Crimson Bears end Palmer's season

By Jeremiah Bartz

Frontiersman

PALMER — Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen had a hunch his Palmer Moose were catching a peaking Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears football squad.

Unfortunately for the Moose, Christiansen was right.

Juneau senior Alex Fagerstrom rushed for 264 yards and scored each of the Bears’ five touchdowns during a 34-14 large-schools quarterfinal playoff win over Palmer at Machetanz Field on Friday.

“Obviously with Fagerstrom at tailback it’s a whole different deal than what they had with him at quarterback,” Christiansen said after the game.

Fagerstrom, who lined up at quarterback during Palmer’s regular-season win over Juneau in September, recorded 40 carries, and touched the ball on all but 16 of the Bears’ offensive plays.

“It’s very frustrating, to know what they’re running and not be able to stop it,” Christiansen said.

Fagerstrom, who won the 2007 state offensive player of the year award after playing primarily at receiver last season, has seen time at several different positions this season. The versatile talent has lined up at receiver and quarterback, but late in the season, Juneau moved Fagerstrom to running back.

Since, Fagerstrom has carried the ball 88 times, rushing for an absolutely mind-boggling 718 yards and 12 touchdowns in three games.

“Not running him a ton earlier in the year, I think he’s fairly fresh for the playoffs,” Juneau offensive coordinator Rich Sjoroos said. “He looked just as good as he did at the end as he did in the beginning.”

Fagerstrom scored on a pair of 1-yard runs in the first quarter to give the Bears the early 14-0 lead, and gave Juneau the 21-0 advantage with a 4-yard run early in the third.

While Fagerstrom supplied the bulk of Juneau’s offense, Palmer countered with its newly-found passing attack. In what amounts to a statistical anomaly, the Moose gained more yardage through the air (174) than on the ground (114).

Senior wide receiver Mitch Swetzof snagged a career-high eight catches for 123 yards, and used an acrobatic grab early in the fourth quarter to pull the Moose within a score.

Junior Dustin Silva completed 9-of-18 passes for 144 yards, and junior running back Brennan Bohman chipped in a 30-yard toss to Swetzof on the halfback pass.

Midway through the second half, after preventing Juneau from getting a first down on a possession for the first time in the game, Swetzof capped a quick Palmer scoring drive with a 19-yard touchdown reception. The athletic senior jumped and reached across his body to make the catch, and ran into the end zone for Palmer’s second score of the game.

“We were all right offensively, we can move the ball on them,” Christiansen said. “But we couldn’t finish a couple times.”

The Juneau defense notched a pair of key defensive stops deep in their own end which proved to be pivotal in the Crimson Bears win.

Palmer held the ball on Juneau’s 4-yard line late in the first half, but couldn’t punch it in before time expired. Midway through the third quarter, the Moose used a 46-yard reception by sophomore Jim McCall to get inside the Juneau red zone. But on 4th-and-4 at the 10, the Bears forced an incomplete pass.

Both stalled drives came while Juneau held a 21-7 lead.

“That was a big difference in the game,” Christiansen said. “We could have made it 21-14 at the end of the half and tied with at 21-21.”

Junior John Scoresby, who led the Moose with 100 yards rushing, put Palmer on the scoreboard with a 58-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

The peaking Crimson Bears have now won three straight after working through a four-game losing streak earlier this season.

Juneau suffered losses to Railbelt foes Palmer and North Pole in September, and also dropped games to Blackhills (Idaho) and Lake Oswego (Ore.). Blackhills is the defending Idaho 4A state champions and Sjoroos called Lake Oswego a legitimate top-50 team in the country.

“We had a pretty ambitious schedule that we put forth,” Sjoroos said. “We just didn’t have the chance to breathe.”

Following the losses, Sjoroos said the Juneau coaching staff made a handful of changes. They found a new starting tight end (Lawrence Fenuimiai), moved the old starting fullback to the line and moved Cameron Fronimos to fullback.

And of course, there was the move of Fagerstrom to tailback.

“We thought, let’s put the guys in the best spots to give them the best chance to be successful at the end of the year,” Sjoroos said. “That’s our goal every year, to be playing our toughest football at the end of the season.”

Meanwhile, the Moose find themselves suffering through another case of deja vu. Friday’s loss marks the fourth time in as many years in which the Bears have handed Palmer a playoff defeat.

In 2006, Juneau beat Palmer in the quarterfinals at Machetanz Field. In 2005 and 2007, Juneau captured wins over Palmer in the state title game.

Palmer ends the season 5-4 overall, but the Moose did advance to the playoffs for the 14th time in 15 years.

“I think you look at the whole season at this point,” Christiansen said. “We came a long way.”

Palmer did compete in the state title game last year, but the bulk of Palmer’s starters this season had little or no varsity experience before 2008.

“We’re fortunate,” Sjoroos said. “They’re a tough football team. For them to transition as many new kids into their system and still be near the top of their conference says a lot about their whole program.”

Juneau will now move on to the semis and face the South Anchorage Wolverines, who slipped by Dimond 21-13 on Friday.

It’ll mark the third straight season in which Juneau and South will meet in the semis.

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

Juneau 34, Palmer 14

Friday, Machetanz Field

First quarter

Juneau — A. Fagerstrom 1 run (Slagle kick) 5:12.

Juneau — A. Fagerstrom 1 run (Slagle kick) 00:14.

Second quarter

Juneau — A. Fagerstrom 4 run (Slagle kick) 9:17.

Palmer — Scoresby 58 run (Zegzdryn kick) 4:47.

Fourth quarter

Palmer — Swetzof 19 pass from Silva (Zegzdrn kick) 11:12.

Juneau — A. Fagerstrom 7 run (kick blocked) 5:48.

Juneau — A. Fagerstrom 3 run (Slagle kick) 2:01.

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Juneau: A. Fagerstrom 40-264, E. Fagerstrom 2-27, Fronimos 3-17, Smith 6-15, L. Maka 1-8; Palmer: Scoresby 12-100, Bohman 9-18, Daly 2-(10), Ahrens 1-5, Silva 1-1.

PASSING — Juneau: Smith 4-4-0—64; Silva: 9-19-2—144, Bohman 1-1-0—30.

RECEIVING — Juneau: E. Fagerstrom 3-36, Fenumiai 1-28; Swetzof 8-123, McCall 1-46, Bohman 1-5.