South stops Palmer; Moose fall in semis

CHUGIAK — In a defensive slugfest that slowed a pair of potent offenses, special teams proved to be the tiebreaker.

Kahlil Autry returned a punt 96 yards for a touchdown and Eyob Imlach booted a 38-yard field goal to help South Anchorage post a 25-7 win over Palmer in the ASAA/First National Bowl large-schools semifinals at Chugiak High School’s Tom Huffer Sr. Stadium on Friday.

The return and field goal were among 25 unanswered points that helped South move into the state title game to face rival Service for the second consecutive year, and prevent the Moose from earning their fifth trip to the championship in school history.

Palmer, which ended its 2012 campaign with a 9-1 mark, led 7-0 after Luke Heun’s 11-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and held that lead midway through the third quarter. South scored all 25 of its points during the final 17 minutes of regulation, but, arguably, none were bigger than Autry’s return.

“We knew they had real good special teams,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said.

With South holding a slim 8-7 lead late in the third quarter, Palmer was forced to punt at its own 48-yard line. Heun, Palmer’s reserve punter, rolled out and booted a solid punt deep into the South end. Autry took the ball behind his own 10-yard line and broke multiple tackles before darting toward the right sideline. Autry broke more tackles around midfield before weaving his way to the end zone.

“The punt return, we knew they were good at that,” Christiansen said. “We thought we had him pinned, but didn’t quite have him pinned.”

Autry’s 96-yard punt return came on a night when both teams combined for 394 yards of total offense. Palmer entered the semifinals averaging 396 yards per game. South averaged 383 yards per contest through the first nine weeks of 2012.

“I thought our defense played tremendous,” Christiansen said. “Their defense definitely did too. It was a pretty good slugfest.”

Palmer held the Wolverines to only 13 yards rushing in the first half. The Wolverines finished with 117 yards in the game, but 68 of those yards came on only two carries in the second half.

Palmer had 99 yards on the ground and 118 of its 181 total yards during the first two quarters. Heun, who led the Moose with a game-high 83 yards rushing, gave the Moose the lead with his second-quarter score. The senior’s touchdown was set up by a fumble recovery deep in South territory. With the Wolverines at their own 23-yard line, the shotgun snap went high over the head of South quarterback Zach Lujan.

Lujan went back to try to retrieve the ball, but Palmer linebacker Cody Wells made the initial hit to knock the ball free. Sophomore defensive lineman Nick Benshetler made the recovery deep in the South end.

On the next play, Heun sprinted to the near corner for the 11-yard score.

South took its first lead of the game with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. Wade Ellis caught a 3-yard Lujan pass and Sharif Taha ran in the ensuing two-point conversion to give the Wolverines the lead.

Autry’s punt return for a score gave South the 15-7 advantage with 1:20 left in the third.

Early in the fourth, Imlach knocked in the 38-yard field goal.

South iced the game for the Wolverines with Hopp’s late score. Hopp capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown. The majority of the yards on the drive came with Hopp’s 41-yard scamper, which came on fourth down, three plays before the touchdown.

Hopp led the Wolverines with 54 yards on six carries. South’s leading rusher, All-Cook Inlet Conference running back Dante Williams, was held to only 17 yards on eight carries. Lujan completed 10 of 17 passes for 96 yards.

James Nisbett, who finished his junior season with a state-high 1,555 yards rushing, finished with 30 yards on 15 carries. Vincent Aumavae added 22 yards for the Moose.

Senior Dylan Myers led the Moose with two catches for 10 yards.

Palmer, which made its 13 state playoff appearance and state-record 18^th visit to the postseason, enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent memory. The Moose won the Railbelt Conference title for the first time since 2003. Palmer also finished 8-0 in the regular season for the first time since 1996.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him @matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.

South Anchorage 25, Palmer 7

ASAA large-schools semifinals

Friday, Chugiak

First quarter:

No scoring.

Second quarter:

Palmer — Heun 11 run (Kahler kick) 6:36.

Third quarter:

South — Ellis 3 pass from Lujan (Taha run) 5:40.

South — Autry 96 punt return (Imlach kick) 1:20.

Fourth quarter:

South — Imlach 38 field goal, 10:15.

South — Hopp 2 run (Imlach kick) 2:07.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

RUSHING — South: Williams 8-17, Hopp 6-54, Esplin 5-30, Lujan 5-(-9), Faagau 4-2, Autry 3-14, Taha 2-9; Palmer: Heun 15-83, Nisbett 15-30, V. Aumavae 6-22, Christiansen 5-14, Merritt 2-0, Myers 1-5.

PASSING — South: Lujan 10-17-0—96; Palmer: Christiansen 3-11-0—27.

RECEIVING — South: Ellis 2-20, Brown 2-10, Hopp 1-22, Settle 1-18, Page 2-22, Autry 1-3, Williams 1-1; Palmer: Myers 2-10, Niekamp 1-17.