Moose expect to see improved West Valley team

PALMER — During the past several seasons, West Valley hasn’t had much success against the Palmer Moose.

Palmer has won eight straight against the Wolfpack and hasn’t suffered a loss to the Fairbanks program since the first round of the 2001 large-schools playoffs. Take away a 13-7 Palmer win in 2008 and a 31-20 victory in 2003, and the Moose have outscored West Valley by an average of 33 points in six of those eight meetings.

But things are different in the Interior these days. With a new regime running the show at West Valley, Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen is expecting different things from the Wolfpack when the Moose host West Valley tonight at 7 p.m. at Machetanz Field.

“He’s got a lot of excitement going up there,” Christiansen said of West Valley first-year head coach Daniel Esparza, who was an assistant on a Barlett staff that led the Golden Bears to a large-schools state title last season.

The Esparza-led ’Pack are 3-2 overall and 2-1 in Railbelt Conference play, and have already scored their first win over rival North Pole since 2004.

West Valley’s path through the 2010 season, so far, is strikingly similar to that of the Moose.

“They’re on even par with us,” said Christiansen, whose Moose are also 3-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

West Valley and Palmer each own wins over Lathrop and North Pole, while both lost to Juneau. The big difference is Palmer scored a 36-32 nonconference win over the defending small-schools state champion Kenai Kardinals two weeks ago and the Wolfpack suffered a 40-27 loss to the Kards last weekend. Christiansen said its hard to build a judgment of West Valley based solely on the loss to Kenai, a game that was played in very wet conditions at Kenai Central High.

Christiansen and the Palmer coaches know West Valley has skill and runs systems Esparza brought north from Bartlett.

“They’ve got good systems, and they’re well coached,” Christiansen said.

Palmer will be riding back-to-back road wins as the Moose return home tonight. The Moose are averaging more than 41 points per game in those two wins, posting a 47-19 win over North Pole after the 36-32 victory over the Kardinals. Palmer’s win at North Pole was their first on Patriot Pride Field in recent memory.

“We’ve had two pretty good weeks of success offensively, and we need to continue that,” Christiansen said.

The longtime Moose mentor said his team’s success starts up front.

“Being sound in our blocking schemes,” Christiansen said. “It’s all about blocking.”

The Moose have also added a few more weapons to the arsenal. Senior David Clement and junior Ian Ahrens each scored twice. The tandem has combined for six touchdowns in the last two weeks. Clement led the Moose with 132 yards rushing against North Pole.

Senior Jim McCall also scored twice for the second consecutive week. Christiansen said the ability to keep defenders guessing has been key for Palmer. Quarterback Jackson Buresh has also been efficient. The junior was 5-for-8 for 110 yards and two touchdowns against North Pole and 7-for-15 for 154 yards and two scores against Kenai.

Colony at Wasilla

The Colony Knights will be looking for their fourth straight victory when they head onto Veterans Memorial Field tonight to face the Wasilla Warriors at 7 p.m.

Colony (3-2, 3-0) is perfect in Railbelt play during the last three weeks after opening the season with consecutive nonconference losses. The Knights improved to 3-2 with a 31-14 win over Lathrop last week. Senior quarterback Anthony Bricker logged more than 100 yards rushing for the third straight week and senior running back Skye Rench had more than 100 yards rushing for the third time this season during the win over Lathrop. Rench (586) and Bricker (508) have combined to rush for more than 1,000 yards during the first five weeks of the season.

Colony also scored wins over Juneau-Douglas and North Pole.

Wasilla (2-3, 1-2) aims to rebound from a 31-14 loss to Juneau-Douglas in Juneau last week. The Warriors had won two straight with victories over Kodiak and Lathrop.

After using a variety of talent at the skill positions during the first few weeks of the season, a handful of Warriors have emerged as leaders. Senior quarterback AJ Marshall has thrown six touchdowns during the last two weeks. Five of those came during a 55-0 win over Lathrop.

Juniors Devon Teeling (327 yards) and Tyler Polis (324 yards) have paced the Wasilla running game. Senior David Green (14 catches, 279 yards, four touchdowns) is Wasilla’s top receiver.

Skyview at Houston

The Houston Hawks (3-2, 0-2) will begin their three-week fight for a playoff spot Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host Skyview (3-2, 1-2) at Houston High School.

“This is the playoffs,” Houston head coach Norm Bouchard said after a 53-6 nonconference win over Delta last week. “We’ve got three weeks of playoffs right here.”

Houston may need wins over Skyview, Kodiak and Homer during the final three weeks of the regular season to grab one of the Northern Lights Conference’s four potential playoff berths. The Hawks have already suffered conference losses to Kenai and Soldotna.

To accomplish their goals, Houston will look to its running game to pull the Hawks into the postseason. Senior Brandon Dukes leads all runners with 633 yards and nine touchdowns. Junior Tyler Barron has 294 yards and seven touchdowns despite missing much of two of the last three weeks.

Dukes has at least 100 yards in every game this season.

Skyview is led by quarterback Jordan Jones, who threw for three touchdowns during a loss to Soldotna last week.

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