Lopsided victories rule seasonÕs first week By JEREMIAH BARTZ-Sports editorOther than Houston's 13-7 loss to Homer at Houston High School on Saturday, the Valley prep football teams saw lopsided final scores in their 2004 debuts. Fortunately for…
Lopsided victories rule seasonÕs first week By JEREMIAH BARTZ-Sports editorOther than Houston's 13-7 loss to Homer at Houston High School on Saturday, the Valley prep football teams saw lopsided final scores in their 2004 debuts. Fortunately for Colony, the Knights were able celebrate a victory after the final gun, but Palmer and Wasilla each suffered thumpings in their first games of the season.This week Palmer and Houston feature home contests, while Colony and Wasilla will each travel south.Eielson @ PalmerOriginally a road contest for the Moose, the venue was switched from Buck Nystrom Field on Eielson Air Force Base to Machetanz Field on Wednesday due to terrible air conditions caused by Fairbanks-area forest fires.With the switch, the Moose have a home date for the second consecutive week. On Friday, Palmer's home opener was spoiled by Juneau as the Bears walked away with a 37-0 victory. Bear signal callers Chris Hinkley and Pat Kohan humbled the Moose defense, throwing for a combined 226 yards passing ant three touchdowns. Devon Conroy and Steel Tubbs paced the Moose offense with a combined 120 yards rushing. Conroy, Palmer's starting quarterback, rushed the ball 21 times for 65 yards, while Tubbs, the featured tailback of the Moose offense, scored 15 carries for 55 yards.In a rematch of the 2003 3A state title game, Kenai scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to defeat Eielson 26-19 on the Peninsula. Nick Rogers scored twice to lead the Ravens. The sophomore returned a kickoff 85 yards for a score and caught a 12-yard touchdown pass.The nonconference game will pit a pair of former Northern Railbelt Conference foes. Eielson was part of the conference prior to dropping to the 3A level last season. Eielson and Palmer also have a postseason history, meeting twice in the last six ASAA state tournaments. The Moose defeated Eielson 28-27 in 2000 and the Ravens topped Palmer 42-7 in 1998.Colony @ SoldotnaThe Knights look to improve to 2-0 with a win over small school power, Soldotna. Colony is coming off a 35-0 win over South Anchorage in which quarterback Rhett Magner threw for two touchdowns and running back Randale Harvey scampered for a pair of scores. West Anchorage scored 35 unanswered points to defeat the Stars in Soldotna last week. Garrett Gardner led the Stars on the ground with 68 yards rushing and quarterback Cameron Schneider completed seven passes for 139 yards.The nonconference contest will match a pair of rivals from the former Northern Lights 4A Conference.Wasilla @ KodiakThe Warriors are heading to an island in search of their first win, Kodiak Island. Wasilla dropped a 39-6 decision to Dimond last week at Veterans Memorial Field.Runners Mason Richards and Jake Wade combined for 98 yards rushing in the loss. Wade scored a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Kodiak earned a 14-6 win over Anchorage Christian School. Michael O'Dell led the Bears with 101 yards rushing and quarterback Ronnie Dunham completed seven passes for 142 yards.West Valley @ Houston Houston was also scheduled to play in Fairbanks this week, but school officials forced to move the game to Houston High School due to the air quality in Fairbanks.Both the Hawks and Wolfpack are in search of their first win of the season and both teams have coaches looking for their first career win. Norm Bouchard suffered a 13-7 loss to Homer in his Hawk debut. Daniel Harvey led the Hawks on offense with a 4-yard fourth-quarter score and Chris Minsch led Houston on defense with a pair of fumble recoveries.West Valley mentor Jeff Patterson is also looking for his first win after a 42-0 loss to Chugiak in his first game on the Wolfpack sidelines. West Valley quarterback Dustin Carlin threw the ball 35 times in the loss, completed 10 passes for 177 yards.West Valley is on the Houston schedule for the second consecutive season. Last year, the Wolfpack defeated the Hawks 64-0.
