J's World: Looking back at 2107, before we dive into the 2108 prep football season

Following the Alaska Schools Activities Association’s massive reclassification during the offseason, the Alaska prep football landscape has a far different look. But before we dive into 2018, let’s take a look at what happened during a wild fall of 2017.

I’m going to start at the Division I level.

Bartlett. What a run.

The Golden Bears, the second seed out of the Cook Inlet Conference, scored 170 total points en route to a state title. That’s more than 56 points per game. Bartlett opened the postseason with a 55-25 win over Lathrop, followed with a 75-62 victory over previously undefeated Chugiak in the semis and grabbed gold with a 40-34 win over West Anchorage.

Let’s put this in perspective. In 2003, the Bartlett boys’ basketball team won a 4A state title with a 38-28 win over Wasilla. The Bears and Warriors combined for fewer total points than the Bartlett football team scored against Chugiak last season. That was also a really good basketball team in 2003, a squad that included two athletes who continued on to careers as professional athletes. Mario Chalmers is the most notable. For those of you in a coma for the last couple of decades, Chalmers hit the game-winning shot for the University of Kansas in the 2008 NCAA Division I national title game. Chalmers also won a couple of NBA titles with that LeBron guy. Zack Bowman, a former fifth round pick of the Chicago Bears, was also on that team. Bowman, one of the best football players I’ve ever seen during my 28 years around the sport in this state, played with four teams during his seven years in the NFL.

Bartlett emerged as the top dog in a top-heavy CIC, which also included really good teams at East and West. Chugiak was the team to beat prior to its 75-62 loss to Bartlett, a game that will prove to be among the most epic in Alaska history.

Colony, another good program from the Raibelt, suffered a loss in the most competitive game of the quarterfinals, a 14-10 defeat to West.

For the last couple of years, medium schools football in Alaska has pretty much been like the NBA. Regardless of what happens during the regular season, you can pretty much guess the teams that will play in the finals. In the NBA, obviously it’s been Golden State and Cleveland. And in Alaska, it’s Soldotna and Palmer battling for the medium schools crown.

Both programs made history in 2017. Soldotna beat Palmer in the Division II title game for the second straight year, and extended its state-record winning streak to 59 games. The Stars’ streak is the second-longest in the nation, trailing only Kimberly, Wisconsin, which has 70 straight wins.

Palmer’s longtime mentor Rod Christiansen also made state history, setting an all-time record for career football wins by an Alaska head coach. Christiansen, who debuted with a victory over Nikiski in August of 1991, earned his 150^th career victory with a win at Eagle River midseason. That put Christiansen in a time with the late, great Buck Nystrom, who earned a state-record 150 wins during his time at Eielson and North Pole. Christiansen set a new record with a victory over Kenai Central the following week. Saturday, Christiansen will guide a team onto Machetanz Field for the 28^th season when the Moose host Juneau. Christiansen has a career mark of 153-99.

Juneau is now a co-op program, and among a number of changes in Alaska football. The squad from Alaska’s capitol city will include players from both Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain high schools, and is one of five teams in Alaska’s newest league, the Division I Chugach Conference.

The Chugach also includes Colony, Wasilla, Chugiak and Bartlett. The new league has the potential to be incredibly strong, tough enough that the booster clubs may want to set aside extra cash to cover the costs of antacids for the coaching staff.

That transitions us right into the new era of Alaska football. Palmer was moved into a different conference for the second time in four years and third time since 2000. The Moose are the lone Southcentreal team in the Division II Railbelt Conference, which also includes Lathrop, North Pole and West Valley. Palmer’s old conference, the Northern Lights, now includes Eagle River, Kenai, Kodiak and Soldotna.

The CIC has been reduced to five. After losing Eagle River, Chugiak and now Bartlett, the CIC is now made up of East, West, South, Service and Dimond.

The Division III level, which was on the chopping block at one point, remains pretty much the same. The big change there is Ketchikan dropping a class.

Week 1 includes a number of really big nonconference games. The most talked about game on the schedule is at Soldotna High School. West will make the trip south to test Soldotna’s streak Friday at 6:30 p.m. East at Chugiak and Juneau at Palmer are also among the intriguing games on the schedule.