Palmer, Colony face tough conference tests; Warriors travel to Kenai

PALMER — It’s been a rough first half of the season for the Palmer Moose.

After falling to defending large schools state champion West Anchorage and defending medium schools champs Soldotna during the first two games of the season, the Moose have split with a pair of medium schools programs during the last two weeks. A thrilling 54-49 win over North Pole in Week 3 and a tough 44-20 loss at Kenai last week have left Palmer with a 1-3 mark at the midway point of the 2014 season.

The nonconference schedule is now in Palmer’s rearview mirror. Ahead are four conference games that will decide whether the Moose can extend their postseason streak to a state record 15 consecutive years.

“It’s been rough, but we’re hoping we can turn it around in (our conference games),” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said earlier this week.

Palmer’s first test is West Valley (0-2 in the Railbelt Conference, 0-4 overall), tonight at 7 p.m. at Machetanz Field in Palmer. West Valley dropped to 0-2 in conference play with a 49-25 loss to Wasilla last week in Fairbanks. A third conference loss tonight may eliminate the Wolfpack from the playoff race.

West Valley and Palmer sport similar numbers. The Wolfpack average 21.8 points per game and have allowed 40.3 points per contest. Palmer has averaged 20 points per game during the first half of the season, while allowing 38.5 per game.

The West Valley offense put up big numbers against the Warriors last week. Quarterback Zach Lester, a sophomore, threw for 267 yards and four touchdowns. Three of those scores went for 35 yards or more. Dv’nn Cooks led West Valley with seven catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. Charles Suddeth had two catches for 58 yards and two touchdowns.

Joshua Cummings, another sophomore, led West Valley with 86 yards on 14 carries. Cummings rushed for more than 100 yards during a loss to Colony in Week 2.

“They have a tremendous amount of speed and athleticism. That’s something we have to account for,” Christiansen said. “They have a lot of go-to guys I think.”

The West Valley defense allowed 343 yards rushing and six rushing touchdowns during the loss to the Warriors. The Moose have had some success on the ground this year, averaging 222 yards per game. Junior Chase Ferris topped the 100-yard mark for the third straight week during the loss to Kenai. Ferris rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He now has 567 in four games, a total that includes a career-high 291 yards against North Pole. Christiansen said the Palmer offense has been good, “in spurts,” but the Moose are still looking for improvement all around.

“Offensively we would like to play a lot better than we did,” Christiansen said.

Overall, he said the Moose need to be more efficient. Christiansen said Palmer needs more consistency on the other side of the ball too.

“At times we played pretty good defense. At other times, we didn’t,” Christiansen said.

Colony at Lathrop

As Palmer and West Valley battle to stay in the playoff race, Lathrop and Colony will tangle for the top spot in the Raibelt Conference. Lathrop (1-0, 3-1) hosts Colony (1-0, 4-0) tonight at 7 p.m. in Fairbanks.

Lathrop improved to 3-1 overall with a 31-13 win over former Railbelt rival North Pole last week. Lathrop quarterback Glenn Maiden threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots. The junior finished with 15 completions. Seven different players caught at least one pass.

That effort followed Maiden’s 314-yard night against Wasilla two weeks ago. Maiden now has 1,065 yards passing four games.

The Lathrop offense will face a Colony defense that has not allowed a point in more than nine quarters. The Knights have pitched consecutive shutouts (48-0 over Juneau in Week 3 and 37-0 over Kodiak in Week 4). West Valley was the last team to score against Colony, getting a 2-yard touchdown run during the third quarter of Colony’s Week 2 win over the Wolfpack. The Knights boast the state’s top scoring defense in the large-schools level, allowing a mere 8.3 points per game.

On offense, the Knights have hurt teams on the ground and through the air. Senior Logan Conway leads the Railbelt Conference with 573 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns. Junior quarterback Steven Bilafer has more than 600 yards of total offense, with 351 through the air and 302 on the ground. Bilafer has connected with senior wide receiver Tucker Looney on a touchdown pass in all four games this season.

Colony senior kicker Harrison Menard also set a school record last week against Kodiak, with a 42-yard field goal.

Wasilla at Kenai

Wasilla (1-1, 2-2) takes a break from its Railbelt slate, and will travel south to face Kenai (1-0, 2-2) tonight at 6 p.m. at Kenai Central.

Kenai improved to 2-2 with a 44-20 win over Palmer last week. The Kardinals rushed for more than 300 yards in the win. Chase Logan had 292 yards on 29 carries, and scored three times. Kyle Foree also had 52 yards for the Kards.

Kenai’s defense is allowing 15.8 points per game.

Wasilla scored a 49-25 win over West Valley last week in Fairbanks. Senior Devin Otto rushed for 220 yards and four touchdowns. Sophomore Mosiah Renk added 49 yards, two rushing touchdowns and a 31-yard touchdown catch.

The Warriors used two quarterbacks in the win. Senior Blake Marks and junior Dylan Simons each attempted four passes. Simons connected with Renk on the 31-yard scoring pass.

The 49 points marked Wasilla’s season-best.

Otto is among conference leaders with 540 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

The Warriors also scored 35 points in a Week 2 win over Juneau.

Wasilla is averaging 25 points per game this season, while allowing just more than 20.

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