Playoff push: Moose, Hawks hope to stay alive in postseason race, Knights look to clinch Railbelt

WASILLA — The Palmer Moose have advanced to the postseason in each of the last 15 seasons, a streak unmatched in Alaska. The outcome of Palmer’s game against Kenai Central Saturday afternoon may determine whether that streak stays alive.

Palmer (3-2 overall, 1-1 in Northern Lights Conference play) makes the trip south to face Kenai Saturday at 2 p.m. in Kenai, in a game that will most likely determine the playoff fate for both teams. Kenai (3-1, 2-0) would officially clinch a spot with a victory. A Palmer win would give the Moose the inside track on one of the conference’s two automatic bids for the medium schools playoffs.

“The way our conference is right now, every game is a game you’ve got to go out and get (the win),” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said Wednesday evening.

Soldotna and Kenai sit tied atop the NLC with 2-0 records. Palmer and Kodiak are right behind, both at 1-1. Eagle River (0-3) has been eliminated from playoff contention.

Christiansen said the Moose, who suffered a 42-7 loss to NLC power Soldotna last week, are spending the week simply working to improve.

“The emphasis is to get better,” Christiansen said. “Do our assignments, add some things we feel like we’re ready to add.”

Becoming more consistent is also a goal, Christiansen said. Early during the loss to Soldotna, the longtime Palmer head coach said he felt the Moose did some things well, and had some success moving the football, but mistakes led to prime opportunities for the Stars. Soldotna led 14-0 after the first quarter, but Moose miscues led to easy chances for both scores. Soldotna intercepted a Palmer pass to the 1-yard line to set up a short SoHi score. The Stars recovered a fumble in the end zone for another easy score.

“We can’t make big mistakes,” Christiansen said. “We hung in there in the first quarter. We shouldn’t have felt too bad about it. But we made some poor mistakes and Soldotna took advantage of it.”

Soldotna earned its state-record 34th straight victory with the win over Palmer.

Christiansen said Palmer expects to see a Kenai team that is similar to the Moose.

“They have a lot of guys going both ways, kind of like us,” Christiansen said.

Both Palmer and Kenai like to run the football, and like Soldotna, Christiansen said, Kenai does a good job of executing its offense.

“They’ve got a big line, and are aggressive as far as running the ball,” Christiansen said.

Kenai, fresh off a 67-0 drubbing of Eagle River, has outscored its last two opponents 130-6. Kenai beat Houston 63-6 two weeks ago.

Colony at West Valley, Friday, 7 p.m.

Colony, playing in just its second conference game of the year, can clinch the Railbelt title with a win over West Valley tonight in Fairbanks.

A Raibelt title after only two conference games?

Yes. That’s life in the four-team Railbelt.

Colony (3-2, 1-0), which beat Lathrop (2-2, 1-1) two weeks ago, is currently tied with West Valley (3-2, 1-0) at the top of the Railbelt. Lathrop is in third place, and Wasilla (0-5, 0-2) sits in fourth. A Colony win, regardless of its outcome against Wasilla in Week 7, would give the Knights the tiebreaker against the Wolfpack and the Malemutes.

Tonight at 7 p.m. Colony meets a team that used its spread offense to score 47 unanswered points in a 54-7 win at Wasilla last week.

“We’ve seen teams try to attempt to run the spread, but a lot of them can’t do it very well. They don’t have all the pieces. But (West Valley has) all the pieces,” Colony head coach Rhett Magner said Wednesday evening. “It’s going to be a good matchup.”

Magner also noted the five turnovers West Valley forced against Wasilla.

“Not only can the offense score, the defense can play,” Magner said. “They’re a dangerous team to play against.”

Colony improved to 3-2 last week, riding its defense and special teams to a third straight win, a 24-12 victory over defending state champion South Anchorage. The Knights scored 17 of their 24 points on defense and special teams, and allowed only a single offensive touchdown for the second straight week. The Knights are allowing an average of only seven points per game during its three-game winning streak.

“Again, our defense stepped up,” Magner said. “Our special teams really stepped up.”

Jon Pomrenke returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown in the first half against South. Defensive back Caleb Bailey intercepted a South pass on the final play of the first half and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown.

Monroe at Houston, Friday, 8 p.m.

The Houston Hawks and Monroe Catholic Rams will be fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive when they meet tonight at 8 p.m. at Houston High School.

Houston (2-3, 0-1) and Monroe (3-1, 0-1) are tied in the Aurora Conference standings. Each team will cap its regular season with three straight conference games, but tonight’s loser is in danger of being eliminated from playoff contention. Defending small schools state champion Eielson (4-1, 2-0) leads the Aurora, followed by Barrow (2-3, 1-1) and Valdez (2-1, 1-1). Barrow holds the tiebreaker over the Hawks, thanks to a 22-0 win over Houston earlier this year.

After starting the season 2-0 with wins over Homer and Seward, Houston has dropped three straight on the road.

Houston made trips to Barrow, Kenai and Nikiski during its three-game losing skid.

Monroe improved to 3-1 with a 44-6 win over Voznesenka last week. Two of Monroe’s three wins this season have come against Voznesenka, a squad hailing from a small community just north of Homer.

Wasilla at West, Friday, 7 p.m.

Wasilla (0-5, 0-2) will continue its search for its first win of the season tonight against West (3-2, 2-2) in Anchorage.

The Warriors fell to 0-5 last week with a 54-7 loss to West Valley, its second Railbelt Conference loss of the season. West also suffered a conference last week, dropping a 22-15 decision to Cook Inlet Conference rival East Anchorage.

The two teams last met in 2013, with Wasilla scoring a 24-14 win over the Eagles.

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