New head football coach makes Wasilla debut at scrimmage

WASILLA — Local prep football players have had Friday, Aug. 12, circled on their calendars for months.

It’s opening day for high school football in Alaska.

With the start of the season now less than a week away, many programs across the 49th state used the weekend to test their talents, scrimmaging an actual opponent. The Bartlett Golden Bears, once again, made their annual preseason trip to the Valley to line up against the Wasilla Warriors. But things are different this season, as the Wasilla football program enters a new era. Wasilla’s preseason scrimmage against Bartlett marked the debut of first-year head coach Will Stout.

A full grandstand on the home sideline at Wasilla High’s Veterans Memorial Field caught the hour-long scrimmage, and fans flooded to the parking lot following the action to partake in a tailgate event hosted by the Wasilla High football booster club.

The main attraction was the Wasilla football squad. But the event served as an introduction to Stout, a veteran high school football coach in Texas, who was hired to lead the Wasilla High program during the offseason.

“So far everything’s been good,” Stout said of the transition from the Lone Star State to the Last Frontier. “The kids have been very excited. They’ve been working hard. They know there’s a lot we need to accomplish this year.”

Stout said Wasilla High has installed new systems on offense and defense, and the team has been working through the learning curve.

“We know we have our work cut out for us,” Stout said.

For more on the 2016 edition of the Warriors, see the Frontiersman’s prep football preview package available in the Friday edition of the Frontiersman.

Wasilla is one of 11 large-schools teams, joining nine medium-schools and 10 small-schools squads, counting down the days until Week 1 of the Alaska prep football season. Wasilla opens its schedule with a nonconference date at Eagle River Friday at 7 p.m. Railbelt rival Colony, the defending conference champion, starts its season Friday at 7 p.m. at Bartlett. Palmer, playing in its second year as a medium-schools program in the Northern Lights Conference, hosts East Anchorage Friday at 7 p.m. Houston, a small-schools program, travels to Kodiak to play the Bears Friday at 7 p.m. Redington, the Valley’s second-year program, makes its varsity debut hosting Monroe Catholic Friday at 7 p.m.

For season previews of all five Valley programs, see the Friday edition of the Frontiersman.

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