Warriors home; Moose, Knights, Hawks on the road

In the last two weeks the West Valley Wolfpack football squad has spent more time in the Mat-Su area than the Wasilla Warriors.

West Valley's home opener, a contest against the Houston Hawks, was moved to the Valley in week two because of poor air quality due to persistent smoke from Fairbanks area forest fires. Last week they opened the Railbelt Conference schedule with a loss at Palmer last week. And now the Wolfpack may be eligible for Valley residency as they play their third straight game in Mat-Su. West Valley will take on the hometown Warriors tonight at 7 p.m. at Wasilla High School's Veterans Memorial Field.

The Warriors earned consecutive victories on the road with a 13-6 win at Kodiak and a 20-9 win at Skyview.

Matt Crane scored a pair of touchdowns to help the Warriors erase a 9-0 deficit and defeat the Panthers. Crane caught a Zach Bennett touchdown pass and returned an interception for a touchdown.

Palmer @ North Pole

The Moose (1-2) venture outside of Palmer for the first time this season as they travel to North Pole for a conference battle against the Patriots.

The defending conference champion Moose started the season 0-2, but rebounded to score a 40-19 win over West Valley. Steel Tubbs scored three times and Devon Conroy tossed a pair of touchdowns to Jeremy Weber in the win. After being blanked in each of the first two games of the season, Palmer reached the end zone six times in the win over the Wolfpack.

North Pole (2-1) has scored consecutive lopsided wins over Skyview and Homer. The Patriots are supplied offensively by a steady dose of Perry Monzuella. The senior running back is the state's leading rusher with 645 yards and nine touchdowns in three games. Monzuella averages more than 11 yards per carry.

Colony @ Lathrop

Colony takes its undefeated record and the state's best defense to Fairbanks for a match against the winless Lathrop Malemutes and the conference's worst offense.

The Knights blanked their first two opponents and allowed just six points to Kenai last week.

Offensively, the Knights have been able to hurt opponents with the run and the pass. Quarterback Rhett Magner has 339 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions and has completed 69 percent of his passes.

Wide receiver Justin Schwartzbauer is fourth in the state with 10 receptions for 195 yards. Schwartzbauer's four touchdown catches are second best in the state. He and Magner have connected at least once for a score in each of the Knights' first three games.

Shawn Olivera leads the Knights rushing attack, averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

Lathrop suffered a 39-31 loss to Soldotna last week. The Malemutes fell behind 28-7 in the first half, but scored 24 second-half points to jump back into the game.

Lathrop boasts an

offense which utilizes both the run and the pass, but the Malemutes have been plagued by problems with execution.

Quarterback Derrick Stevenson tossed a pair of touchdown passes in the loss and utility man Chuck Quint caught and ran for touchdowns.

The Malemute defense has given up the third most points in the state, with 132 points against. Lathrop was defeated 43-0 by East in the opener and dropped a 50-0 decision to Kenai in week two.

Houston vs. ACS

The Houston Hawks (1-2) will face Anchorage Christian school at Chugiak High School on Saturday.

Houston earned its first Great Land Conference win of the season with a 28-6 victory over Sitka last

week.

In his first start, running back Karl Thistle rumbled for 204 on 32 carries. Thistle and Mallory Smyth each scored two touchdowns.

ACS is 0-3 on the season after a 42-6 loss to Nikiski last week. The Lions have been outscored 76-12 in three games.