champion Bartlett Golden Bears.

Bartlett freshman Vernon Pennywell scored a 38-yard touchdown with less than five minutes left in the contest to break the 16-16 tie.

Ward Dobbs led the 'Pack with 82 yards on the ground. West Valley wideout Ron Moodey caught four passes for 83 yards.

Houston at Seward

The Hawks (1-0) rushed for 331 yards as they won their first Greatland Conference contest with a 47-6 over Valdez. A group of newcomers to the Hawk backfield excelled in the game. Matt Bertling rushed for 131 yards, Victor Waag scored two touchdowns and Ron Sieben also scored in their Hawk debuts.

Quarterback and defensive back Taylor Richey scored on both sides of the ball.

Houston will try to improve to 2-0 in conference play when it travels to play the winless Seahawks.

Seward (1-0) dropped a 27-6 contest to Skyview.