Moose prevail in Valley showdown

PALMER -- "We play only one quarter but we play it well," Palmer assistant coach Hans Deemer said jokingly following his team's 15-8 win over Wasilla Saturday.

Deemer did not necessarily coin a Palmer motto, but there was some validity to his statement as the Moose utilized a late fourth quarter rally to slip past the Warriors in quarterfinal action of the 4A state playoffs.

With the win, the Moose earned a spot into the state semifinals. Palmer will face Bartlett, Friday at 6 p.m. on the turf at Anchorage Football Stadium.

The Warrior defense was able to contain Palmer's Ali Larijani for three quarters, but the senior fullback and linebacker led the Moose on a dramatic comeback.

Larijani ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns and blocked a punt on special teams.

In Palmer's 21-0 victory over the Warriors last week in the Potato Bowl, Larijani rumbled for 241 yards and three touchdowns.

"Ali plays both ways through the entire game and still has the energy to come up big in the fourth quarter. That's really a commendable thing," Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said. "It is a team scheme though. There are 11 guys out there doing their job."

Down 8-0 with 19 second left in the third quarter, the Palmer defense pinned Wasilla deep in its own end. The Warrior special teams were set to punt at the 14-yard line. At the snap of the ball, Larijani dove between the Warriors long snapper and guard, went up the middle and leapt in front of Wasilla punter Josh Bean, blocking the kick.

"Ali made a great play to get in and block that punt," Christiansen said. "A key was the other lineman taking up those blocks, which allowed Ali to get through."

"Wasilla's punt team is not set up well to block against," Christiansen added. "Their punt formation is max protect, they have a lot of blockers. Our base plan is return. They didn't have their normal snapper in there so we had to go for it."

Jeremy Copeland recovered the ball for the Moose, giving Palmer a first down at the Wasilla 5-yard line.

On second down, Larijani ran right up the middle behind Palmer center Tory Johnson for the two-yard score.

One of the biggest plays of the game, could have been the ensuing two-point conversion.

Palmer quarterback Charlie Bentti faked a handoff to Larijani and a trio of Wasilla defenders smothered the fullback behind the line of scrimmage.

With the ball still in hand, Bentti tried to go left but opted to detour right to avoid a barrage of red and white jerseys. Palmer guard Junior Amavae flattened a Wasilla defender near the goal line. The block allowed Bentti to fall into the end zone and tie the game at 8-8.

"I assumed like everyone else that he got stopped and it was still 8-6," Christiansen said. "Bentti did a great job on the fake."

With just over seven minutes left and the score still tied, Wasilla faced a fourth-and-eight at its own 47-yard line. Wasilla decided to go for the first down.

The Warriors called a screen and quarterback Kevin Donahoe hit tight end Brandon Halverson.

Halverson bounced off a Larijani tackle near the line of scrimmage, only to be met by Amavae, Shawn Sawyer and Shane Omer at the 50-yard line. Halverson was stopped after only a 6-yard gain and Palmer regained possession.

On the fourth play of the ensuing drive, Larijani erupted through the left side of the line and scampered for a 25-yard score.

The Devin Conroy kick gave Palmer the 15-8 lead.

Wasilla had one more opportunity to try to gain a lead, late in the fourth quarter.

Palmer faced a fourth-and-12 on the 45-yard line and was forced to punt. The Warriors put on the pressure in an attempt to block the kick. Wasilla was whistled with a roughing the kicker penalty and Palmer retained possession.

Palmer chewed up the final 96 seconds on the clock.

The running of Abe Salmon and the Wasilla defense controlled the tempo of the first three quarters.

Wasilla's Brady Washburn recovered a Palmer fumble at the Moose 23-yard line with 5:35 left in the first quarter. Two plays later Salmon swept around the left side and followed lead blocker Jed Wade into the end zone.

Midway through the second quarter, Palmer drove inside the Wasilla 10-yard line. Facing fourth-and-goal at the six, Bentti tried to hit flanker Dustin Eley. Wasilla defensive back Cody Schierman made a stellar play on the ball, tipping it away from Eley.

The Wasilla defense did not allow positive yardage to the Moose on Palmer's first 10 offensive plays of the game. Wasilla held Larijani to only 35 yards rushing and nine yards receiving in the first half and the Palmer offense to only 84 total yards during the first two quarters.

Larijani finished the game with 110 yards on the ground.

Salmon led the Warriors with 114 yards rushing.

Both Larijani and Salmon eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark for the season.

The duo have established themselves as a pair of the elite running backs in the state.

Salmon finishes the season with 1,110 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns, while Larijani has 1,004 yards and 17 scores.

News and notes … This is the second consecutive year that Wasilla played an opponent two weeks in a row. Last season Wasilla defeated Colony in both the last game of the regular season and the first game of the postseason … This is the first time in his coaching career that Christiansen has played an opponent two weeks in a row … In the last two weeks, Larijani has rushed for 351 yards and five touchdowns against Wasilla … The Warriors were penalized 11 times for 57 yards in the game, including a questionable face mask penalty charged to Cody Schierman … The Warriors had several players back in the line-up for the contest Saturday. Among them were lineman Josh Nelson who missed last week due to illness and fullback and linebacker TJ Halverson who has been out since mid-season … Wasilla finishes their season with a 6-3 record. Each of their three losses came to teams playing in the state semi-finals.