J's World: It was a wild weekend in Alaska’s prep football playoffs

The opening rounds of the prep football playoffs were fairly predictable. Lower seeds won only two of the eight games spread across Alaska’s three divisions, and there was only one game decided by single digits.

But the second weekend of the postseason didn’t disappoint.

A first-time state champion was crowned, a state-record winning streak was kept alive and a state record fell as upsets reigned in the Division I class. A little bit of history at every level.

Saturday at Palmer High School, Barrow used a goal line stand during the final moments of the Division III championship to seal its first state title in football and Soldotna was served its greatest challenge of the year in the Division II title game.

Let’s start in Palmer with the Division II game.

Underdog Palmer out-gained Soldotna by 100 yards of total offense; finished with 72 offensive plays, compared to SoHi’s 36; and earned 20 first downs, more than double Soldotna’s eight.

The Palmer defense held mighty SoHi to 193 yards of total offense. Soldotna entered the game averaging more than 400 yards per game.

But the Stars won the turnover battle. And in the end, the Stars owned the only stat category that truly matters.

The score.

Soldotna 21, Palmer 0.

Valiant effort by the Moose. The final score is, in no way, an indication of just how close this game was. But the Stars know a little about winning. The victory extended Soldotna’s state record streak to 59, and marked SoHI’s sixth straight state championship.

The Stars made the three biggest plays in the game — a Brenner Furlong 57-yard touchdown run, an Aaron Faletoi 14-yard score, and Cody Quelland’s 20-yard interception for a touchdown — and won.

Earlier in the day during the Division III final, in mere moments late in the fourth quarter, Barrow went from threatening to make it a two-score game to clinging to victory.

Leading 20-14 late in the fourth quarter, Barrow drove the field. With the ball near the red zone, Homer picked off a Barrow pass. The Mariners drove about 80 yards the other direction. Homer had the ball, 1st-and-goal at the 2-yard line with 10 seconds left in regulation. Barrow was able to keep the Mariners out of the end zone to preserve its first state title in school history.

A pretty good day of football at Palmer High, which hosted the Division II and III finals for the second straight year.

Now let’s head to the Division I level. The semifinal games were nothing short of wild.

In the first semifinal, Bartlett upset Railbelt Conference champion Chugiak 75-62.

Yes, 75-62.

No, that’s not a basketball final.

But it is 137 total points. And it’s the highest combined total in the history of the ASAA prep football playoffs. The prior record was set in the 2010 medium-schools state title game when Soldotna beat rival Kenai 77-42.

Last Friday, Bartlett and Chugiak combined for more than 1,100 yards of total offense. Bartlett’s Jontay Edwards rushed for 402 yards and seven touchdowns. Chugiak’s Derryk Snell had nearly 260 yards of total offense and five scores.

The statistician and scoreboard operator stayed busy that night.

In the division’s other semifinal, West Anchorage used some late heroics to upset defending state champion East Anchorage 21-18. During the final two minutes of play, West’s Jared Harjehausen snagged a jump ball amid a trio of defenders to provide the go-ahead score, a 28-yard touchdown catch.

West’s win completed the sweep for the lower seeds in the semifinals, and the Eagles will play in the title game for the fifth straight year. West is 2-2 in the championship in the last four years.

Based on what we saw over the weekend, anything could happen when the Golden Bears and Eagles clash Friday night at Anchorage Football Stadium in the ASAA/First National Cup Division I Championship game.

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