Houston remains alive in hunt for postseason

HOUSTON — As the Houston Hawks walked off the field last week following a 55-14 loss to Kodiak, Houston head coach Norm Bouchard thought his squad was officially pushed out of the playoff race.

But as it turns out, there is still hope for the Hawks. Houston will need a win over Homer Saturday and some help, but the Hawks can head into the final weekend of the regular season with more than just moral victories to play for.

“It gives us a little something to focus on,” Bouchard said Thursday afternoon. “We’re not just playing for pride.”

Houston (3-4 overall, 0-4 in Northern Lights Conference play) enters the final week as the No. 6 squad in the six-team NLC, but is within reach of forcing a three-way tie in the conference. Soldotna (4-0) and Kenai (4-0) have locked up the first two of the NLC’s four playoff berths, and will meet Saturday in a game that will decide the conference championship. Skyview (2-2), which hosts Kodiak (1-3), controls its own destiny. Homer (1-3) could also clinch a berth with a win over Houston.

According to Bouchard, the final weekend of the regular season should eliminate many of the following scenarios.

• If Skyview and Homer both win, both would clinch the final two spots. Skyview would be the No. 3 seed and Homer would be seeded fourth, thanks to a Skyview win over the Panthers earlier in the year.

• If Skyview and Houston both win, Skyview would be the number three seed. Houston would be in a three-way tie with Kodiak and Homer at 1-4 in conference play. A coin flip would be used as the first tiebreaker, with the odd team out of the playoffs. Head-to-head competition between the remaining two teams would decide the final playoff spot.

• If Kodiak and Homer both win, there would be another three-way tie. Skyview, Homer and Kodiak would each finish 2-3 in the NLC. Again, a coin flip would be used as the first tiebreaker, with the odd team out of the playoffs. Head-to-head competition between the remaining two teams would decide the final playoff spot.

• If Kodiak and Houston both win, Skyview and Kodiak would each finish 2-3 in the NLC. Kodiak would earn the third seed and Skyview would be No. 4, due to head-to-head play. Houston would be eliminated, despite the loss.

All of that information is a lot for anyone in the conference to process. But simply, the scenarios do give Houston hope.

“It gives us a shot,” Bouchard said. “Hopefully we make the most of it.”

The Hawks have endured somewhat of an odd season. Houston is perfect, 3-0, in nonconference play, scoring each of those wins by a lopsided margin. But in the NLC, Houston has struggled.

“We’ve felt like we haven’t played up to our potential all year long,” Bouchard said.

The longtime Houston football coach said the Hawks are still learning how to find a way to beat the tougher opponents.

“They haven’t experienced it yet,” Bouchard said. “They need the experience of getting that win to realize all the work is worth it, all the time and effort they put in is worth it.”

Bouchard said he’s pleased with some of the things the Hawks have done this year. Houston boasts one of the top five scoring offenses at the small schools level.

Houston has had success running the ball. Senior Brandon Dukes is among the top small-schools running backs with 873 yards and 10 touchdowns. The senior running back also returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown during the loss to Kodiak and threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Brett Lapham during in the loss to Skyview.

Junior fullback Tyler Barron has 330 yards and eight touchdowns.

Houston is facing a Homer team that also likes to run the ball. The Mariners run the double-wing offense made famous by legendary college football coach Pop Warner.

“They want to grind it out and run it at you,” Bouchard said of the Mariners.

Homer’s lone conference win came with a 28-6 win over Kodiak. The Mariner have played conference powers Soldotna and Kenai tough, falling 26-20 to the Stars and 21-16 to the Kardinals.

Knights aim to stay perfect

The Colony Knights already know where they will be during the first weekend of the playoffs, hosting the Cook Inlet Conference’s No. 4 seed at Colony High School.

The Knights do have some unfinished business. Saturday Colony will try to cap a perfect season in Railbelt Conference play when they host the West Valley Wolfpack at 7 p.m.

