Hawks face tough trip

HOUSTON — January was supposed to be a good month for the Houston Hawks. With two-game homestands on back-to-back weeks, Houston had the opportunity to solidify its spot at the top of the Greatland Conference. But after watching those four home games disappear, the Hawks will have a more difficult road to a potential berth in the 3A state tournament.

Houston was set to host Delta at the Big Lake Recreation Center last week. Those games were canceled after the bus carrying the Huskies to Big Lake slid off the highway. The team was sent back to Delta Junction after the accident.

The Hawks were scheduled to host Hutchison this weekend. But Hutchison couldn’t not even leave Fairbanks because of bad weather and road conditions in the Interior.

With the loss of Houston’s four home games, Houston head coach Mike Styers said school officials were forced to scramble to find a solution. The Hawks were scheduled to cap the regular season with a two-game road set at Monroe Catholic in Fairbanks. Houston will head north this week. But rather than playing Monroe twice, the Hawks will play single games against Delta, Hutchison and Monroe.

But there’s a catch.

Typically, a Greatland win is worth two points in the conference standings, and a total of four points can be earned in a season series. Now, with the schedule change, each of Houston’s three games this week will be worth four points in the standings.

“It puts a little more pressure on us,” Styers said. “We can’t afford to lose a game if we want an opportunity to win the conference. Lose one of those games and we could be pretty much done.”

Houston, the 2013 3A runner-up, is currently 3-0 in the Greatland, with two wins over Glennallen and another over Tri-Valley.

The top two teams from the Greatland earn automatic bids to the 3A state tournament. The remaining four squads in the six-team conference meet in a playoff for the final two bids to state. The third-ranked squad plays the conference’s No. 6 team. The No. 4 and No. 5 teams also meet. The winners of each of those games go to state.

In the meantime, Styers said the Hawks are trying to improvise as they work through the unexpected two-week break.

“We’ve added practices, added some stuff to get the team together. We do play Wasilla on Tuesday, which will help. I’m not sure how ready we’ll be, but it will be nice to have a game,” Styers said.