Prep football: Soldotna powers past Palmer

Aug. 19, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - It's tough to imagine a team could have some unanswered questions after scoring 62 points in the first game of the season, unless that same team allowed 42.

After their 47-14 win over the Palmer Moose at Machetanz Field in Palmer on Friday night, the Soldotna Stars are feeling a bit better about their defense.

&#8220We know we're a pretty good team offensively, but we had some question marks after the first week,” Soldotna first-year head coach Galen Brantley Jr. said. &#8220And it was nice to answer those.”

The Soldotna defense forced four Palmer turnovers and kept the Moose Gooser - the 10-gauge cannon that fires after every Palmer score - silent until late in the third quarter en route to the Stars' second win over a large-schools program in as many weeks.

Soldotna topped North Pole 62-42 last week.

&#8220It's like two different kind of teams,” Soldotna senior lineman Les Baker said. &#8220The first week we were kind of unfocused, and this week it's a totally different team.”

A different team on defense, the Stars produced the same results on the other side of the ball.

Riding the ridiculously deceptive work in the Power-T, Soldotna rumbled for seven touchdowns on the ground and piled up 429 rushing yards.

Quarterback Anthony Griglione rushed for a team-high 157 yards and two touchdowns, fullback Marvin Tate posted 122 yards and two touchdowns and tailback Bryce Gardner added 91 yards and two scores.

Soldotna rolled to a 47-point lead in the third quarter, and at one point had scored on four consecutive offensive plays.

Gardner scored on a 16-yard touchdown run on the Stars' final play of the first half. Tate posted a 56-yard touchdown run on Soldotna's first offensive play of the third quarter. After Griglione picked off a Palmer pass on the ensuing possession and returned the ball to the Moose 4-yard line, Kyle Wood scored on the next play. And Griglione added a 78-yard scamper for a score on Soldotna's very next offensive play.

&#8220I think they've got a talented bunch,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said. &#8220They do an awfully good job at what they do.”

Soldotna's offensive repertoire was not extensive - much of the damage was done with merely a handful of base plays - but the misdirection absolutely befuddled the Moose defense. With their three-headed rushing monster - Griglione, Tate and Gardner - and a set of starting linemen that average more than 250 pounds, the Stars primarily used the trap, sweep and quarterback keeper to roll through the Palmer defense.

But for Soldotna it was all about the fake.

The Stars would fake the trap and run the sweep.

Or fake the sweep and run the trap.

Or fake the sweep and the trap, and run the quarterback keeper.

&#8220We've kind of brainwashed our kids into thinking a good fake is better than a good block,” Brantley said. &#8220If you block someone you can only block one person. But if you fake, you can drag two or even three people.”

With their hands and forearms tight to their chests, it looked like three Stars could be carrying the ball on any given play. The Palmer defense would routinely swarm on one back in the backfield, only to watch another burst down the field.

&#8220Over and over, we were tackling the wrong guy,” Christiansen said.

Christiansen, a coach who has faced a variety of offensive game plans during his 17 seasons as Palmer's head coach, said it takes good football fundamentals to combat the misdirection of the Power-T.

&#8220You've got to play off the blocks, instead of looking in the backfield and chasing people,” Christiansen said.

The Stars were so deceptive, they even fooled the referees. Plays were killed by inadvertent whistles twice.

&#8220We take that as a compliment,” Brantley said.

Late in the first quarter, a crowd of Moose players collapsed on Gardner, who was running toward the right sideline, and a referee whistled the play dead. But Gardner didn't have the ball. Griglione did, and he was a good 10 yards down field. The official called to replay the down.

&#8220The worst thing is the officials got it wrong,” Brantley said.

Brantley said the official was supposed to give the Stars the choice of taking the ball where the ball carrier was when they blew the whistle, or the option to re-play the down.

&#8220The only reason I knew that is this is not the first time this has happened,” Brantley said with a smile.

Soldotna was not the only squad to amass the rushing yards. Led by Devin Konkler's totals - a game-high 169 yards on 19 carries - the Moose surpassed the 300-yard mark on the ground.

Konkler averaged nearly nine yards per carry, senior fullback Shannon Sawyer ran for 74 yards on 12 carries, quarterback Conrad Smith rushed for 47 yards on 10 carries and sophomore Brennan Bohman added 41 yards on eight tries.

&#8220Our (offensive line) made those guys look pretty good,” Christiansen said. &#8220Our o-line did a pretty good job for most of the game, giving them places to run. Our o-line gets the game ball.”

Konkler scored a touchdown for the second consecutive week, posting a 25-yard run late in the third quarter. In the fourth, Bohman notched the first varsity touchdown of his career on a 5-yard run.

But while the Moose accumulated the yardage, turnovers killed Palmer.

&#8220Obviously we were moving the ball, but we couldn't finish,” Christiansen said.

Smith was intercepted twice in the first half, and the Moose also fumbled.

&#8220It was a big deal,” Christiansen said. &#8220We could have had a one-touchdown game at halftime.”

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

Soldotna 47, Palmer 14

Friday, Machetanz Field

Soldotna 7 19 21 0 - 47

Palmer 0 0 7 7 - 14

First quarter

Soldotna - Tate 38 run (Elson kick) 11:23.

Second quarter

Soldotna - Griglione 2 run (kick blocked) 11:54.

Soldotna - Gardner 21 run (pass failed) 4:21.

Soldotna - Gardner 16 run (Elson kick) 00:17.

Third quarter

Soldotna - Tate 56 run (Elson kick) 9:01.

Soldotna - Wood 4 run (Elson kick) 8:43.

Soldotna - Griglione 78 run (Elson kick) 4:43.

Palmer - Konkler 25 run (Ott kick) 2:28.

Fourth quarter

Palmer - Bohman 5 run (Ott kick) 6:09.

Soldotna Palmer

First downs 21 19

Rushes-yards 39-429 49-331

Passing yards 8 10

Att-Comp-Int 1-5-0 1-8-3

Fumbles 5-1 1-1

Individual statistics

RUSHING - Soldotna: Griglione 10-157, Tate 8-122, Gardner 8-91, Elson 7-55, Aberkane 3- (-4), Wood 2-10, Jenson 1-(-2); Palmer: Konkler 19-169, Sawyer 12-74, Smith 10-47, Bohman 8-41.

PASSING - Soldotna: Griglione 1-5-0-8; Palmer: Smith 1-8-3-10.

RECEIVING - Soldotna: Gleason 1-8; Palmer: Swetzof 1-10.