J's World: Warriors snap a streak, Stars continue to surge during second week of season

Will Stout’s a math teacher. So there was little surprise when the second-year head coach of the Wasilla Warriors knew the exact number of days since Wasilla’s last home victory prior to the 30-0 win over Eagle River Aug. 18 at WHS.

It’s 1,057 if you’re counting.

Before the shutout of the Wolves, Wasilla’s last win at home, a 49-21 in over North Pole, came on Sept. 26, 2014. There were nine straight home losses in between.

“There was a lot of pressure on us for a while, hey we’ve got to get a win at home,” Stout said postgame.

Quarterback Aeron Milliron is among a group of Wasilla seniors who were freshman the last time Wasilla won at home. Milliron said all of the right things after the win.

“We worry about the present, what we’re going to work on in practice and the next game,” Milliron told me.

I believe that completely. Wasilla is intent on leaving the struggles in the rearview mirror. But the win also lifted that elephant-sized monkey off their backs.

Division II power Soldotna hasn’t had to worry about losing streak since many of their players were in elementary school. Soldotna extended its state-record winning streak to 51 games with a 64-6 manhandling of Dimond.

And for those counting, when the printed version of this column hits driveways Wednesday morning, it’ll be 1,837 days since Soldotna last suffered a loss.

That’s just north of 44,000 hours if you really want to get ridiculous.

It was a loss to Palmer by the way, 27-7 during the opening week of the 2012 season.

Speaking of streaks, how about Redington?

The Huskies, a second-year varsity program in the Division III Peninsula Conference, are 2-0. After finishing 0-8 in its first season of varsity football last year, Redington opened the 2017 campaign with a 54-40 win over Monroe Catholic in Fairbanks. On Saturday, Redington earned its first shutout ever, blanking Valdez 45-0 in Valdez.

Quarterback Sam Reed spent his summer playing American Legion baseball for the Wasilla Road Warriors. Reed and the Huskies have been road warriors during the first two weeks of the season. Friday, the Huskies have their first home game, a date with Division II Barrow Friday at 7 p.m. at the Knik-area school. Barrow, idle in Week 1, dropped its season-opener in Week 2, falling to Division III Homer.

How about this Redington? Here’s your opportunity to notch the school-history hat trick.

First win- check.

First shutout- check.

First home win? Let’s see what happens Friday.

Battle of the titans

I think we’ve found the top 2 teams in Alaska’s Division I class.

Let me introduce you to Colony and Bartlett.

And yes, Chugiak, you’re right up there too.

But after the Friday night slugfest at CHS, a 33-27 victory for the Knights, Alaska’s football faithful are already gauging the possibility of a rematch in the postseason.

The game featured a little bit of everything. Big plays. A grinding Bartlett running game. And rain. Plenty of rain.

Colony reached the end zone five times in the win, and other than a 2-yard Kaiden Jimenez plunge, four of those scores came from 26 yards or more.

Senior Jon Pomrenke ran for scores of 45 and 59 yards, and hauled in a 36-yard touchdown pass courtesy of Parker Kizer.

Bartlett also had a long score, an 80-yard Jontay Edwards run. But for the most part, Bartlett’s Edwards-led offense methodically churned the yardage. Edwards finished with 342 yards on 48, yes 48, carries. Tack that on to the 160 Edwards gained against Wasilla in Week 1, and the Bartlett back has now rushed for 502 yards in two games against Valley opponents.

Yikes.

Chugiak, meanwhile, also scored a win in sloppy conditions Friday night, beating South Anchorage 20-7. Senior Derryk Snell rushed for 138 yards and another score.

Flex scheduling?

The National Football League adopted flex scheduling for its national broadcast television schedule. It’s a great way to get games that really matter on the tube late in the season, rather than viewers potentially getting stuck with a game that might turn out to be a total stinker.

I want to take it a step further in the 907. Let’s completely change at least a week on the schedule.

Why?

Because I want to see Colony take on Soldotna.

Right now, Colony, and Bartlett, appear to be the only teams, at this point, ready to threaten the steak. During Week 4, Soldotna is slated to travel south to face a squad from Oregon. Colony is on the road at West Anchorage. Any way we can switch the plane tickets and send the Eagles to Oregon? Imagine a Colony-SoHi matchup at the midway point of the season.

That’s must-see football.

All joking aside, that Colony-West matchup should be pretty good too.

ASBN poll

There were no surprises at the top of the latest Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network weekly prep football poll. Colony jumped Bartlett in the Division I poll after the loss to the Golden Bears. Soldotna, once again, holds the top spot in the Division II/III poll.

Following Colony (2-0) are Chugiak (2-0), Bartlet (1-1), West (1-1) and East (1-1) in the large-schools poll.

And look who earned a spot in the Division II/III top 5 for the first time ever.

The Redington Huskies!

The Huskies (2-0) snagged fourth. North Pole (2-0) and Juneau-Douglas (2-0) are second and third, and Eielson (1-1) is fifth.

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