Wasilla ready to build on win

WASILLA — With injuries and consecutive losses, the Kent Rilatos era got off to a rocky start.

And even though Wasilla continues to be bitten by the injury bug, the Warriors finally have something to build on. On the heels of its 24-20 nonconference win over small-schools power Kenai, Wasilla will try to take its winning ways back to the Railbelt schedule as the Warriors continue conference play against the Lathrop Malemutes Saturday at 1 p.m. in Fairbanks.

“That attitude is amazing,” Rilatos, Wasilla’s first-year head coach, said of his team Wednesday evening. “The kids are pumped up, came out (this week) wanting to learn more about Lathrop, more about how we can beat them.”

Rilatos said he sees the much-improved confidence of his players, who scored their first win of the year against Kenai. Wasilla (1-2) opened its season with a pair of disheartening losses. Skyview, traditionally a prep football afterthought, stunned the Warriors with a double-digit defeat in Week 1. Wasilla rallied but fell short against West Valley the following week.

Last weekend, the Warriors were forced to travel down to Kenai to face the No. 2 team at the small-schools level.

“To be at that point in the season, going down to Kenai, there weren’t very many who would put a paycheck on us,” Rilatos said.

The Kards even led 20-6 at one point, but Wasilla used 18 unanswered points to score the victory.

Wasilla has managed to improve despite facing a number of injury problems. Even this week, Warriors continue to limp out of the lineup.

“We’re injury plagued. It’s very weird, very odd, very frustrating,” Rilatos said.

Rilatos said Wasilla will field its fourth different set of five starters on the offensive line when the Warriors face Lathrop. Wasilla will also have put together its fourth different starting defense come kickoff on Saturday.

But the Warriors are working through that.

The matchup will feature two of the top passers in the state. Wasilla junior Ben Fielder is among the state’s top quarterbacks with 589 yards passing and eight touchdowns. Lathrop senior quarterback Gabe Cunningham has thrown for 665 yards and nine scores.

So far, Fielder’s favorite target has been senior Tyler Anderson, who leads the Warriors with 12 catches for 278 yards and six touchdowns. Anderson now has more touchdowns than he had catches (five) as a junior. Nineteen of Fielder’s 28 completions have gone to either Anderson or senior Braydon Kuiper, but Wasilla used five different receivers against Kenai.

Senior Zach Adair snagged three catches for 28 yards. Tight end Nick Parks had a pair of catches for 39 yards.

“We’re getting the ball to other receivers,” Rilatos said. “We’ve thrown the ball to almost everyone on the field.”

Wasilla also established a ground game. Senior Devon Teeling rushed for a season–high 167 yards on 30 carries.

Rilatos said the Wasilla coaching staff is also stressing the Warriors will see a different Lathrop team Saturday. The Malemutes have spent years as the Railbelt doormat. Despite dropping a lopsided decision to North Pole last week, Lathrop showed an ability to win with a victory over Colony in Week 2.

“They have athletes. They’re probably as fast as anyone in our region, if not faster as some positions,” Rilatos said.

Palmer at West Valley

Wasilla is not the only Valley team heading north this weekend. Palmer (1-2) will be in search of its first Railbelt win tonight at West Valley (2-1) when the teams meet at 6:30 p.m. in Fairbanks.

In arguably the game of the week in the Railbelt, West Valley will look to improve to 3-0 in conference play.

Palmer dropped to 1-2 overall last week, suffering a 29-13 loss to Juneau-Douglas in its Railbelt opener in Juneau.

The Moose fell behind early, allowing Juneau touchdown passes of 95 and 67 yards in the first two quarters, but fought back in the second half.

Senior quarterback Jackson Buresh rushed for his fourth touchdown of the year in the third. He also connected with senior Steven Lee on a 20-yard touchdown pass.

The points were the first of the season allowed by Juneau. The Crimson Bears started the 2011 season with a 68-0 win over Capital City rival Thunder Mountain and followed with a 57-0 beating of North Pole.

Colony at

Juneau-Douglas

Juneau will host a Valley team for the second straight week, with Colony (0-3) hitting Adair-Kennedy Field tonight at 8 p.m.

The Knights remain winless after consecutive losses to Dimond, Lathrop and West Valley. Junior Wyatt Peltier got the Colony running game going with 117 yards against Lathrop and leads the team with 178 yards. Junior quarterback Rob Lorentz has completed passes to nine different receivers.

Houston at Skyview

The Houston Hawks (0-2) will be in search of their first win tonight at Skyview High in Soldotna.

Houston is already 0-2 in Northern Lights Conference play after losses to Kodiak and Soldotna. Skyview dropped to 0-2 in conference with a 12-6 overtime loss to Kodiak in Kodiak last week.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.