Hawks 1 win from playoffs

HOUSTON — The Houston Hawks are 2-5, riding a five-game losing skid.

But none of that matters to the Hawks. If Houston wins tonight, the Hawks are in the playoffs.

Houston hosts Homer tonight at 7 p.m. at Houston High School. Both teams are tied at 1-3 in Northern Lights Conference play. The winner earns the conference’s fourth and final playoff spot.

And Houston’s biggest game of the year couldn’t have come at a better time. The Hawks have three offensive starters back from injury — quarterback Nai Saechao, wide receiver Matt Barron and tight end Kyle Quincy — and Houston has been sparked by their return.

“Getting those kids back on the field, those senior leaders, playmakers, is huge,” Houston head coach Glenn Nelson said Thursday. “We had the best practice of the season yesterday.”

Houston opened the season 2-0, with wins over Seward and Skyview. But that last five weeks have been brutal. Houston suffered losses to a pair of large-schools opponents (Wasilla and West Valley) and three NLC powers (Kenai, Soldotna and Kodiak).

Nelson said he’s excited his team finally has a chance to play a team of similar size from a school with a similar number of students.

Homer is also anxious to find a victory too, and eager to get into the end zone. The Mariners have been shut out in three straight games and have not scored since a 30-0 win over Skyview on Sept. 7.

A win tonight would put Houston in the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

In addition to Houston’s hunt for the playoffs, senior running back Waylon Soptick is working his way toward a school record. Soptick has rushed for 1,143 yards through the first seven games of the season and needs 204 to break the Houston school record of 1,346 set by Jeff Nagel in 1999.

“We want that rushing record for Waylon,” Nelson said.