Hawks roll in win over Huskies

Sept. 17, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

HOUSTON - Houston is the top-ranked squad in the Great Land Conference, and a team that just cracked the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network's small-school polls for the first time this season.

Delta is a young program still looking for its first conference win.

But for the first eight minutes on Saturday, the Huskies looked like the team vying for a playoff position.

And then the Hawks began to roll with their running game.

Houston scored 42 unanswered points and three Hawks running backs topped the 100-yard mark in a 49-12 win over Delta at Houston High School.

&#8220We haven't earned a reputation where people can come in here and be afraid to play us,” Houston head coach Norm Bouchard said. &#8220We need to come out and play right off the bat. Today we started to play flat and thought they were going to come out and roll over for us. They showed they were here to play football.”

Houston did take the early 7-0 advantage, but its not a lead that lasted long. After Houston senior Karl Thistle rumbled for a 7-yard score, Delta's Sam Tappen returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.

&#8220He's pretty quick. If he finds a seem, he's pretty much gone,” Delta head coach Ed Wilburn said. &#8220Our whole team got together and blocked, and made sure he had a nice hole to go through there.”

Tappen gave his squad a 12-7 lead four minutes later on a 46-yard touchdown run. With the Huskies facing 4th-and-7, Delta quarterback Calvin Fellman flipped the ball back to Tappen on a delayed option play, and the Husky running back cut back up the field, and scampered to the end zone.

&#8220That delay stuff works sometimes. We had to make sure the kids stayed home a little better,” Bouchard said. &#8220After that, they did.”

Houston scored six of its seven touchdowns on the ground. Junior fullback Israel Morales led the squad with a game-high 166 yards and four touchdowns. Thistle rushed for 101 yard and a scored. Sophomore running back Brandon Parks added a career-high 129 yards.

Houston normally features the thunder and thunder package of Morales and Thistle. Both backs are around the 200-pound mark, and seem to run over more players then they run by. But Parks is just 135 pounds, and provided a different look for the Houston offense.

&#8220He's a good change, a little quicker,” Bouchard said. &#8220Karl and Izzy have been kind of banged up this year, and we wanted to give him some opportunities.”

Houston showed the pseudo-hurry up offense for much of the game. While it was not exactly the no huddle, the Hawks did waste little time to get up to the line of scrimmage. Bouchard said the strategy was not just to wear down a smaller Delta team, but something the Hawks want to continue this season when they meet deeper teams such as Kodiak or Eielson.

Houston entered the contest as the fifth-ranked 3A team in the latest 3A poll. While it is flattering, Bouchard said, he wants his team to respond like a ranked team for a full 48 minutes.

&#8220We didn't come in very fired up,” Bouchard said. &#8220That was the message this week, let's prove that. We didn't come out and respond like the number-five team in the state would today. We were able to turn around and do that, but we did not come out and do that.”

Delta dropped to 1-5 overall with the loss, but Wilburn is still happy with his team's progress, regardless of record.

&#8220Every game there's a lot of improvement,” Wilburn said. &#8220Guys are holding their blocks, the defense is learning to tackle. Every game we're getting better.”

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