Warriors run away with Potato Bowl win

PALMER — The Wasilla Warriors have used its one-two running back punch of senior Devin Otto and sophomore Mosiah Renk to power into the postseason. Friday, Wasilla unleashed a three-headed monster in the backfield, and ran to its first Potato Bowl win since 2011.

Otto, Renk and senior Zach Garnett each topped the 100-yard mark, combined for 337 yards on the ground and led the Warriors to a 47-14 win over Palmer at Machetanz Field.

With the win, Wasilla clinched the No. 2 seed in the Railbelt Conference, and will host Bartlett at a date and time still to be determined. Despite its loss, Palmer advanced to the postseason for a state record 15th consecutive year, and will travel to Anchorage to face South in the first round.

Otto and Renk had done the bulk of the damage on the ground heading into the final week of the regular season, combining for more than 1,400 yards rushing. But Friday, Garnett made his presence known as well.

On the opening play of the third quarter, Garnett broke to the right sideline and sprinted 54 yards for a score. Wasilla led 13-7 at halftime. But the Garnett score quickly gave the Warriors the 20-7 advantage.

“That was a big deal,” Wasilla senior linebacker Hunter Hermans said of the Garnett score. “When we were inside (at halftime), I was pumping them up saying we need to score on the opening drive.”

Garnett finished with 108 yards rushing on only four carries.

“I try to make the best out of the carries I get, try to do the best I can,” Garnett said moments before the Warriors accepted the prize for winning the Potato Bowl, the Mayor’s Cup trophy.

In addition to its standard Wing-T set — which leaves Otto and Renk in the backfield, and Garnett in the wing position — the Warriors also featured a T formation with all three runners lined up behind quarterback Blake Marks in the backfield. In the formations, each runner finished with more than 100 yards. Otto led the Warriors with a game-high 129 on 29 carries. Renk added 110 yards on 11 carries.

Garnett, Otto and Renk each had scoring runs of 36 yards or more in Wasilla’s monster third quarter.

Less than four minutes after Garnett opened the third quarter with a long touchdown, Otto squeezed through a hole at the line of scrimmage and darted 36 yards for a score. Later in the third, Renk added a 44-yard scoring run.

“It just makes us a lot harder to cover,” Garnett said of Wasilla’s use of the three running backs. “You can’t really key on one of our players.”

Renk, who scored four times in the game, added a pair of touchdown catches in the fourth quarter. Both touchdowns were created by short passes by the Wasilla quarterbacks and long runs by Renk. Early in the fourth quarter, Renk caught a short pass from Marks, and broke free for a 48-yard score. Later in the fourth, backup quarterback Carson Reed flipped a pass to Renk, who sprinted down the left sideline 49 yards for a score. Renk finished with two catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 207 total yards from scrimmage.

Palmer also ran the ball effectively, finishing with 272 yards, the most allowed by Wasilla in a single game this season. Jared Layton led the Moose with a career-best 123 yards. Chase Ferris, the state’s leading large schools rusher, added 80 yards, despite not playing in the second half. Fullbacks Wayne Hershman and Wyatt McGann combined for 84 yards on the ground.

Ferris scored on a 12-yard run early in the second quarter to cut Wasilla’s lead to 13-7. McGann added a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth.

Wasilla’s win was its 11th in the 36-year Potato Bowl history, first since 2011 and first at Palmer High School since 1998. During the win, Otto eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his senior season. Otto now has 1,095 yards. He’s the fourth player in school history to have more than 1,000 yards in a season, joining Chuck Lincoln, Abe Salmon and Devon Teeling.

Palmer’s win, combined with a West Valley loss, pushed the Moose into the postseason for the 15th straight year and the 20th time since 1994. West Valley suffered a 27-24 loss to Lathrop in Fairbanks Friday night. The Palmer and West Valley losses left a three-way tie, with Colony, Palmer and West Valley locked at 1-3 in the Railbelt. A series of tiebreakers determined the Railbelt’s No. 3 seed. The first tiebreaker used is head-to-head record among the tied teams. Each school is 1-1 in the group. The next tiebreaker is record against common opponents outside the conference. The common opponent is North Pole. The Patriots beat West Valley in Week 1, and scored a 20-19 win over Colony Friday night.

Palmer beat North Pole 55-49 in Week 3, and gets the No. 3 seed.

Wasilla 47, Palmer 14

Friday, Machetanz Field

First quarter:

Wasilla — Renk 13 run (Reed kick) 7:25.

Wasilla — Otto 1 run (kick blocked) 5:01.

Second quarter:

Palmer — Ferris 12 run (Clark kick) 11:32.

Third quarter:

Wasilla — Garnett 54 run (Reed kick) 11:45.

Wasilla — Otto 36 run (Reed kick) 7:58.

Wasilla — Renk 44 run (Reed kick) 1:55.

Fourth quarter:

Wasilla — Renk 48 pass from Marks (Reed kick) 10:29.

Palmer — McGann 13 run (Clark kick) 5:32.

Wasilla — Renk 49 pass from Reed (kick failed) 3:02.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:

RUSHING — Wasilla: Otto 29-129, Renk 11-110, Garnett 4-108, Reed 1-(-1); Palmer: Layton 17-123, Ferris 12-80, Hershman 8-45, McGann 4-39, Daniels 2-(-7), Angol 2-(-8).

PASSING — Wasilla: Marks 3-4-0—79, Reed 1-1-0—49; Palmer: Roth 1-6-0—39.

RECEIVING — Wasilla: Renk 2-97, Garnett 2-31; Palmer: Angol 1-39.