Moose roll past Bears

Aug. 14, 2005

JEREMIAH BARTZ\Frontiersman sports editor

PALMER -- The powerfully potent Palmer Moose offense reached the end zone four times Friday night -- on one drive.

No, that's not a typo. No error, at least in the reporting.

Three Palmer touchdowns on one drive were called back, before the fourth was added to the scoreboard. And the Moose rolled to a 56-14 nonconference win over the Kodiak Bears at Machetanz Field.

Early in the second quarter, clinging to just a one-touchdown lead, the Moose needed to reach the end zone four times to get it just right. Penalties turned a first-and-goal situation into a nine-play drive, and three scores were negated. Jeremy Weber capped off a drive -- in which the Moose gained 44 total yards, but lost 40 due to penalties -- with a 14-yard touchdown strike to Eric Olson.

Each time Palmer would score, the whistle would blow, the Moose would celebrate and an official would drop their little yellow piece of laundry on the field. The ball would be moved backwards. And they'd do it all again. Two holding infractions, and a called illegal block reversed touchdown runs by seniors Jeremy Weber, Devon Conroy and Steel Tubbs.

"It was a really good character building experience, to actually score after being called on those penalties," Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said. "It was getting frustrating. It was only 7-0, and we really felt like we needed to get into the end zone. Just to come back from that adversity was good for us."

Palmer was pushed back to the 14-yard line, and faced a fourth-and-goal situation, before converting a penalty-free touchdown.

"We scored four touchdowns in a row, and they called three of them back. It's pretty frustrating," said Palmer senior running back Steel Tubbs, who had one touchdown taken away. "It's good that we can score that many times."

And score Palmer did.

The Moose reached the end zone, officially, eight times -- scoring on offense, defense and special teams.

Conroy scored a pair of first half touchdowns -- on a 3-yard run in the first quarter and 26-yard maze in the second. Tubbs and Weber each ran the ball into the end zone. And Olson had an 82-yard kick return for a score to go along with his touchdown catch.

The Moose scored twice on defense. Newcomer Tanner Grover returned an interception 36 yards for a score. Senior Jake Heun rumbled in a fumble, 16 yards for the touchdown.

Fifty-six point did decimate the third-year Kodiak program, but the Moose were not immune to the miscues.

"Despite the score, we're probably going to run our butts off on Monday," Palmer senior lineman Tory Johnson said.

Christiansen, who kicked off his 15th season as the Moose mentor, said like in any other year, following the first game, the coaching staff will go to the videotape and see exactly how much, or how little, the team needs to work on as it prepares for the Railbelt Conference schedule.

"You look at the tape, and you always see things," Christiansen said. "It's never going to be as good as it looks, it's never as bad as it looks. Last year we started with a 35-0 loss to Juneau, and it didn't look as bad."

Christiansen said offensive execution is the priority -- working the rust off and the kinks out. The Moose turned the ball over three times, but gained 349 yards of total offense -- 261 on the ground. Conroy had 102 yards rushing to go with his two touchdowns. Weber completed 5-of-9 passes for 88 yards.

The Palmer defensive was, not a surprise, stout -- allowing just 30 first-half yards foe.