Falcons blank Hawks

JUNEAU — The Thunder Mountain High School Falcons football team scored on their first six possessions and added a blocked field goal for a score, all in the first half, for a convincing 47-0 win over the Houston Hawks on Saturday at TMHS Field.

Riley Olsen took the opening kickoff from the 10-yard line to the 46, and fullback Moa Maka capped a 12-play ground drive spurred by teammates John Williams and William Martin to score with 7:08 left in the first quarter.

“It feels nice to win,” Martin said. “Everybody played really well tonight. We are looking forward to next weekend and we are really going to prepare for North Pole and hopefully it will be a good game.”

After Houston went three and out, the Falcons’ Williams began another ground pound. Riley Olsen added a rush and Sam Bluett a pass reception to reach the eight-yard line, where Williams took the ball over the line.

“I feel pretty good,” Williams said. “I have to give it to my ‘O’ line. We just have to get ready for next weekend against North Pole.”

The Falcons’ defense stopped Houston again, and Williams added another score with just over a minute left in the first quarter.

Houston punted on the second play of the second quarter, and Mahina Toutaiolepo returned the kick 45 yards for another touchdown.

Houston was shut down on its next possession after six plays, and the Falcons took over on downs with Daniel LeBlance-Tweedy catching a first-play pass from Sebens for a 23-yard touchdown.

Houston ran another seven plays before giving up the ball on downs.

The Falcons’ Q’on Bear-Clark ran for nine yards, Williams two and Olsen broke free for an 88-yard run into the end zone.

Houston’s best field position came in the final minutes of the first half when the Falcons’ kickoff was fielded at the 50-yard line.

The Hawks’ Noah Griffeth connected on a 15-yard pass play to Kyle Quincy and two short run gains by Vanu Mose to set up a field goal.

On the kick attempt, however, freshman linebacker Kyrel Payne put his hands on the ball, and Bluett picked up the blocked kick for an 80-yard scamper and the final score of the half and the game.

“First thing that went through my mind was if there was a whistle,” Bluett said. “About the 50-yard line I realized I might get in. My eyes got really wide. I didn’t think anything. I was just hearing everybody yelling ‘run, run, run.’ It was awesome.”

Payne, a freshman, started his first varsity game and went the distance.

“It was kind of pressuring,” Payne said. “It was not the first varsity game I got to play in, but I went the whole way and it felt good.”

The Falcons (0-1 Southeast, 2-3 overall) will host North Pole (2-0 SE, 3-2 OA) next weekend, then Lathrop and end the season hosting Juneau-Douglas (0-1 SE, 1-3 OA).

“We are really excited,” TMHS coach Jeep Rice said. “We played a good game. The competition was not quite as good as us. They had a game on Wednesday against Sitka and they are not at full strength. We played a lot of JV’s and were still competitive with them, so we are happy about that. We had a lot of good plays.”

Thunder Mountain 47, Houston 0

Saturday, Juneau

First quarter:

Thunder Mountain — Maka 1 run (Toutaiolepo kick) 7:08.

Thunder Mountain — Williams 8 run (Olsen kick) 4:04.

Thunder Mountain — Williams 9 run (kick failed) 1:23.

Second quarter:

Thunder Mountain — Toutaiolepo 45 punt return (Olsen kick) 11:12.

Thunder Mountain — LeBlance-Tweedy 23 pass from Sebens (conversion failed) 7:00

Thunder Mountain — Olsen 88 run (Toutaiolepo kick) 1:53

Thunder Mountain — Bluett 80 fumble return (Toutaiolepo kick) 0:13.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

RUSHING — Houston: Mose 11-31, Barclay 7-25, Griffeth 4-9; Thunder Mountain: Olsen 2-97, Williams 6-33, Martin 2-30, Maka 5-21, Bear-Clark 5-28, Mayhew 1-20.

PASSING — Houston: Griffeth 3-10-0—61; Thunder Mountain: Sebens 3-4-0—41.

RECEIVING — Houston: Drake 2-56, Quincy 1-15; Thunder Mountain: LeBlanc-Tweedy 2-32, Bluett 1-9.