Patriots survive Wasilla second-half rally

WASILLA — As North Pole senior Matthew Wentland barreled into the end zone from 4 yards out on just the third play of the second half to push his team’s lead to four touchdowns, Wasilla head coach Kent Rilatos knows his team could have easily crumbled.

The Warriors, saddled with a winless Railbelt Conference mark, were down 27-0 less than two minutes into the third quarter.

But despite the deficit, Wasilla made things interesting.

North Pole needed four second-half touchdowns to overcome Wasilla’s 300 yards of offense and four scores in the second half to hold on and secure a 46-27 Railbelt win over the Warriors at Veterans Memorial Field.

“Our guys battled, battled, battled,” Rilatos said after the loss. “It’s the heart of the Warriors. Our guys came out here fired up.”

Wasilla senior quarterback Ben Fielder threw for 217 of his 257 yards and four touchdown passes during the final two quarters as the Warriors tried to rally against the unbeaten Patriots. Junior Cash McGregor grabbed seven of his nine catches in the second half and hauled in a pair of touchdown passes. McGregor finished with a game-best 175 yards receiving. Isaiah Dawkins and Corey Hogan also caught Fielder touchdown passes in the second half.

But as the Warriors finally reached the end zone in the second half, the Patriots continued to score.

The teams combined for a half-dozen touchdowns in the third quarter and eight in the second half. And just as they did in the first half, North Pole used big plays in the second half to bury the Warriors.

In a game full of big plays, arguably the biggest came late in the third quarter when North Pole’s Nathan Angel-Huntington returned a kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown.

Just seconds after Wasilla scored for the second time on back-to-back drives, Wasilla attempted an onside kick, and Angel-Huntington fielded the ball cleanly at his own 40 yard-line, split through the midfield and sprinted for the score.

“It was a great play. It was one of those plays that comes from a guy who is not a regular starter. It’s a great moment to highlight a guy and say, ‘that’s why we have all those bodies on the field.’ You never know who’s going to make the big play,” North Pole head coach Richard Henert said.

Angel-Huntington’s touchdown came just 11 seconds after Hogan caught a 6-yard touchdown pass, and it proved to be even bigger for North Pole when McGregor capped the third quarter with a 61-yard touchdown catch.

Rilatos said North Pole’s kickoff return for a touchdown came at a pivotal point in the game.

“One or two breaks go our way, and it’s a whole different game,” Rilatos said.

Another bad break for the Warriors came in the first half. Junior Mitchell Rilatos cut to the near sideline and raced up the field 70 yards for a score, but the touchdown was negated by a holding penalty.

“We don’t get that touchdown called back and you take away our onside kick they fielded perfectly and ran for a touchdown, and we’re right there knocking on the door with a team that’s one of the top three in the state,” Rilatos said.

Wasilla finally got on the scoreboard at the 7:40 mark of the third with McGregor’s 17-yard touchdown catch. McGregor had the 61-yard score on the final play of the quarter, and also had the key block that allowed Hogan to score from 6 yards out. On defense, McGregor intercepted a pass and forced a fumble that was recovered by Billy Schultz.

“He’s kind of our ultimate utility player,” Rilatos said of McGregor. “He’s a tight end, a receiver, he can play some running back. On defense he goes from linebacker to safety and calls our defense from the safety spot. He does all the little things, makes great blocks. He does everything you can ask of a person.”

North Pole quarterback Moo Rogers accounted for more than 300 yards of total offense in the win. Rogers eclipsed the 1,000-yard passing mark for the season with 219 yards against the Warriors. He also tossed a pair of touchdown scores, including a 71-yarder to Lance Wright in the first quarter.

North Pole used the arm and legs of Rogers to have success in the first half, but relied on Wentland in the second half. Wentland carried the ball 21 times during the final two quarters and rumbled for a game-high 280 yards in the win.

“Matthew Wentland is the real deal,” Henert said of the back who carried the ball 32 times and scored twice. “He’s a 200-plus pound back. It’s nice to see him have that type of game, and it’s nice for us. It makes the opponent look for another runner besides Moo.”

With the win, North Pole remained undefeated at 3-0 in conference and 5-0 overall. It also kept the Patriots even with Palmer (3-0, 5-0), which scored a lopsided win over Colony Friday at Colony High in Palmer.

North Pole hosts Palmer Friday at 7 p.m. in North Pole. Wasilla also makes the trip north to face West Valley in Fairbanks on Friday.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him @matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.

North Pole 46, Wasilla 27

Friday, Wasilla

First quarter:

North Pole — Rogers 30 run (kick good), 5:06.

North Pole — Wright 71 pass from Rogers (kick good), 2:19.

Second quarter

North Pole — Wentland 15 run (kick failed) 1:54.

Third quarter

North Pole — Wentland 4 run (pass failed), 10:09.

Wasilla — McGregor 17 pass from Fielder (Perry kick) 7:40.

North Pole — Tamse 5 pass from Rogers (kick good) 3:13.

Wasilla — Hogan 6 pass from Fielder (Perry kick) :34.

North Pole — Angel-Huntington 60 kickoff return (kick good), :23.

Wasilla — McGregor 61 pass from Fielder (Perry kick) :00.

Fourth quarter

Wasilla — Dawkins 3 pass from Fielder (run failed) 7:48.

North Pole — Wright 20 run (kick failed), 5:06.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — North Pole: Wentland 32-280, Rogers 13-91, Johnson 7-35, Wright 1-20; Wasilla: Rilatos 12-44, Wright 4-31, Fielder 4-19, Morrison 2-2.

PASSING — North Pole: Rogers 9-28-2—219; Wasilla: Fielder 17-27-0—254, Williams 2-3-0—7.

RECEIVING: North Pole: Steward 4-119, Tamse 3-28, Wright 2-72; Wasilla: McGregor 9-175, Dawkins 4-42, Rilatos 2-22, Hogan 2-13, Wright 2-9, Lessard 1-1.