Some of my favorite moments in Valley sports from 2014

PALMER — As we transition from one year to the next, it’s customary in the newspaper biz to take a gander at the last 12 months. For the Frontiersman, that’s 156 editions worth of local news and sports.

For the last several years, on or around Jan. 1, I’ve put together my best of Mat-Su sports for the previous year. It’s sort of a greatest hits package, coming in the form of a top-10 list. In 2011, I tried to get cute with the top 11 in ‘11. And then came the top dozen stories of 2012.

I think you get where I’m going with this.

Anyway, the top 14 stories of 2014 seems a little excessive, so I’m calling an audible this year. Rather than counting down what I thought were the top local sports stories from our coverage area, like Casey Kasem counted down hits on American Top 40, I’m taking a different route.

I’m going back to the reason I jumped into this business in the first place.

I’m a sports fan.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the moment. Yes, I’m there to provide coverage. But sometimes the excitement is just too much to deny. And frankly, it’s still a big reason why I continue to do what I do.

Witnessing those special moments is a big part of being a fan.

There were a number of those types of moments 2014. Here are a few of my favorites I was lucky enough to see in person.

Knights win state soccer title

With all due respect to all of the other Valley athletes crowned champions in 2014, Colony’s 3-2 extra-time win over Dimond in the ASAA/First National Bank State Soccer Championships in late May could be my favorite sports moment from 2014. If I did put together a top-10 list for the year, I’d probably list this at No. 1.

There were so many story lines here. It’s rare to see a Valley team compete for a state soccer title, and even more unusual to see a Mat-Su soccer team with the high school state crown. Before Colony’s win in May, only the Colony boys (2000) and Palmer boys (1995) had captured a high school soccer title since the first set of championship games in 1982.

The season was also Jeremy Johnson’s 20th as head coach of the Colony Knights program. Johnson, the second winningest coach in Alaska high school soccer history, turned 40 prior to the start of the season.

And it was a terrific game.

Colony senior Chaz Stephens (who was suffering from groin and shoulder injuries) used a long throw-in to set up senior captain Ben Atkinson’s game-winning goal with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left in sudden-death.

“When I threw that last ball to Ben and he got that goal, even though I was hurting, I was overcome with job,” Stephens told me after the win. “Even though I was hurting, I just ran through it. I knew we’d won the state championship.”

Extra time in any sport is great. But there’s nothing better than sudden death. Colony and Dimond played in just the second Alaska boys’ state title game to be decided in overtime. It’s going to be remembered as one of the greatest games in Alaska soccer history.

It’s certainly one each member of the Knights will never forget.

“My last goal of high school, and it was for a state championship. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Atkinson said.

The ‘imooseculate’ reception

It was a rough season for the Palmer Moose football program. But of Palmer’s two regular-season wins, Palmer’s wild 54-49 victory over North Pole in late August included as great of a finish as you may ever see.

During the final minutes of regulation, with the Moose trailing, Palmer junior Chase Ferris, channeling former Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris, was on the receiving end of a touchdown pass Moose football fans will likely never forget.

Ferris and first-year starting quarterback Justin Roth connected on Palmer’s version of “the immaculate reception,” turning a tipped pass into a game-winner. During the final two minutes, with the Moose trailing by a point, a North Pole defender tipped a long Roth pass at the goal line right into the hands of Ferris, and the junior snuck into the end zone to provide the go-ahead score.

“Believe in your coaches and never give up on a play,” Ferris told me after the game. “God gave me a gift. The ball landed in my hands. There’s no real explanation for it.”

Warriors beat defending champs

Prep hockey is a sport in which we still have a bit of David vs. Goliath going on in Alaska.

Valley teams have played for a 4A title only once — Palmer edged Wasilla to win the 1989 state title. Since 2001, only one non-Anchorage school has played for a state title. Lathrop won it all in 2009. But other than Lathrop that season, only four Anchorage programs (Dimond, South, Service and West) have played for the last 14 4A state titles.

With those Anchorage school ruling the tournament year after year, Valley teams have had a tough time staying on the winner’s side of the bracket.

In the 2014 4A state tourney, Wasilla found itself matched with Dimond in the first round. The Lynx were the defending state champs, and had played for 10 of the last 14 4A state titles. But the Warriors prevailed.

Adam Apangalook scored the biggest goal of his career. Kiana Verplancke enjoyed the biggest game of her life. And Apangalook and Verplancke combined to help Wasilla earn one its biggest wins in program history.

