Prep football: Palmer players try to ignore playoff possibilities

Oct. 6, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - When the news began to circulate through the crowd at Machetanz Field last Friday that West Valley had just stunned North Pole, Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen wanted confirmation.

Christiansen called to his defensive coordinator, Keith Armstrong, who was perched inside the Dan Strouse Press Box, and told him, &#8220I want confirmation.”

&#8220Sometimes you get a message and have it backwards,” Christiansen said, following his team's win over Wasilla.

Why was the score of a game played in Fairbanks, nearly 400 miles away, so important to Christiansen and the Moose?

A Palmer win over Wasilla combined with a West Valley win over Juneau-Douglas virtually guarenteed the Moose the right to host a game in the first round of the large-school state playoffs this week.

Now thanks to Palmer's 27-7 win over Wasilla in the annual Potato Bowl and West Valley's 25-20 come-from-behind victory over the Patriots, the Moose secured second place in the Railbelt Conference, and will host Juneau-Douglas Saturday at 7 p.m. at Machetanz Field.

Palmer entered its final regular season contest of the year with a plethora of of playoff possibilities. The Moose could have finished from first to fourth, depending on what happened in three different Railbelt games. Palmer obviously aimed to host a game in the first week of the large-school state playoffs, but could have realisticaly been forced to travel either north to the Interior or south to Juneau.

The Moose stepped onto the field Friday night knowing they had to not only beat Wasilla, but hold the Warriors to eight or fewer points in order to ensure a home date in the first round. But that was assuming the favored North Pole Patriots took care of West Valley. A Palmer win and a North Pole win would have created a three-way tie with Juneau-Douglas at 4-2, the second best mark in the conference. Defensive points allowed would have been the decisive tiebreaker.

About the same time Wasilla running back Danny Lyles scored to cut Palmer's lead to 20-7, and put the Moose just one point away from their eight-point limit, the public address announcer at Machetanz Field read the West Valley score to the playoff hungry crowd. Players on the sideline began to ask, what that really meant for the Moose. Coaches began to question if it was really true.

Palmer senior Haakan Bohman was on the field at the time, and didn't listen to the announcement.

&#8220I didn't hear it,” Bohman said. &#8220I was paying attention to the game.”

Fellow senior Tanner Grover did though.

&#8220It definitely made us feel a little bit better,” Grover said. &#8220I kind of had it in my head we had (the home field advantage).”

Grover said he didn't want to say too much about the score during the game. Nobody wanted to jinx it for the Moose.

During practice last week, Christiansen said he wanted to keep the playoff scenario talk to a minimum. Grover admitted he really didn't know all of the different possibilities until the day before game day.

&#8220I'll I was thinking is, just play football,” he said.

Grover did know to hold the Warriors to less than eight.

&#8220And of course we held them under eight, and we won. And West Valley won. That was pretty amazing,” Christiansen said.

Now after all of that, the Moose are preparing for their third meeting with Juneau-Douglas in less than a year. Palmer suffered a 49-29 defeat to the Crimson Bears in the state championship game last year, and won the rematch of the title bout 26-6 in early September.

Regardless of record, Juneau is seen as one of the toughest teams in the state to contend with.

On offense, the Crimson Bears are led by senior all-state quarterback Chris Hinkley, while on defense junior all-state end Faifo Levale quarterbacks the Bears from his position on the line.

In the passing game, Hinkley looks to a talented group of receivers that includes seniors Daryl Lew and Carolo Ebron.

The Bears rode a roller coaster during the month of September. A week after losing to Palmer, Juneau-Douglas handed the then top-ranked Colony Knights a 22-13 defeat. The following week, Jueanu suffered a loss to West Valley.

Last week, Grover helped the Moose notch a win over Wasilla with more than 130 yards receiving on five catches. Grover gave the Moose a 7-0 lead when he caught a 75-yard Conrad Smith touchdown reception.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at 352-2273.