Last week, Colony scored a thrilling 32-28 win over Palmer. That victory gave the clinched the Railbelt title for the Knights and gave Colony home field advantage during the first round of the playoffs.

After dropping their first two games of the season, a pair of nonconference matches, the Knights have won five straight.

Colony is also ranked third in the latest Alaska Sports Broadc asting Network Prep Football Poll.

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

PREP FOOTBALL STANDINGS

Railbelt Conference

Team W L PF PA W L PF PA

x-Colony 5 0 157 98 5 2 175 123

*Juneau-Douglas 4 1 145 62 5 2 221 100

*Palmer 3 2 146 89 4 3 233 152

West Valley 3 2 121 119 4 3 168 180

North Pole 2 3 136 146 2 5 182 207

Wasilla 1 4 111 90 2 5 162 130

Lathrop 0 6 27 260 0 7 33 274

Last week’s results: Friday’s games:

Colony 32, Palmer 28 Wasilla at Palmer, 7 p.m.

West Valley 18, Wasilla 7 Monroe at Lathrop, 7 p.m. (nc)

North Pole 41, Lathrop 0 Lathrop at North Pole, 7 p.m.

Mt. Vernon 24, Juneau 21

Saturday’s games:

West Valley at Colony, 7 p.m.

North Pole at Juneau, 8 p.m.

northern lights conference

Team W L PF PA W L PF PA

*Soldotna 4 0 170 47 7 0 264 86

*Kenai 4 0 130 30 5 2 222 106

Skyview 2 2 119 128 5 2 287 161

Homer 1 3 72 85 3 4 137 123

Kodiak 1 3 61 77 3 4 167 154

Houston 0 3 52 184 3 3 190 204

Last week’s results: Saturday’s games:

Kodiak 55, Houston 14 Houston at Homer, 2 p.m.

Kenai 21, Homer 16 Kodiak at Skyview, 2 p.m.

Soldotna 50, Eielson 14 (nc) Kenai at Soldotna, 4 p.m.

Skyview 59, Monroe 7 (nc)

Mat-Su statistic leaders

(Through Week 7)

Rushing leaders

Player, team Att. Yards TD Avg.

Brandon Dukes, Hou 140 873 10 6.2

Skye Rench, Col 165 871 12 5.3

Anthony Bricker, Col 62 572 4 9.2

Tyler Polis, Was 77 495 5 6.4

Devon Teeling, Was 62 494 6 7.9

David Clement, Pal 43 363 7 8.4

Douglas Chadwick, Pal 46 330 4 7.2

Tyler Barron, Hou 60 330 8 5.5

Ian Ahrens, Pal 78 321 2 4.1

David Sorenson, Pal 30 213 2 7.1

Jim McCall, Pal 29 186 2 6.4

Dakota Wainwright, Col 32 139 3 4.3

Jackson Buresh, Pal 31 132 7 4.3

Passing leaders

Player, team Com Att. Yards TD Int

Jackson Buresh, Pal 44 105 738 7 6

Beau Frank, Hou 38 82 469 3 3

Anthony Bricker, Col 28 48 365 4 3

AJ Marshall, Was 25 45 339 8 1

Receiving leaders

Player, team Rec. Yards TD Avg.

Jim McCall, Pal 26 484 6 18.6

Skye Rench, Col 18 185 1 10.3

David Green, Was 18 303 4 16.8

Brett Lapham, Hou 14 277 3 19.8

Kenyon DePriest, Col 10 143 2 14.3

Kris Merritt, Pal 7 115 0 16.4

Russell Ruta, Hou 7 70 1 10.0

Dakota Wainwright, Col 7 68 0 9.7

Anthony Bricker, Col 7 56 0 8.0

Tyler Barron, Hou 6 93 0 15.5

Peyton McCann, Col 6 21 0 3.5

Connor Weihs, Col 5 92 1 18.4

Devon Teeling, Was 5 46 0 9.2

Tyler Anderson, Was 5 39 0 7.8