Palmer defense forces a trio of second-half turnovers in win over Kodiak

PALMER — On a day in which their offense sputtered, the Palmer Moose needed their defense to step up and make the stops. And that’s exactly what they did.

The Palmer defense forced three second-half turnovers to help the Moose grab a 14-0 nonconference victory over the Kodiak Bears in a battle of state runner-ups at Machetanz Field on Saturday.

“A couple of turnovers made a big difference,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said after the win over the Bears, who finished second in the state at the small-schools level last season.

Senior defensive lineman David Zoerb and senior defensive back Mitch Swetzof picked off passes and senior defensive lineman Kevin Priestly recovered a fumble in the second half to help thwart a Kodiak offense that actually out-gained the Moose, the 2007 large-schools runner-up, in the final two quarters.

Junior defensive end Johnny Daly also had a pair of key sacks for Palmer in the second half to help the Moose had Kodiak (4-1) its first loss of the season.

Palmer (4-2) collected 337 yards of total offense in the game, but were held to just 89 yards in the second half.

“In the second half, they really picked it up and played pretty good defensively,” Christiansen said of Kodiak.

Kodiak also showed improvement on offense in the final two quarters, recording 121 of its 143 total yards in the final 24 minutes of play. But turnovers proved to be the big difference.

Late in the third quarter, Kodiak running back Gary Anthony was hit and the ball popped right into the mitts of Priestly who took the ball and rumbled for 24 yards.

Early in the fourth quarter, Kodiak put together its longest drive of the game and used 15 plays to get down to the Palmer 17-yard line. On first down, with the Bears inside the red zone, Zoerb jumped up form his defensive end spot and tipped a Kevin Lepola pass to himself to give the Moose the ball.

Later in the fourth, Swetzof picked off Tuck VanMatre’s toss on the halfback pass.

Palmer posted both of its scores in the first half.

Sophomore Brennan Bohman, who finished with 61 yards on 15 carries, notched a 5-yard touchdown run to give the Moose the 7-0 lead late in the first.

Palmer extended its lead to two scores when Daly sprinted into the end zone from 40 yards out early in the second.

Daly, who scored a 60-yard touchdown in a loss to Colony last week, led the Moose with 112 yards on 10 carries.

The Moose, who have finished with single digits in passing yards in four of their first five games, threw the ball a season-high 12 times in the game.

Junior Dustin Silva was 6-for-12 for 89 yards. Silva connected with Swetzof, who missed most of the last two games with an injury, four times for 44 yards.

Christiansen said the Moose have been trying to get the versatile Swetzof more involved in the offense.

“We’ve been trying to do that,” Christiansen said.

Swetzof also saw time at quarterback for the Moose.

Palmer returns to its Railbelt Conference schedule next week to play a game with significant playoff implications. The Moose (3-1 in Railbelt play) travel to North Pole to face the undefeated Patriots on Saturday at 2 p.m. at North Pole High School.

North Pole improved to 4-0 in conference and 5-0 overall with a 25-0 win over Juneau-Douglas at Juneau on Friday.

Palmer and Colony are both 3-1 in conference play, while Juneau is in fourth place in the Railbelt at 2-2.

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

Palmer 14, Kodiak 0

Saturday, Machetanz Field

First quarter

Palmer — Bohman 5 run (Zegzdryn kick) 3:52.

Second quarter

Palmer — Daly 40 run (Zegzdryn kick) 10:05.

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Kodiak: Anthony 13-45, Gabor 11-19, Bailor 3-8, Lepola 2-(-19), Woodell 1-4, Watkins 1-3, T. VanMatre 1-2; Palmer: Bohman 15-61, Daly 10-112, Ahrens 5-37, Scoresby 5-29, Silva 5-16, Swetzof 1-1, Zegzdryn 1-(-1).

PASSING — Kodiak: Lepola 5-9-2—48, Bailor 2-10-0—33, T. VanMatre 0-1-1—0; Palmer: Silva 6-12-2—82.

RECEIVING — Kodiak: Matautia 3-38, Anthony 3-24, T. VanMatre 1-19; Palmer: Swetzof 4-44, Emery 1-36, Mitchell 1-2.