Warriors run past West Valley

FAIRBANKS — A week after being held to 92 yards rushing against Lathrop, the Wasilla Warriors came out on a mission to run the ball against West Valley on Saturday.

That’s exactly what they did. Led by Devin Otto, the Warriors rushed for 343 yards as a team and ran away from the Wolfpack in the 49-25 Railbelt Conference win at West Valley.

“They came out and beat us up pretty bad,” Otto said of the Malmeutes. “We were really looking to forward to coming and being able run the ball.”

The Warriors scored six of their seven touchdowns by running the ball.

Otto ran for 220 of the Warriors 343 yards and scored four touchdowns on the ground. The senior running back had just 58 yards against Lathrop a week ago.

“We came out and I just had good holes,” Otto said.

Otto scored three of his touchdowns in the first half, helping the Warriors (2-2, 1-1 Railbelt Conference) build a 28-19 halftime lead. All three of Otto’s first-half touchdowns came from within two yards of the end zone.

Otto, who had 102 yards rushing in the first half, knew just how important it was for the Warriors to win on Saturday.

“We only have five teams in the conference so we really need to win every conference game. It’s really huge for us to come out here and beat West Valley.”

The Warriors opened the second half by scoring 21 straight points, all on the ground, to pull away.

Mosiah Renk score the first touchdown 58 seconds into the third quarter from 25 yards out. Otto scored his fourth touchdown late in the third quarter on fourth and goal from the Wolfpack’s 1-yard line.

“We started breaking stuff out to the outside and it worked great for us,” Otto said of the second half.

Renk scored his second of the game midway through the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Renk also caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Simons with 40 seconds left in the first half.

That touchdown pass was the only completion for Simons. Blake Marks completed two passes for 27 yards and an interception for the Warriors.

“We got injuries going on, we got people being not able to play, limited action with our starters,” Wolfpack quarterback Zach Lester said. “I think that took a toll on how our second half performance was.”

Lester, a sophomore, did his part to keep the Wolfpack (0-4, 0-2 Railbelt Conference) in the game. Lester completed 15 of 21 passes for 265 yards and four touchdowns. He threw touchdown passes of 45, 55, and 35 yards.

“Our offensive line was making the blocks that they needed to make a lot of the times,” Lester said. “I was making better reads than I have in the past three games.”

Lester’s favorite target on the afternoon was Prince Cooks. Cooks caught seven passes for 139 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was a 45-yard catch and run in the first quarter.

Lester hit Charles Sudduth for two touchdown passes in the second quarter. One was a 55-yard pass that cut the Wolfpack deficit to 14-13. The two hooked up again for a 3-yard touchdown with 1:45 left in the second quarter.

Wasilla 49, West Valley 25

Saturday, Fairbanks

First Quarter

Wasilla—Otto 1 run (Reed kick) 8:25.

West Valley—Cooks 45 pass from Lester (kick failed) 5:13.

Second Quarter

Wasilla—Otto 1 run (Reed kick) 11:05.

West Valley—Sudduth 55 pass from Lester (Marshall kick) 8:38.

Wasilla—Otto 2 run (Reed kick) 7:35.

West Valley—Sudduth 3 pass from Lester (Kick blocked) 1:45.

Wasilla—Renk 31 pass from Simons (Reed kick) :40.

Third Quarter

Wasilla—Renk 25 run (Reed kick) 11:02.

Wasilla—Otto 1 run (Reed kick) 2:05.

Fourth Quarter

Wasilla—Renk 6 run (Reed kick) 8:36.

West Valley—Jones 35 pass from Lester (2 pt. failed) 7:29.

INDIVIDUAL STASTICS

RUSHING—Wasilla: Otto 25-220, Renk 10-49, Garnett 4-9, Marks 1-4, Simons 3-7, Wolfe 1-18, Palanluk 4-38, Neuman 2-(-2). West Valley: Cummings 14-86, Lester 14-36, Cooks 1-(-2), Jones 4-14.

PASSING—Wasilla: Marks 2-4-1, Simons 1-4-0. West Valley: 15-21-0.

RECEIVING—Wasilla: Lozen 1-17, Klein 1-10, Renk 1-31. West Valley: Cooks 7-139, Sudduth 2-88, Joyner 3-27, Jones 2-43.