Hawks get Ravens in week five

At 2-0, the Houston Hawks are finding themselves in a tie for first place of the Great Land Conference and in contention for a playoff position.

Riding the rushing attack of Karl Thistle, the Hawks rolled to a pair of convincing Great Land Conference wins in the last two weeks, but this week Houston has undoubtedly its toughest contest of the year. The Hawks will face Eielson, Saturday at 1 p.m. at HHS.

Thislte paced Houston to wins over Sitka and Anchorage Christian School in consecutive weeks. In a rainy win over Sitka, Thistle rumbled for 204 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries. He followed last week with 158 yards rushing and a score against ACS. Thistle, a sophomore, is now averaging six yards per carry and 181 yards per game in two starts.

Fellow sophomore Ryan Thamm also accounted for three Hawk touchdowns last week. Thamm, a sophomore quarterback, found Justin Vasquez and Steven Dubose in the end zone and rushed for a touchdown of his own.

Eielson is the toughest 3A program this side of Kenai. A runner-up to the Kardinals in the 2003 3A-state title game, the Ravens only loss this season is to the defending champs in a first-week title rematch. Eielson has scored convincing wins over Homer and Seward and blanked Palmer 14-0 at Machetanz Field earlier this season.

The Ravens are led by a swarming attack on defense and a running game paced by a stable of backs. Sophomore running back Nick Rogers leads the Raven backfield and quarterback/linebacker Evan Skinner provides an impact on both sides of the ball.

Houston is hosting the lone prep football contest in the Mat-Su area. Colony, Palmer and Wasilla will each travel to Fairbanks.

Colony at West Valley

With the Anchorage schools vacuuming up all of the statewide press and North Pole piling up an obscene amount of points and yardage, Colony has quietly dominated this season.

The Knights are 4-0 and have allowed just six points this season, a single touchdown in a 31-6 win over Kenai.

Last week the Knights blanked an opponent for the third time this season with a 36-0 win over Lathrop. Colony got its usual -- a Rhett Magner touchdown pass to Justin Schwartzbauer and a Shawn Olivera rushing score. Magner and Schwartzbauer have hooked up for scores in each of the team's four games this year and Olivera has scored in three of the Knights four games.

But the Knights also got a little scoring from their defense. Ryan Pauling recovered a blocked punt in the end zone and later recorded a safety against the Malemutes.

West Valley has shown little more than its ability to struggle in an inconsistant offense. After preaching the pass and throwing the ball 77 times in the first three games, the Wolfpack recorded only six pass attempts in a 21-20 loss to Wasilla last week. Four costly turnovers, including a fumble late in the game led to the Warrior win.

Palmer at Lathrop

Palmer will look to rebound after dropping a 75-26 decision in North Pole last week, its worst loss in school history. The Moose defense, which has had the misfortune of facing two of the state's top offenses, North Pole and Juneau, should have an easier time against one of the worst offenses in the state, Lathrop.

The Malemutes have been held scoreless in three of their four games.

Wasilla @ North Pole

The Warriors have the dubious task of traveling to North Pole to face Perry Monzulla and the

Patriots.

Last week, Monzulla burned Palmer for 352 yards and three

touchdowns.

On a positive note, Wasilla has momentum on its side after a come-from-behind win over West Valley. Warrior quarterback Zach Bennett plunged into the end zone with just one second left to score the win.

Wasilla defensive back Robbie Champion registered a pair of interceptions to help ground the West Valley passing attack.

Jake Wade scored a touchdown and booted two field goals for Wasilla.