Warriors earn first flag football state tournament win

The Wasilla Warriors were part of the field in the first girls football state tournament sanctioned by the Alaska State Activities Association in 2024, but finished in the losing end of a pair of tough games.

Wasilla is back on the bracket in 2025 and started its tournament strong. The Warriors opened with a 20-6 win over the West Anchorage Eagles during the quarterfinal round of the ASAA/First National Bank Flag Football State Championships Thursday evening at Wasilla High School.

“We should have had it last year, but we were too young,” Wasilla head coach Mat Bredberg said of a win in state after the victory over West.

But the Warriors grabbed their opportunity to celebrate the school’s first state tourney win Thursday.

“We’re only a third-year program,” Bredberg said.

The Anchorage School District was first to establish girls flag football as a competitive sport. But it took years for other districts to follow. A pair of Mat-Su co-op teams (Colony-Palmer and Wasilla-Redington) took the field in 2023. This year, four Mat-Su schools (Wasilla, Colony, Palmer and Redington) boasted teams. The Interior has three teams at North Pole, Lathrop and West Valley.

Wasilla finished the regular season at 16-1, the top team in the state.

“I’m very proud of what they’ve done,” Bredberg said. “It’s been fun to have that kind of growth in the program so quickly.”

Wasilla, upset by North Pole in the Railbelt Conference final last week, used a big second quarter on offense to beat West, the No. 3 team from the Cook Inlet Conference.

Wasilla scored all 20 of its points in the second quarter.

“We had to figure some things out, make some changes,” Bredberg said. “I have a group that is so smart, they can do those types of things.”

Wasilla senior quarterback Savannah Kroon accounted for all three touchdowns, but the biggest score came seconds into the second quarter. Kroon found a wide-open Danielle Steiner for a 30-yard touchdown pass just 37 seconds into the second frame. Bredberg said Steiner has been a key piece to the Warriors offense, especially later in the season.

Wasilla and West combined for three scores during the final 2:52 of the first half. Kroon used a 4-yard touchdown run to give Wasilla a 12-0 lead.

West struck fast with a 68-yard touchdown pass to cut the advantage to 12-6. But the Warriors answered right back with Kroon’s second touchdown run of the day, a 3-yarder with about 30 seconds left.

Bredberg said that drive was an example of what Wasilla does.

“They’ve done this all year,” the head coach said. “When their backs are against a wall, they knew what they had to do.”

Wasilla now moves forward to face Dimond in the state semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. at Wasilla High. The Warriors are 2-0 against the Lynx this year, with wins of 50-19 and 42-12 over a nine-day span in September.

Colony also advanced to the state tournament as the Railbelt’s No. 3 seed, but suffered a 32-13 loss to South Anchorage in the first round.

The Knights led 7-6 late in the first and tied to score late in the second, but the Wolverines scored 19 unanswered points in the win.

Bri Parrent connected with Ella Richardson on a 30-yard touchdown pass with 5:12 left in the first quarter to give the Knights their first advantage. Parrent used a short touchdown run with 2:14 left in the second to tie the score at 13.

Colony is in the state tourney for the first time.

The Knights will play defending state champion North Pole Friday at 11 a.m. in the consolation semifinals. Service upset the Patriots 19-6 in the quarterfinals.

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.