Snow sends schools scrambling

MAT-SU — A handful of local prep soccer teams are scheduled to open the 2008 season in the Mat-Su Valley this week.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature may be trying to spoil their plans.

Thanks to a Sunday night snowfall, coaches and school administrators in the area spent their Mondays scrambling, wondering of the weekend’s games could go on as planned.

“It doesn’t look promising at all,” Wasilla activities director Paul Cossette said Monday afternoon.

Wasilla is supposed to host the Lathrop boys and girls on Thursday and West Valley on Friday.

Both Lathrop and West Valley are scheduled to be in the Valley for three days and play Wasilla, Palmer and Colony.

Palmer activities director Jeff Thiede sent an e-mail to Lathrop and West Valley officials on behalf of the Valley schools to alert the Interior schools of the conditions.

“We kind of all have to be on the same page,” Thiede said, noting he hopes local schools can make a final decision today on whether the games will be canceled.

Thiede said Palmer is in a better position than Colony or Wasilla simply because the Moose have an extra day before hosting games. Palmer is slated to play Lathrop on Friday and West Valley on Saturday.

But still, Thiede said, there’s a lot that needs to happen before the end of the week.

“We have to get enough of that white to go away, get the fields to dry out enough to paint the fields,” Thiede said. “Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate.”

Thiede called Palmer High’s Machetanz Field soggy and unplayable.

“Before the snow came down it was playable,” Thiede said. “like conditions you’d usually see in May.”

The Palmer boys did get the chance to take the field on Monday afternoon, beating Lumen Christi 9-0 on the turf at Anchorage Football Stadium. Before Monday, the Colony girls were the only team to play an official game this season. Colony visited Juneau-Douglas for a two-match series at the beginning of the month.

The Wasilla boys are set to play Lumen Christi at AFS today at noon.

If Wasilla’s Veteran’s Memorial Field can’t be used this weekend, WHS would like to look at alternate options, Cossette said. One option is AFS, but turf time at the Anchorage facility is normally dominated by Anchorage-area programs.

Even though the local players are anxious to get outside on the field, Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said he isn’t starting to panic.

“There’s nothing we can do about the weather,” Johnson said. “We have to go with it.”

Johnson said it is not unusual to have to wait until late April to take the field for the first game. In the meantime, Johnson’s Knights — like most squads in the area — have bounced back and forth between the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex and their school gymnasium.

Wasilla High is also slated to host a track and field meet Wednesday afternoon at WHS. Wasilla head coach Gary Howell is more optimistic than his counterparts on the soccer

squads.

“We’re still planning on having the meet,” Howell said.

Houston, Susitna Valley and Colony are scheduled to attend the abbreviated meet that will feature distance events, relays and the shot put.

The first event is set to start at 3 p.m., Howell said.

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