Warriors pile up points in win

FAIRBANKS — Jason Gazewood is getting tired of moral victories, and Saturday night’s 53-0 loss to the Wasilla Warriors was high on the frustration meter for the first-year Lathrop head football coach.

The Malemutes dropped to 0-3 in the Railbelt Football Conference and 0-4 overall and continued to go scoreless this football season. Saturday night’s defeat was extra painful because three players left the game with injuries, including two leaving Lathrop Stadium in ambulances.

It was a good debut for Wasilla freshman quarterback Ben Fielder, who threw for 290 yards and five touchdowns in his first start. The lopsided win also was the first for the Warriors (1-3).

Sophomore linebacker DJ Elsenpeter was severely injured while playing on a Malemutes punt return with 21 seconds left in the first half and the Warriors up 34-0. The halftime was extended and the start of the third quarter delayed while he was being tended to on the field and waiting for an ambulance.

Senior running back Brandon Olson also left the game in an ambulance when he went down after taking a hit returning a kickoff at 9:56 left in the third following the third touchdown catch of the night by Warriors senior wide receiver Cody Pfeifer.

Lathrop sophomore quarterback Jonah Silva, who took numerous hits from the Warriors while he was in the pocket, was wobbly and laid on the grass after the first play of the fourth quarter. Silva, though, got up on his feet and was escorted off the field.

Olson was taken to nearby Fairbanks Memorial Hospital as a precaution and Elsenpeter walked into the Malemutes football office about 40 minutes after the game ended.

There was some good news for a Lathrop team that didn’t experience too many good things against a previously winless Wasilla team.

Three of Fielder’s touchdowns went to Pfeifer, who finished with six catches for 125 yards. Running back Tyler Polis scored on runs of 3 and 1 yards in the first half, and Chris Bydlon also collected a 9-yard touchdown catch. David Green II hauled in a 38-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter and kicker Paul Silwa delivered field goals of 42 and 35 yards during the last 4:40 of the third.