Two members of the 100-win club meet at Palmer High in Week 5

There was no shortage of storylines when the Palmer Moose hosted the Soldotna Stars last week.

Soldotna extended its state-record winning streak to 54 straight victories, with a 28-10 win over the Moose, in a rematch of the 2016 medium-schools state title game. It also appears to be the first time in Alaska a varsity prep football game featured a pair of head coaches with 100 or more career wins.

Longtime Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen has 149 career wins, one shy of Alaska’s all-time mark of 150 held by the late, great, Buck Nystrom. Soldotna mentor Galen Brantley Jr, is the latest addition to the 100-win club. Brantley hit 100 during the third week of the 2017 season, and earned his 102nd career victory with a win over the Moose.

Alaska’s super six also includes Bruce Shearer (130 wins), Bob Boudreaux (105) and Jim Beeson (103).

There have been plenty of meetings throughout the years that included those among Alaska’s super six. But it looks like Friday marked the first time Alaska saw two current members of the 100-win club line up on opposite sidelines.

Nystrom coached 25 years at Eielson, and was in his sixth season as head coach at North Pole when he died unexpectedly due to heart complications in 2006. Shearer spent a combined 21 seasons at Kenai, East and Chugiak before moving Outside following the 1997 season. Boudreaux, Brantley’s head coach when he was a standout player with the Stars, coached 22 years at SoHi, Kenai and Service. Beeson spent 19 seasons at the helm at Kenai.

Christiansen had most of his meetings against Nystrom, Shearer, Boudreaux and Beeson before his hit the 100-win mark with a state semifinal win over Service in 2007. Beeson hit 100 wins in 2008, following the death of Nystrom, move of Shearer and retirement of Boudreaux.

In 1993, the Nystrom-led Eielson Ravens edged Shearer’s Chugiak squad 19-17 in the postseason, the year before Shearer earned his 100th win as a head coach.

Of the six, Brantley is the fastest to 100. Christiansen hit 100 in his 17th season, Shearer in his 18th, Boudreax in his 22nd and Beeson in his 19th. Teams play more games in a season these days, and Brantley’s squads have played deep into the postseason for basically his entire career. He has already led the Stars to nine state championships.

More games have meant more chances for a win for Brantley, who boasts a mind-blowing 102-5 career mark. During his playing days with the Stars, Brantley, a first-team all-state defensive lineman in 1992 coached by Boudreaux, suited up against teams coached by Christiansen, Beeson and Nystrom, who led Eielson to a 28-9 win over Brantley and the Stars in the 1992 state championship game.

Beeson is the only coach to beat Brantley twice. Christiansen, West Anchorage’s Tim Davis and former Colony head coach Jamie Mayo also have a win over Brantley.

Christiansen will have another shot at tying Nystrom when the Moose hit Eagle River Saturday at 2 p.m. for a Northern Lights Conference game against the Wolves.

Moose battle, Stars extend streak

A layman could see Soldotna’s 28-10 win over the Moose as a game the Stars controlled throughout.

That wasn’t the case. Palmer had the ball on the Soldotna 8-yard line, trailing just 14-7, late in the third quarter. The Moose were forced to settle for a Larry Cutsforth field goal. If Palmer punches in at that point and ties the game, there could have been a different outcome.

But that’s a ‘what if?’

What we do know is that 18-point margin of victory is actually fairly small when you look at the entirety of SoHi’s 54-game streak. Through their win Friday, Soldotna is averaging 49.5 points per game during the streak, while allowing only 12.9 points per contest. That’s an average margin of victory of 36.6 points, for those without a calculator handy.

During the 54-game streak, SoHi’s win over Palmer marked only the seventh time the Stars had a margin of victory of less than 19 points.

NLC continues to get more interesting

The Northern Lights continues to be one of the more interesting conferences in Alaska. Yes, Soldotna (5-0, 1-0) is once again in the driver’s seat as the Stars look for their sixth straight state title and 10th since 2006. After Soldotna, it’s been a race for the NLC’s second playoff seed.

Since Palmer and Eagle River was added to the conference prior to the 2015 season, the second spot in the postseason has come down to the winner of the Palmer-Kenai game during the regular season. In 2015, Kenai topped the Moose at home. In 2016, Palmer beat the Kards at PHS. In 2015 and 2016, Palmer and Kenai were a combined 4-0 against the other two teams in the conference, Eagle River and Kodiak.

But a week after Palmer ran all over Kodiak in a 57-0 win over the Bears, Kodiak pulled off a 27-22 victory over Kenai in Kodiak.

Things just got more interesting.

SoHi is on top with a 1-0 conference record. Palmer, Kenai and Kodiak are tied at 1-1. Eagle River is 0-1.

In Week 6, Soldotna hosts Kodiak and Palmer is at Eagle River. Kenai has a nonconference game against Chugiak.

Speaking of Chugiak

Chugiak is one of only three undefeated teams in Alaska (along with Colony and Soldotna), and Derryk Snell is a big reason why. Chugiak’s senior standout now has 18 total touchdowns after a six-score performance during a 40-27 win over Green Canyon High School in Logan, Utah, last week.

To put it in perspective, the last Valley player to have 18 touchdowns in a season was former Palmer standout Ali Larijani, who did it in 2002. Larijani scored 18 times during the regular season and two postseason games. Snell has 18 TDs in only five weeks.

Usual suspects

A pair of small-schools powers used wins over Valley teams to put themselves a win away from a conference title, and top seed in the Division III playoffs. Three-time defending state champion Eielson beat Houston 28-7 to take control of the Aurora Conference. Nikiski beat Redington 39-0 to put the Bulldogs within reach of the Peninsula Conference crown.

Homer is off to a 4-1 start and plays Nikiski this week. Eielson travels to Barrow this weekend. Both games could determine the conference championship.

Houston and Redington are both part of three-team races for two playoff spots. It’s Eielson, Houston and Barrow battling for the two berths in the Aurora. Nikiski, Homer and Redington are in the hunt for the Peninsula’s spots in state.

CIC update

The playoff picture is beginning to take shape in the Cook Inlet Conference.

Bartlett and East, each at 2-0, remain undefeated in conference play. West and Service are right below at 1-1 each. East at Bartlett, Friday at 7 p.m. is clearly the game of the week in Anchorage. Dimond (0-1 in conference) could be in a must-win situation when the Lynx make the trip to Service to play the Cougars Saturday at 2 p.m.

Also, West is at South Saturday at 2.

ASBN poll

Not much changed in the latest Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network prep football polls.

Colony (5-0) and Soldotna (5-0) continue to hold the top spots. Chugiak (5-0), Bartlett (3-2), East (4-1) and West (2-3) follow Colony on the Division I list. Eielson (4-1), Homer (4-1), North Pole (4-1) and Thunder Mountain (3-1) are behind the Stars on the Division II/III list.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.