Postseason set, local teams run into playoffs

MAT-SU — It took a coin flip and the use of a few tiebreakers to sort out the mess known as the Alaska prep football playoff race, and now the postseason matchups are finally set.

Three of the Valley’s four prep football squads have advanced to the Alaska prep football’s “second season.”

Palmer is the No. 2 seed from the Railbelt Conference and will host No. 3 Juneau-Douglas Friday at 7 p.m. at Machetanz Field.

Colony is the Raibelt’s fourth seed and is taxed with the dubious duty of traveling north to face Ralibelt champion North Pole in the Interior on Saturday at 6 p.m.

While Colony’s trip will be long, the Knights road trip will pale in comparison to Houston’s postseason

itinerary.

The Hawks, the fourth seed from the Northern Lights Conference, will take off for the North Slope to face the Barrow “Cinderella” Whalers, the national media darlings of Alaska prep football, on Saturday at 1 p.m.

While Houston head coach Norm Bouchard knows the Hawks will have their hands full playing a Barrow team which finished 7-1 this season, Bouchard said his players are excited about playing in a game in the land of the polar bears.

Bouchard said the game — the first postseason prep football game to be hosted north of the Arctic Circle — is already receiving attention from national media outlets.

ABC, apparently will take a break from following Alaska’s favorite hockey mom, to head north for the contest. Representatives from ESPN could also be in Barrow reporting for the world wide network.

“I think the players are excited,” Bouchard said. “ESPN’s going to be there. What motivates you more than that? You don’t want to lose on ESPN.”

The national media’s love affair with the Whalers came to climax when a woman from Jacksonville, Fla., spear-headed the fund-raising effort to build a turf field for the Barrow team. Since, the program has been the subject of many a television special, and the book — ”Thunder on the Tundra” — written by former Anchorage Daily News sports editor Lew Freedman.

NLC coaches needed a coin flip to determine which team would be going to Barrow after Houston, Kodiak and Kenai each finished with identical 3-2 records in conference play.

Houston flipped tails, and was the odd team out, and the Hawks were pushed into the conference’s fourth seed.

Head-to-head play was used to break the tie between Kodiak and Kenai. Kodiak, thanks to a win over the Kardinals earlier in the year, is the No. 2 seed and will host Nikiski — the Greatland Conference’s third seed — on the rock on Saturday.

Kenai travels to the Interior to face Eielson on Friday.

The two-time defending state champion Soldotna Stars are the top seed from the NLC and will play the Greatland’s fourth seed, Valdez, on Saturday in Soldotna.

Bouchard said the Hawks are also excited to be on the opposite side of Soldotna on the bracket.

The Hawks last playoff appearance, 2006, ended with a lopsided defeat to SoHi.

With a win over Barrow, the Hawks would play the Kodiak-Nikiski winner at AFS.

In the Railblet, a series of tiebreakers was used to break up a three-way tie for second place. Palmer ended the season 4-2 in conference play with a 42-14 Potato Bowl win over Wasilla on Friday.

The following night, Juneau-Douglas created the three-way jam with a 22-19 win over Colony at CHS. The Bears improved to 4-2, while the Knights dropped to 4-2.

Since the three teams were all 1-1 in head-to-head play against the tied teams, the team with the least points allowed in conference games among the tied squads was given the No. 2 seed.

Palmer earned that spot. The Moose allowed only 81 points in six conference games. Head-to-head play was used to break the tie between Colony and Juneau, thus giving the Bears the No. 3 seed.

The winners of each Railbelt quarterfinal advance to the semifinals at Anchorage Football Stadium next week.

The playoff picture in the Cook Inlet Conference was even more complicated, and not even finalized until Monday afternoon.

Top seed South Anchorage, second seed Service and third seed Bartlett were officially in on Saturday. But Anchorage School District officials needed extra time to sort out a four-way tie for fourth play.

As of Saturday night, Dimond, Chugiak, East and West were all still alive with 3-4 records. But thanks to a series of tiebreakers, Dimond was awarded the fourth spot despite the fact the Lynx are riding a three-game losing streak in conference play.

South will face Dimond at AFS on Friday, while Service will meet Bartlett on Saturday at Dimond’s Alumni Field.

Moose, Hawks in final poll

MAT-SU - The Palmer Moose and Houston Hawks moved into the final Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network Prep Football Poll of the regular season.

Palmer is now fourth in the large-schools class. Houston is fifth in the small schools.

ASBN Prep Football Poll

Large-schools: 1. North Pole, 2. South Anchorage, 3. Bartlett, 4. Palmer, 5. Juneau-Douglas.

Small-schools: 1. Soldotna, 2. Nikiski, 3. Barrow, 4. Eielson, 5. Houston.

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