Stars win shootout at Wasilla High

WASILLA — Rare is the game that a football team can score 48 points and lose. But host Wasilla found itself on the short end of 68-48 Senior Night scorefest, as the Soldotna Stars ran all over the Warriors in a muddy nonconference battle.

The visitors from the Peninsula put up 10 touchdowns behind a dizzying running attack made possible by a dominating performance from the offensive line. SoHi standout Colton Young notched four TDs himself on runs of nine, 10, 16 and 76 yards.

Wide receiver Isaiah Dawkins found the end zone three times for 1-6 Wasilla. The junior said putting 48 points on the board made the loss easier to take. And he credited his teammates with a hard-fought effort.

"It's fun to play in high-scoring games," he said. "We played as a family tonight."

The Warriors got off to a quick start. They stalled on their first drive, but recovered their own punt at the Soldotna 45 after it caromed off one of the Stars. Seven plays later, junior Mitchell Rilatos scampered in from eight yards out on a pitch left. Dawkins scored the first of his touchdowns on the night 4:47 later on a 26-yard strike from senior quarterback Ben Fielder en route to a 14-12 first quarter lead for the home team.

But the Senior Night crowd at Wasilla’s Veterans Memorial Field saw nothing but Stars after that, as the visitors racked up three unanswered touchdowns to blow the game open by early in the third quarter.

Rilatos scored two more touchdowns in the second half on runs of 8 and 15 yards.

Junior Cash McGregor had a standout night for the Warriors on both sides of the ball, including a 40-yard catch and run from Fielder in the fourth quarter.