Warriors rally late, fall short

WASILLA — With only eight weeks in the regular season, teams are looking for wins, not moral victories. But even in a loss, first-year head coach Kent Rilatos knows his team’s fourth quarter rally Friday night is something the Wasilla Warriors can build on.

Seemingly left for dead trailing 30-6 midway through the second half, Wasilla used a monster fourth quarter to score 21 unanswered points, but the West Valley Wolfpack held on for a 30-27 Railbelt Conference win over the Warriors at Wasilla’s Veterans Memorial Field.

“I hope this shows that Wasilla will never lack effort, never quit,” Rilatos said.

Junior Ben Fielder threw for 269 of his game-high 329 yards and three touchdowns during the final 12 minutes as the Warriors erased a 24-point third-quarter deficit.

“Hats off to Wasilla, that’s a heck of a run,” West Valley head coach Daniel Esparza said. “To be down that much and keep fighting. Coach Rilatos is doing a good job with his kids.”

West Valley quarterback Tucker Plass plunged in from 1 yard out to give the Wolfpack a 30-6 lead with 15 seconds left in the third. But Wasilla used the explosive Fielder-led passing game to burst back into the contest.

Fielder was 8 of 14 in the fourth. Seven of his completions in the fourth went for more than 12 yards. Five were for more than 28 yards.

Wasilla used its pair of 6-foot-5 receivers, seniors Tyler Anderson and Braydon Kuiper, during the rally. Fielder connected with Anderson on scoring plays of 12 and 65 yards, and hit Kuiper on a 41-yard touchdown pass.

“We kind of have midgets out there playing corner, they had to climb a 12-foot ladder to get up to some of those receivers,” Esparza said.

Anderson caught six passes for 135 yards and three scores. Kuiper caught five balls for 144 yards and a touchdown.

“They make things happen when you don’t think they should happen,” Rilatos said.

Wasilla took an early lead when Anderson snagged a 3-yard scoring catch at the tail end of the first quarter to give the Warriors the 6-0 advantage. Wasilla was kept out of the end zone until its first drive of the fourth, when Anderson caught a 12-yard touchdown pass. About three minutes later, Fielder found Anderson streaking down the left sideline. Anderson stretched out to catch the pass and sprinted 65 yards for a score.

“It’s huge to get those 6-5 athletes and be able to get them the ball,” Rilatos said. “Their athleticism shows.”

Wasilla converted the ensuring 2-point conversion, a Fielder to Kuiper pass, to bring the Warriors within 10.

With 2:03 left, Fielder threw another long touchdown pass, this time 41 yards to Kuiper, who broke free down the middle of the field.

West Valley would escape with the three-point victory, but despite the loss, Rilatos said he hopes his team sees its ability to rally.

“It shows if we just believe in the system, believe that with maximum effort and maximum performance, playing to our ability, we can be in every game,” Rilatos said.

Esparza said the game was an example of the roller coaster ride the Wolfpack has been on this season.

“That’s kind of how we’ve been going,” Esparza said. “That’s how we’ve been going in practice, that’s kind of how we played last week. We’re kind of a roller coaster. We go up and down, and up and down.”

West Valley used its ground game to push to a lead and held on despite Wasilla’s monster effort with its passing game in the fourth.

“I’m proud of the team for sticking it out,” Esparza said. “That was tough. They could have folded up shop. We had a lot of things go wrong.”

West Valley limped through a first quarter in which they fumbled twice, but managed to rebound in the second.

Chris Nuttall hauled in a 25-yard Tucker Plass touchdown pass with a diving catch early in the second quarter. Larenzo Graham followed with a 14-yard scoring run about four minutes later.

“I’m really proud of the way they overcame adversity time and time again,” Esparza said of the early struggles. “Every time something would go wrong, they came out and fought to get back into the game. You can’t ask for much more than that.”

JC Cummings rushed for a game-high 160 yards on 24 carries. He added a 5-yard scoring run late in the third. The Wolfpack gained more than 300 yards on the ground. Dominick Anderson added 71 yards on 11 carries. Graham pitched in 67 yards on his score.

“Last week we threw the ball a lot because we needed to. This week we wanted to dig in and play physical and run the ball,” Esparza said. “Our offensive line did a great job of opening holes and our backs were hitting the holes hard.”

West Valley also took advantage of its team speed in the second half, regularly using the quick pitch to the wide side of the field during the second half.

“We’ve got some pretty fast kids,” Esparza said. “We were able to get to the edge and get a couple of first downs.”

Arguably the biggest first down of the second half was the final first down of the game. Anderson took a quick pitch and hit the sideline for a 10-yard gain. West Valley was then able to run out the clock.

“We stop them on that last first down play and get the ball back, as hot as we were, we’ve got a chance to win,” Rilatos said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@fronteirsman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

West Valley 30, Wasilla 27

Friday, Veterans Memorial Field

First quarter

Wasilla — Anderson 3 pass from Fielder (kick failed) 1:00.

Second quarter

West Valley — Nuttall 25 pass from Plass (Nuttall kick) 7:56.

West Valley — Graham 14 run (Nuttall kick) 3:04.

West Valley — Nuttall 25 field goal, 0:00.

Third quarter

West Valley — Cummings 5 run (Nuttall kick) 3:28.

West Valley — Plass 1 run (kick failed) 0:15.

Fourth quarter

Wasilla — Anderson 12 pass from Fielder (kick failed) 8:48.

Wasilla — Anderson 65 pass from Fielder (Kuiper pass from Fielder) 5:05.

Wasilla — Kuiper 41 pass from Fielder (Perry kick) 2:03.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING— West Valley: Cummings 24-160, Anderson 11-71, Graham 10-67, Plass 5-4, Evanger 4-8, Nuttell 1-0; Wasilla: Teeling 20-66, Fielder 7-(-25), Rilatos 4-10.

PASSING — West Valley: Plass 4-18-0—60; Wasilla: Fielder 14-32-2—329.

RECEIVING — West Valley: Nuttall 2-19, Graham 1-30, Vinton 1-21; Wasilla: Anderson 6-135, Kuiper 5-144, Teeling 1-41, McGregor 1-10, Adair 1-9.