Prep football: Early lead propels Wasilla

Aug. 19, 2007

BY BOB ELEY/ Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS - On a day when record-setting temperatures and brilliant sunshine washed over the West Valley High School football field, it was the Wasilla Warriors who stole the show from the hometown Wolfpack.

Wasilla roared out to a 22-0 lead in the first eight minutes and then held off a furious West Valley comeback to claim a 36-26 Railbelt Conference victory on a scorching Friday night where the temperature reached a record 82 degrees earlier in the day.

&#8220Getting that first conference win is huge because I think we have the toughest conference in the state,” second-year Wasilla coach Jim Shetter, who is hoping to get the Warriors back into the playoffs after a couple of dismal seasons near the basement of the Railbelt Conference.

&#8220Every team in this conference is a state playoff contender and I thought our kids showed a lot of character by winning this game after West Valley started to come back,” Shetter said. &#8220These kids have picked up an attitude and desire to win and we're moving forward toward the playoffs.”

After Wasilla stormed out to its early lead, West Valley used some of its big-play capability to get back in the game.

That included a 75-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Doug Templeton, a 99-yard touchdown pass from Sam McKinstry to David Eastman and a pair of second-half scores to cut Wasilla's lead to 29-26 with six minutes left in the game.

&#8220We shored up our defense, brought more intensity to the field and tried to stay mentally focused,” West Valley coach William Russell said of his team's comeback effort that saw McKinstry get untracked to put on a spectacular aerial display.

&#8220We just made a couple of mistakes (toward the end), but those things are going to happen when you're coaching a young team,” Russell said. &#8220It's not like something that we can't fix. We just have to build on the positives and correct the negatives.”

Wasilla had all of the positives in the first eight minutes as Casey Crane scored a pair of touchdowns and Tim Orr added another to give the Warriors a 22-0 lead with 4:48 left in the first quarter.

After Crane returned the opening kickoff to the West Valley 35, it took the Warriors just five plays to find paydirt as Crane broke loose for a 17-yard touchdown run.

Just over three minutes later, Wasilla quarterback Adrese LaVern hooked up with Orr on a 39-yard scoring strike as Orr outjumped a West Valley player to haul in the ball and then broke free to scamper into the end zone.

West Valley drove to the Wasilla 20 on its next series before losing the ball on a fumble, and Crane ran 80 yards with a swing pass on the next play to stake the Warriors to a lead that the Wolfpack couldn't overcome.

It looked like Wasilla was going to continue to build its lead, before West Valley's Jacob Claypoole and Templeton took matters into their own hands.

Claypoole jarred the ball out of LaVern's hands and Templeton scooped up the loose ball and raced 75 yards to paydirt.

Wasilla stretched its lead to 29-6 on Casey Katchinska's 3-yard touchdown scamper, but the Wolfpack responded with McKinstry's big bomb to Eastman to trail 29-12 at intermission.

Facing a third-down and 27-yards-to-go situation from inside the 1-yard line, McKinstry took the snap and lofted a long pass down the sideline in front of the West Valley bench.

Eastman blazed under the ball and ran away from the Wasilla defense once he made the catch.

The Wolfpack cut the deficit to 29-20 on the final play of the third quarter when McKinstry fired a strike to Eastman from 14 yards out and Kuani Tillman added the two-point conversion.

Tillman pulled West Valley to within three points with 5:58 left on the clock when he scored on a 6-yard run, but that's where West Valley's comeback ended.

Wasilla took the ensuing kickoff and drove 72 yards on eight plays for an insurance touchdown.

LaVern threw his third touchdown pass of the game - a 28-yard strike to Patrick Campbell over the middle to seal the Warrior' second straight victory.

Contact sports editor Bob Eley at 459-7581.

Wasilla 36, West Valley 26

Friday, West Valley High School

Wasilla 22 7 0 7 - 36

West Valley 0 12 8 6 - 26

First Quarter

Wasilla-Crane 17 run (Cottle-Bosch kick), 9:48

Wasilla-Orr 39 pass from LaVern (Cottle-Bosch Kick), 6:44

Wasilla-Crane 80 pass from LaVern (Green pass from Cottle-Bosch), 4:48

Second Quarter

West Valley-Doug Templeton 75 fumble recovery (kick blocked), 9:28

Wasilla-Katchinska 3 run (Cottle-Bosch kick), 4:56

West Valley-Eastman 99 pass from McKinstry (run failed), 3:18

Third Quarter

West Valley-Eastman 14 pass from McKinstry (Tillman run), 0:00

Fourth Quarter

West Valley-Tillman 6 run (run failed), 5:58

Wasilla-Campbell 28 pass from LaVern (Cottle Bosch kick), 3:37.

Was WV

First downs 21 13

Rushes-yards 50-266 22-8

Passing yards 237 356

Return yards 76 207

Comp-Att-Int 8-17-1 17-30-2

Punts 24-31.5 4-34.3

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-1

Penalties-Yards 8-70 11-80

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Wasilla, Crane 11-107, Russell 13-92, Gonser-Chafin 14-37, Barkley 5-18, Katchinska 4-10, LaVern 2-3, Unknown 1-(-1). West Valley, Claypoole 7-11, Tillman 4-21, Wisel 1 (-3), McKinstry 10-(-23).

PASSING-Wasilla, Lavern 8-17-1-237. West Valley, McKinstry 17-30-2-356.

RECEIVING-Wasilla, Orr 3-76, Crane 1-80, Green 3-53, Campbell 1-28; West Valley, Eastman 6-217, Aker 4-55, Wisel 2-32, Clapoole 2-8, Jefferies 2-36, McDonough 1-8.