Soldotna leaves Houston seeing stars

HOUSTON — The Soldotna Stars scored quickly and often in dismantling the Houston Hawks 70-0 in Northern Lights Conference play Saturday afternoon.

The Stars (2-1, overall, 2-0 Northern Lights Conference) returned the opening kickoff to the Houston four yard line and promptly opened up scoring 19 seconds into the game with a 4-yard touchdown run by Dylon Story. Soldotna would continue to score on each of its five possessions to run the score to 35-0 at the end of the first quarter.

“We executed extremely well,” Stars head coach Galen Brantley Jr. said. “We came out clicking on all cylinders.”

Soldotna would run the score to 56-0 at the end of first half led by Story, who scored three rushing touchdowns. Braden Price also found the end zone twice, including a 60-yard run to pay dirt.

The Stars would add two more touchdowns in the second half against a young Houston team that was outmatched in size and skill.

“It’s hard. They got a great dynasty over there,” Hawks coach Norm Bouchard said. “They came out and they hit us hard.”

Houston had made a change at the quarterback position for the game. Last week’s starter Zackary Quall moved to receiver while sophomore Beau Frank took the snaps. Frank and Quall proved to be an effective unit through the air with Quall catching four passes for 59 yards.

“We we’re able to throw the ball a little bit today,” Bouchard said. “That’s where our athletes are at, at the receiver position.”

Frank finished with 123 yards passing, but the Hawks couldn’t muster anything on the ground, having a combined six yards of rushing.

Through three games Houston (0-3, 0-2 has failed to score a point. While the team is young with only six seniors on the roster, Bouchard said it’s time for his younger players to mature.

“We need to step up to the challenge better than we are right now,” he said. “It’s time to stop worrying about being young. We have three games under our belt right now. We need to step up and hit people. When we start doing that we will start playing like the team we can become.”

Meanwhile, the Stars had six different players score touchdowns in a game they dominated on both sides of the ball.

“It’s as good as we’ve looked all year,” Brantley said.

The Stars hope they can carry over the momentum from Saturday’s game to Friday, when they take on the 4A No. 1-ranked Colony, 46-0 winners Friday at Lathrop.

“They are the best team in the state and we’re looking forward to it,” Brantley said. “Our kids are used to playing in big games against talented opponents, but we’ll have our hands full.”

The Stars and the Knights face off at 7 p.m. at Colony while the Hawks will host Homer at 2 p.m. Saturday.

SOLDOTNA 70, HOUSTON 0

Saturday, at Houston High School

Scoring

First Quarter

S — Story run 4 11:41 (Koch kick)

S — Story run 43 9:22 (Koch kick)

S — Syverson run 31 7:35 (Koch kick)

S — Price run 60 4:44 (Koch kick)

S — Jansen run 2 :11 (Koch kick)

Second quarter

S — Price run 40 7:45 (Koch kick)

S — Story run 14 7:31 (Koch kick)

S — Harvey run 15 2:10 (Koch kick)

Third Quarter

S — Dimick run 7 7:35 (Koch kick)

Fourth Quarter

S — Harvey run 17 3:23 (Koch kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Soldotna: Story 4-70, Price 4-122, Jansen 4-46, Jester 3-17, Dimick 7-51, Fowler 5-39, Harvey 5-40, Syverson 2-42. Houston: Dukes 6-4, Frank 3-0, Qual 1-4, Ruta 1-(-2)

Passing

Soldotna: Jansen 0-2. Houston: Frank 9-25 123 4 ints.

Receiving

Houston: Lapham 2-34, Qual 4-59, Richardson 1-20, Buzby 1-7, Ruta 1-3.