Moose to host Thursday football game

PALMER — Last season, the Palmer Moose entered Week 3 with something unusual on the schedule, a game on Thursday night. Now it appears the atypical is becoming a trend.

For the second straight season, Palmer will play its third game of the season on Thursday. The Moose host North Pole in a nonconference matchup Thursday at 7 p.m. at Palmer High School’s Machetanz Field.

“It’s a short week,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said after his team’s practice Monday afternoon.

As they did last season to prepare for a Thursday night game against East Anchorage, Christiansen said the Moose are adjusting their weekly practice schedule plan. Christiansen said the Moose will also practice on Friday to begin to prepare for their Week 4 date at Kenai on Sept. 5.

“We need to keep building, keep building strength and speed,” Christiansen said.

Palmer is still in search of its first win of the 2014 season. Palmer (0-2) started the season with games against defending large schools state champion West Anchorage and defending medium schools state champ Soldotna in consecutive weeks. Last Friday, Soldotna beat Palmer 33-0.

Christiansen said the Moose knew they’d open the season with a tough schedule. The key now, he said, is responding to the adversity.

“(We’ve) got to try to get better,” Christiansen said. “Obviously, we felt like we should have been much closer than we were,” Christiansen said of the loss to the Stars. “I think we competed hard at times. Other times we kind of got outplayed by them.”

Christiansen said the Palmer coaches are seeing improvement.

“Particularly up front,” Christiansen said. “Offensively, we’re still developing the playbook, putting in some new things.”

Chase Ferris led the Moose with 109 yards on 23 carries.

North Pole improved to 2-0 with a Southeast Conference victory over Ketchikan last week. The Patriots, former Railbelt Conference rivals of Palmer, are in their second season as a member of the medium schools Southeast Conference. Christiansen said he expects to see a North Pole team similar to what the Moose saw from them when the Patriots were in the Railbelt.

“They’re running a lot of the same stuff they were two years ago,” Christiansen said of North Pole. “They spread it out, trying to run with the fast guys, throw a little bit. A lot of team speed it looks like.”

Palmer is one of three Valley teams hosting games in Week 3. Wasilla (1-1) opens its Railbelt schedule against Lathrop (1-1) Friday at 7 p.m. Houston (0-2) hosts Valdez (1-1) Friday at 7. Colony (2-0) will be in Juneau to face the Crimson Bears at 8 p.m.

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