Prep football: Stars shoot past Hawks

HOUSTON — As Houston head coach Norm Bouchard watched the Soldotna Stars during a win over Palmer last week, he was impressed with Palmer’s success limiting Soldotna’s big play ability. Looking forward to his team’s match with Soldotna, the longtime Houston mentor said he thought if his Hawks can also contain the big-play Stars, Houston just might have a chance against the defending state champions.

But on Friday, Soldotna had no problem putting together big plays.

The Stars scored on each of their first two offensive plays and cruised to a 68-0 win over the Hawks at Houston High.

Senior Austin Tennis scored five times on only seven carries in the win to help the Stars improve to 3-0 and 1-0 in Northern Lights Conference play. Tennis rushed for a game-high 213 yards and scored on each of his first three carries in the win.

After the win, Soldotna head coach Galen Brantley said he thought the Stars’ success on the ground and Tennis’ touchdown runs of 74, 53 and 36 yards on his first three carries were a product of improvement along Soldotna’s front line.

“We had a lot of miscues, missed assignments up front (last week),” Brantley said, referring to the play of his offensive line during a 29-28 win over Palmer. “We wanted to cut them in half and I think our kids were able to do that, get to the right spots. As a result, some of the running lanes we saw were a result of those guys doing a better job.”

Soldotna scored eight times on the ground. Colton Young, Tanner Folwer, Reid Schmelzenbach and Cameron Grothe also rushed for touchdowns.

“I thought we came out and executed on offense,” Brantley said.

The Stars spent much of their time on offense with good field position. The SoHi defense helped that cause. In addition to pitching the shutout, the Stars forced seven turnovers, including five interceptions.

Tennis picked off three of those passes.

Seven Soldotna touchdowns were set up by Houston turnovers, including five of SoHi’s first six scores, and the first points of the game.

Young intercepted a Beau Frank pass on Houston’s third play from scrimmage. On Soldotna’s first play of the game, Young caught a 27-yard Noah Fowler touchdown pass.

“We felt he deserved a carrot for working hard on the defensive side,” Brantley said.

It was one of only two Fowler passes in the game.

Following another Houston interception, Tennis needed only one play to break away for a 74-yard scoring run. Tennis’ five touchdowns were all for 11 yards or more. He also had carries of zero and 13 yards.

“He is just that rare combination of just quickness, toughness and sheer determination,” Brantley said. “He’s very talented, a very special back.”

Houston senior fullback Tyler Barron led the Hawks with 86 yards on 13 carries. Jake Wells caught three passes for 44 yards for Houston, which heads to the Kenai Peninsula next weekend to face Skyview.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Soldotna 68, Houston 0

Friday, Houston High School

First quarter:

Soldotna — Young 27 pass from N. Fowler (Grothe kick) 10:13.

Soldotna — Tennis 74 run (Grothe kick) 4:49.

Second quarter:

Soldotna — Tennis 53 run (Grothe kick) 9:04.

Soldotna — Young 15 run (Grothe kick) 6:02.

Soldotna — Tennis 36 run (Grothe kick) 4:10.

Soldotna — T. Fowler 7 run (Grothe kick) 3:05.

Third quarter:

Soldotna — Tennis 11 run (Grothe kick) 9:30.

Soldotna — Tennis 26 run (Grothe kick) 5:26.

Soldotna — Schmelzenbach 2 run (kick failed) 2:19.

Fourth quarter:

Soldotna — Grothe 15 run (Grothe kick)11:27.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

RUSHING — Soldotna: Tennis 7-213, Schmelzenbach 7-51, N. Fowler 6-(-16), Duncan 3-57, Young 3-23, T. Fowler 2-20, Kooly 2-19, Elsey 1-21, Grothe 1-15; Houston: Frank 19-(-20), T. Barron 13-86, M. Barron 1-14, R. Ruta 1-2.

PASSING — Soldotna: N. Folwer 1-2-0—27; Houston: Frank 4-14-5—59, T. Barron 0-1-0—0.

RECEIVING — Soldotna: Young 1-27; Houston: Wells 3-44, Co. Buzby 1-15.