Valley teams play in rare Thursday night games

WASILLA — A pair of rare Thursday night games kick off the fourth week of the prep football season.

Palmer marks its official return to the Northern Lights Conference, traveling to Eagle River to face the Wolves Thursday at 6:15 p.m. Wasilla, still in search of its first victory of the season, hosts Dimond Thursday at 7 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field.

Palmer (2-1), which moved from the large schools Railbelt Conference to the medium schools NLC during the offseason, opens its conference season against the winless Wolves. It’s Palmer’s first NLC game in more than 15 years. Palmer was part of the NLC when prep football was a single-classification sport in Alaska.

Palmer suffered its first loss of the season last week, dropping a 24-0 decision to rival Colony. The loss to the Knights included the loss of senior standout Chase Ferris, who led all large schools players in rushing yards as a junior. Ferris left the game after consecutive 3-yard carries on Palmer’s first drive, and did not return.

In the absence of Ferris, sophomore Jeff Glynn rushed for 79 yards on 23 carries.

Palmer started the season with wins over large schools opponents Chugiak and Lathrop.

Eagle River (0-3) watched its lead disappear in the fourth quarter of a loss to Ketchikan last week. Eagle River led 14-13 after three quarters, but the Kings erupted for 33-14 win. The Wolves were blanked by Dimond and Kodiak during the first two weeks. Like Palmer, Eagle River dropped from the large schools class to the medium schools NLC during the offseason.

Thursday’s game marks the first meeting between the two programs.

Like Eagle River, Wasilla (0-3) is also looking for its first victory of the season. The Warriors dropped to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the Railbelt with a 28-14 loss to Lathrop in the Interior last week. Starting quarterback Aeron Milliron rushed for a first-half touchdown, and backup quarterback Carson Reed connected with Beau Cork on a late touchdown pass.

Wasilla opened its season with nonconference losses to Service and East Anchorage.

Dimond (2-1) is coming off an 18-13 loss to West Anchorage. Dimond jumped to a 2-0 start with wins over Eagle River and South Anchorage.