North Pole stuns Warriors, steals win

WASILLA — North Pole junior Lee Jones did throw a pair of picks on offense, but he more than made up for it on the defensive side of the ball.

Jones accounted for two of the North Pole defense’s five interceptions as the Patriots stunned the Warriors 34-13 at Veterans Memorial Field in Wasilla on Friday.

“He’s still learning the ropes on offense, but last year he was an all-state linebacker on defense, and we really depend on that,” North Pole senior Dane Ebanez said of Jones, North Pole’s two-way standout. “We really like him helping us at linebacker.”

Jones and senior Steven Wright each grabbed two interceptions, and Ebanez swiped another to steal any momentum the Warriors could muster.

On offense, Jones led a five-headed running attack that accounted for 304 yards on the ground.

“They did a great job on the offensive line,” Wasilla head coach Jim Shetter said. “They played a great game.”

Ebanez galloped for a team-high 106 yards on six carries. Jones, senior Josh Erickson and senior Taylor Lewis all had at least 50 yards rushing and a touchdown.

Senior Eric Antesberger added 62 yards on eight carries.

“Our line came out fired up, our backs came out fired up and we executed,” Jones said. “We have a lot of versatility, and we like to spread it around.”

Erickson gave North Pole the early 7-0 lead, scoring on a 7-yard run early in the first quarter that was set up by Ebanez’s 43 yard scamper on the Patriots’ first play from scrimmage.

After Wasilla senior Casey Katchinska tied the scored with a 3-yard plunge late in the second quarter, North Pole took the lead once again when Trevor McCumby broke through the Wasilla zone and hauled in a 47-yard touchdown pass, courtesy of Jones.

The Warriors saw a pair of potential scoring drives come to an abrupt end in the first half. Early in the first, Jones recorded the first of his two interceptions at the Patriots’ 26-yard line. Later in the first half, the Patriot defense stopped Wasilla at North Pole’s 3-yard line.

The Warriors used a 13-play, 69-yard drive to march to the North Pole 3. Wasilla opted to go for it on fourth down, and the Patriot defense forced an incomplete pass.

“We just didn’t capitalize a handful of times,” Shetter said.

North Pole held just a touchdown advantage at the intermission, but in the second half the Patriots defense used four interceptions to set the table for the North Pole ‘O’. A third-quarter interception by Jones and a pick by Wright in the fourth-quarter both preceded North Pole touchdowns.

After Jones intercepted an Adrese LaVern pass in the final minute of the third quarter, on the next play Lewis danced around the right side of the NPHS line and scrambled 39 yards for a touchdown.

Midway through the fourth, Wright snagged the first of his two picks, and four plays later, Antesberger bolted into the end zone from six yards out.

LaVern, Wasilla’s starter behind center, was lost to injury in the fourth quarter. In three quarters of play the all-conference quarterback completed 11-of-21 passes for 128 yards. For the second time in as many weeks, backup Cody Pfeifer replaced an injured LaVern. And also for the second time in two weeks, the junior signal caller tossed a touchdown pass on his first throw of the game. In the fourth, Pfeifer found flanker Tillerman Kroon on an 18-yard scoring strike.

Kroon, a Wasilla soccer standout, made an adjustment in the air and notched the diving catch in the corner of the end zone to cut North Pole’s lead to 20-13.

But thanks to the turnovers, that’s all of the scoring the Warriors could manage.

“We killed their momentum,” Jones said of the Pats’ play on defense.

Wasilla senior Chris Crane finished with a game-high 112 yards on 21 carries. Crane’s 22-yard run early in the fourth-quarter helped set up Pfeifer’s touchdown throw.

Senior wide receiver Tim Orr caught five passes for 71 yards.

North Pole did run for more than 300 yards on the ground, but the Wasilla offense actually out-gained North Pole with 355 yards.

Wasilla dropped to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in Railbelt play with the loss and will travel to Fairbanks next week to face the West Valley Wolfpack.

North Pole improved to 3-0 in conference play and moved into first place at 3-0, one game ahead of Juneau-Douglas (2-0), which hosted Blackfoot (Idaho) in a nonconference game on Saturday.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

North Pole 34, Wasilla 13

Friday, Veterans Memorial Field

First quarter

NP — Erickson 7 run (Ebanez kick) 9:13.

Second quarter

Wasilla — Katchinska 3 run (Kroon kick) 2:13.

NP — McCumby 47 pass from Jones (Ebanez kick) 00:38.

Third quarter

NP — Lewis 39 run (kick failed) 00:35.

Fourth quarter

Wasilla — Kroon 18 pass from Pfeifer (kick failed) 11:44.

NP — Jones 1 run (Jones run) 9:55.

NP — Antesberger 6 run (kick failed) 8:36.

Individual statistics:

RUSHING — North Pole: Erickson 11-50, Antesberger 8-62, Jones 7-51, Ebanez 6-106, Lewis 4-51; Wasilla: Crane 21-112, Bydlon 7-25, Katchinska 5-13, Worden 4-9, Pfeifer 3-13, LaVern 1-2.

PASSING — North Pole: 1-10-2-47; Wasilla: LaVern 11-24-2—128, Pfeifer 4-12-3—35, Crane 1-1-0—18.

RECEIVING — North Pole: McCumby 1-47; Wasilla: Orr 5-71, Crane 4-17, Katchinska 3-32, Bydlon 2-19, Pfeifer 1-18, Green 1-16.