Verplancke, a junior goalie, came off the bench to stop all 25 shots she saw, and Apangalook, a forward, netted the game winner with 1 minute and 25 seconds left in regulation to lead the Warriors to a 4-3 win over two-time defending state champion Dimond during the first round of the 2014 ASAA First National Cup in front of a raucous home crowd at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

The junior forward forced a turnover in the Dimond defensive zone, skated into the right wing circle and fired a shot, five-hole, into the Dimond net.

“That was a dream for me, that was a dream. I was going to pass it, but I knew I had to get it on net,” Apangalook said of his game-winner before quickly lending praise to all his teammates. “All my teammates worked really hard.”

Apagalook scored the last of Wasilla’s four unanswered goals in the win. Dimond took a quick 3-0 lead, recording all three of its goals during the first nine minutes of play.

Wasilla would ultimately finish third in the state tournament, and record its highest state tourney finish since the Warriors placed second in 1989. The Warriors’ win over Dimond in the first round of the 2014 state tourney was probably the program’s biggest victory since its win over West Valley in the 1989 state semifinals.

Big win for small schools

The most exciting prep wrestling match I saw in 2014 was not at a state tournament.

Instead, it was the 126-pound final of the Lancer Smith Memorial at Palmer High School in November. In a match of defending state champions, Houston senior Aaron Drake edged South Anchorage’s Greg Shack 8-6 in overtime.

The Lancer Smith Memorial is the best regular-season high school event in Alaska in any sport. There’s nothing better.

Until ASAA aligned the prep wrestling seasons in December, the Lancer Smith fell in the brief window where the state’s two wrestling classes, 123A and 4A, overlapped. The Lancer Smith was typically the one tournament that included the best of the best from both classes.

That helped produce some of the most memorable matches of the year. It’s the one time you’d see the best small-school kids face the best large-school kids. The 2014 Lancer Smith finals proved to be a big night for number of 123A wrestlers who took advantage of their shot at the big dogs of the 4A class. And arguably nobody had a bigger night than Aaron Drake.

“It’s the best feeling ever,” Drake told me after the win. “This has been my dream from the seventh grade, to win this thing. I watched my brother win. It’s been my goal since Day 1, grinding and grinding to get here. When I stopped on that line for (overtime), it was just do or die.”

Drake trailed Shack for the majority of regulation, but was trailing by only two points heading into the final moments of the third period. After Drake and Shack each fell out of bounds late in the final frame, Drake walked back to the center of the mat trailing 6-4 with 12 seconds left.

“Twelve seconds on the clock. Twelve seconds isn’t going to kill me. I can do 12 seconds,” Drake said, recalling his thoughts as he prepared for the final seconds of the period. “I have put in so many hours, been grinding too hard to let 12 seconds get me.”

Drake responded by getting the takedown near the edge of the match to tie the score at 6 just before the whistle sounded. In overtime, an aggressive Drake, who was named the meet’s outstanding wrestler after the round, sealed the win with a final takedown to cement the victory as the standing-room-only crowd in the Palmer High gymnasium erupted.

The response to Drake’s win in the Palmer High gym that night was incredible.

Mathis wins four titles

When I started this column, I intended to include only games or moments that I had the chance to see in person. But there is no way I can properly recap 2014 without including Peggy Mathis.

It was a busy weekend in late May. I covered the Northern Lights Conference soccer tournament for the Frontiersman and the Peninsula Clarion. Our friends at the Clarion covered the state track and field championships for us.

Mathis, a Colony junior, made history that day. She won four individual state titles and helped the Knights win their first girls’ state team title in school history. A three-time state champ as a sophomore, Mathis repeated as champion in the 100, 200 and 400-meter races. She also won her first title in the long jump.

“I’m really excited to know after all the training, I’m able to come out on top. It’s a good feeling,” Mathis told a Peninsula Clarion reporter after winning the 400 meters, her fourth event of the day Saturday. “I think I could run another one.”

After winning her final event of the day, Mathis said the reality of her accomplishment had not quite set in yet.

“It’s definitely something I thought about at the beginning, but never could piece it together until now. It still hasn’t registered,” Mathis said.

Mathis now has seven individual state track and field titles in her career, and she hasn’t even started her senior season.

Well folks, those are some of my favorite Mat-Su sports moments from 2014. I’m looking forward to see what 2015 will bring.