Moose win showdown against North Pole

By DANNY MARTIN

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

NORTH POLE — Richard Henert’s six seasons as the North Pole High School football coach have included occasionally seeing Palmer’s pile-driving offense try to wear down opposing defenses.

North Pole was the latest victim of Palmer’s ball-control offense in Friday night’s Railbelt Conference thriller.

The previously unbeaten Patriots fell 49-42 to the still unbeaten Moose, who got six touchdowns from junior running back James Nisbett, including the game-winning 8-yard dash with 1:16 left in the game at a mostly-packed Patriot Pride Field.

“They’ve always been that way, they’ve been a great ball control team,” Henert said of Palmer (6-0 overall, 4-0 conference) following a somber postgame meeting for the Patriots on the field. “They minimized their mistakes — they had zero. We didn’t catch a single break and that’s huge. We made a few turnovers ourselves and that’s a big difference there.”

The Patriots (5-1, 3-1) led throughout the first half of a contest. North Pole led 20-7 at the end of the first quarter following Matt Wentland’s 1-yard burst, his first of three touchdown runs Friday, and both of quarterback Moo Rogers’ touchdown passes to Lance Wright (33 and 34 yards).

“We just had to keep our heads up and hope for the best because they’re a great team, no doubt about it,’’ said Wentland, who contributed 57 yards on 12 carries.

Rogers led the Patriots in both rushing (22 carries for 122 yards) and passing (15 for 19 for 231 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions). Eleven of the senior’s passes went to Wright, who accumulated 138 yards after his catches.

Both of the interceptions landed with Palmer defensive back Dylan Myers, including a 90-yard return that set up Nisbett’s 2-yard run for a 34-28 Palmer lead with 7:42 left in the third quarter.

Myers also made a game-saving deflection of a Rogers pass to a leaping Khalil Steward at the goal line with about two-tenths of a second left in the game.

“I just had to fight back,” Myers said. “The conference championship is all we ever wanted and we’re one step closer.”

Wentland’s 9-yard scoring run with 9:50 left in the second quarter helped North Pole take a 28-21 lead into the halftime break. Palmer had closed the gap with two touchdowns from Nisbett (a 79-yard run in the first quarter and 18-yard run in the second) and quarterback Cameron Christiansen’s 46-yard strike to Daniel Delay with 6:21 left in the second quarter.

The third quarter turned into a gridiron version of “The Match Game,” starting with Nisbett returning the opening kickoff 86 yards with 11:47 left in the third for a 28-28 deadlock.

Nisbett sustained an elbow injury early in the fourth quarter, but he accounted for the only points in the final 12 minutes of the game while rushing for a night-best 202 yards on 31 carries. He had a 5-yard game-tying run with 8:02 left in the fourth and his game-winning sweep into the left corner of the end zone nearly six minutes later.

“I was just going out for my team, I wanted to play for my team,’’ Nisbett said of playing with the injury that affected the nerve of the elbow of the arm which he carries the football. “I can’t just sit there and let my team do whatever, I’ve got to come back in.”

After Nisbett’s 2-yard scoring run in the third quarter, North Pole responded with Rogers’ 33-yard scoring pass to a diving Steward with 6:58 left in the third for the 34-34 tie. The Patriots took a 42-34 lead with Wentland’s 2-yard run and Wright’s two-point conversion catch with 1:41 left in the third.