First-year starting quarterbacks lead Valley teams to wins during first week of football season

Prep football teams across the Valley fielded first-year starters at quarterback, and three new starting signal callers led their teams to victories. Colony’s Jack Nash, Wasilla’s Jaidus Huffman and Houston’s Carter Sieme each helped their squad win during the opening week of the 2022 season.

Nash, a junior, threw a touchdown pass and ran for another while leading the Knights to a 43-6 win over South Anchorage.

“We were scrambling after losing Harvey last year,” Colony head coach Robbie Nash said after the win of the graduation of Harvey Pullen, the Knights’ starting signal caller in 2021. “We are going to put one of our most dynamic kids out there.”

Jack Nash completed nine passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 126 yards on 22 carries and another score.

Huffman finished with nine completions for 280 yards and three touchdown passes during a 38-0 win over Redington, the defending Division III state champion. Huffman’s top target was Timothy Grisso, who grabbed six passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.

Seime, a second-generation starting signal caller for the Hawks, tossed for a score in a 45-0 win over Seward.

Overall, Valley teams finished 3-2 during Week 1. In addition to Redington falling to Wasilla, Eagle River blanked Palmer 24-0.

A pair of Valley teams are represented in the latest Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network’s prep football polls. Defending state champion East Anchorage (1-0) in the top team in the Division I poll. The T-Birds are followed by Colony (1-0), Juneau (1-0), Bartlett (1-0) and West Anchorage (0-1). Lathrop, another defending state champ, is ranked first in the Division II/Division III poll. Eagle River (1-0), Soldotna (1-0), Wasilla (1-0) and Kenai (1-0) round out the top five.

The top two teams in the Division I poll meet Friday night when Colony hosts East at 7 p.m. Palmer (0-1) will make the trip to play defending Division II champ Lathrop Saturday at 4 p.m. in Fairbanks.

Houston will be at home for the first time this year, hosting Homer Friday at 7 p.m. Wasilla is at Chugiak Friday at 7p.m. Redington was scheduled to play Valdez, but that game has been canceled.

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