Hawks in search of school history

WASILLA — The Houston Hawks have nicknamed the Seward High School football field, “the swamp.”

It’s often fairly wet in the Seward area during the fall, and cleats just sort of sink into the Seward Seahawks’ natural grass field.

The last time Houston stepped onto that sponge-like surface, things didn’t go very well for the Hawks. That was Week 1 of the 2014 season, and the Hawks suffered a 14-7 loss to host Seward.

Saturday, the Hawks will be back in Seward to face the Seahawks at 2 p.m. in the semifinal round of the small-schools playoffs. Houston intends for things to be different this time around.

“We want payback in the swamp,” Houston head coach Glenn Nelson said earlier this week.

But Nelson said, in addition to a little payback, the Hawks’ priority is the opportunity to make school history. With a win over Seward, Houston would advance to a state football title game for the first time ever.

Nelson said the coaching staff saw this type of potential for the Hawks, the No. 2 seed from the Aurora Conference.

“We felt like we should be in the playoffs,” Nelson said of expectations heading into the 2016 season.

And the Hawks met those expectations, finishing with a school-record six wins, and a 6-2 overall record. The Hawks were also 3-1 in the Aurora Conference, and qualified for state in just their second season as a small-schools program.

Key to the season was the 55-27 drubbing of Barrow in late September. The Hawks also scored a 26-20 come-from-behind win at Valdez the week before, and slaughtered Monroe Catholic early in the year.

The lone conference loss came against Eielson, a contest in which the Ravens rallied to score the late, go-ahead scored.

Overall, Nelson said certain aspects of their game have allowed the Hawks to stand out.

“We felt we had the running backs and the line to get in the playoffs,” Nelson said.

Led by blockers such as Reed Graham and Malaki Barrett, Houston senior running backs Ben Pelesasa and Vanu Mose have combined to rush for more than 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns. Pelesasa leads the team with 718 yards and 13 scores. Mose has 650 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.

Seward (4-3) clinched the No. 1 seed in the Peninsula Conference with a 22-8 win over defending small-schools state champion Nikiski last week.

Saturday will also mark Houston’s first appearance in the postseason since 2013 and just the third trip to the playoffs since 2005.

With a win Saturday, Houston would play either Eielson or Nikiski in the small-schools state title game Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. at Palmer High School.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.