Crimson Bears bounce Warriors

WASILLA — Juneau-Douglas is no longer a member of the Railbelt Conference, but that has not kept the Crimson Bears from haunting their former foes.

Juneau scored its second win over a Railbelt team in a month, beating Wasilla 42-6 at Veterans Memorial Field Friday night. Demetrious Campos rushed for a game-best 180 yards and two scores to help the medium-school Southeast Conference squad improve to 6-1 overall. Wasilla fell to 3-4 with the loss.

Wasilla senior quarterback Josiah Williams rushed for his team’s lone score. He also threw for 132 yards.

Judging by the scoreboard, the Crimson Bears dominated the Warriors, but on the field, the teams played fairly level, said Wasilla head coach Kent Rilatos. One of the big differences was the mistakes Wasilla made, and a pretty much mistake-free performance from Juneau-Douglas.

The Crimson Bears took advantage of three Wasilla interceptions, and were helped down the stretch by some undisciplined post-play personal foul penalties that kept drives alive and the Warrior offense off the field.

Although Campos finished flirting with 200 yards rushing, the speedy senior was kept in check for much of the first half by an aggressive Wasilla defense. Even so, the Crimson Bears had built a comfortable 22-0 halftime lead, and would finish with another 20 unanswered points.

Juneau wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, taking the opening drive 65 yards in eight plays, capped by a 6-yard touchdown run from Campos. With the 2-point conversion, the Crimson Bears led 8-0. After forcing the Warriors to punt on their first possession, Juneau found the end zone again quickly — in one play, a 63-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Dorian Isaak to Eric Nordgren. The lead was pushed to 15-0 after Maile Maake’s extra point.

Wasilla answered with an 8-play drive of their own to the Crimson Bear 24 yard line, but stalled out and missed on a 41-yard field goal attempt, which gave Juneau their third drive of the first quarter — and their third touchdown on an 8-yard scamper from Isaak.

Following Juneau’s 22-point first-quarter outburst, both teams ratcheted up their defense, playing to a stalemate in the second quarter. The Crimson Bears threatened to extend their lead late in the second, taking the ball from their own 27 yard line to the Wasilla 19 in 14 plays, but senior defensive back Kevin O’Loughlin stopped the drive, intercepting an Isaak pass with 21 seconds left in the half.

Wasilla came out of the break ready to play, and after Juneau turned the ball over on downs on their own 23-yard line. Four plays later, Warrior quarterback Josiah Williams took the ball into the end zone from 3 yards out. The big play of the drive was a 19-yard pass from Williams to Cody Dedrick to set up a first-and-goal situation. Juneau blocked the extra point and led 22-6.

That would prove the lone offensive highlight for Wasilla. The Crimson Bears answered the Warrior score on their next drive when Isaak connected with Adam Empson on a 17-yard touchdown. Juneau would ice the game with two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and also suffer what could prove a costly injury for the rest of the season.

On the first play of the fourth, Isaak was injured at the tail end of a 12-yard run. After spending several minutes getting medical attention on the field, he was helped to the Juneau-Douglas sideline with what appeared to be a leg injury. Empson moved over from wide receiver to take snaps the rest of the game. He spent most of the time hand the ball off to Campos, but threw a 9-yard touchdown to Kris Hill in his only completion to cap the scoring for the Crimson Bears.

After the game, Rilatos said he was disappointed in some of the mistakes the Warriors made, but said they have to bounce back in their final regular season game, the annual Potato Bowl against rival Palmer High School, which was upset by Colony 31-20 Friday. That loss set up the potential for a five-way tie at the top of the Railbelt Conference standings.

If Wasilla beats Palmer and West Valley beats Colony next week, all the conference’s teams will be 2-2 in conference play. The three Railbelt teams that advance to the playoffs would then be decided by tie-breakers.

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.

Juneau-Douglas 42, Wasilla 6

Friday, Wasilla High School

First quarter:

Juneau-Douglas — De. Campos 6 run (Sua 2-point) 10:02.

Juneau-Douglas — Nordgren 63 pass from Isaak (Maake kick) 7:00.

Juneau-Douglas — Isaak 8 run (Maake kick) 1:16.

Second quarter:

No scoring

Third quarter:

Wasilla — Williams 3 run (kick blocked) 5:51.

Juneau-Douglas — Empson 17 pass from Isaak (Maake kick) 2:24.

Fourth quarter:

Juneau-Douglas — De. Campos 7 run (kick failed) 9:49.

Juneau-Douglas — Hill 9 pass from Empson (Maake kick) 3:28.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Wasilla: Otto 15-47, Thomas 2-13, Rilatos 2-1, McGregor 1-1, Williams 6-(-1); Juneau-Douglas: De. Campos 22-180, Isaak 9-33, Nordgren 2-16, McVay 2-6, Empson 2-(-8).

PASSING — Wasilla: Williams 11-22-3—132, McGregor 0-1-0—0; Juneau-Douglas: Isaak 10-19-0—234, Empson 1-2-0—9.

RECEIVING — Wasilla: Thomas 3-19, Dedrick 2-35, McGregor 2-28, Dawkins 1-31, Garnett 1-15, O’Loughlin 1-3, Horton 1-1; Juneau-Douglas: Nordgren 5-177, Da. Campos 3-29, Empson 1-17, De. Campos 1-11, Hill 1-9.