The High School Football Huddle
While the Lower 48 and Hawaii will have to wait a little bit for the regular season games to start, they're strapping on the helmets for real tonight and Saturday in Alaska.
How does footbal in Alaska differ? While most schools are sweating out two-a-days, there's already been snow at the Barrow Whalers practices. For those of you that don't know, Barrow is the only school above the Arctic Circle, and is the northernmost city in the country. In fact, the team's blue astroturf field sits only 100 yards from the Arctic Ocean.
Barrow and 27 other schools from around the state open their eight week regular season this week, and The High School Football Huddle is here to keep you up-to-date with news and scores from around the state at the Alaska High School Football Huddle.
Alaska crowns two state champs, one in the Big Schools classification and one in Small Schools. Juneau, which was a perfect 11-0 last year, will be going after its third Big Schools' title in four years. The Soldotna Stars will be going for the three-peat in Small Schools.
Both teams will be in action this week. Below is this weekend's entire slate of games.
For a previews of the games, please click here to go to the Alaska High School Football Huddle.
Tonight's Games
Kenai at Lathrop, 7PM
Palmer at Anchorage East, 7PM
Wasilla at Chugiak 7PM
Soldotna at Nikiski 6PM
Saturday Games
Barlett at Anchorage West, 7PM
Colony at North Pole, 6PM
Delta Junction at Houston, 1PM
Eagle River at Dimond, 1PM
Juneau at West Valley, 1PM
Monroe Catholic at Homer, 2PM
Service at Anchorage East, 4PM
Seward at Kodiak, 2PM
Skyview at Barrow, 2PM
Valdez at Eielson 1PM
2 comments:
...I know the whalers are pretty small beans....but with this win, our chances for an undefeated season, a home playoff game, and a chance to go to anchorage for the quarterfinals went from a possibility to a probability.........
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE — On his birthday, Albert Gerke slipped at the Eielson 19-yard line in the fourth quarter Friday night at Buck Nystrom Field on Eielson Air Force Base.
However, the junior quarterback didn’t let Friday night’s Greatland Çonference high school football game slip away from the Barrow Whalers.
With less than 50 seconds left in the battle of unbeaten and ranked teams, Eielson was ahead 28-26 and Barrow was facing third down and eight yards to go from the Ravens 10. Gerke dropped back to pass and then fell on his buttocks at the 19 as he was scrambling while looking for an open receiver.
“I was kind of disappointed I fell because I could have done a lot more with the ball rather than laying on the ground,” Gerke said. “The team was really there to help me out.”
The Whalers, particularly Anthony Edwards, then gave Gerke one of the biggest presents of his 17th birthday.
On fourth down and 17, Gerke lined a pass to Edwards with 18 seconds left and the junior all-around player dove far enough to just break the plane of the goal line and lift the Whalers to a 32-28 victory.
The Whalers, 2-0 conference and 3-0 overall, were ranked fourth in this week’s Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network poll of small schools teams, and the Ravens, 2-1 conference and overall, were ranked second with the Kodiak Bears.
Eielson, led by senior quarterback Colten Growden’s three-touchdown night, lost only their second conference game since joining the Greatland in 2003. The Ravens only other conference defeat was to the Nikiski Bulldogs in 2005.
Gerke had relied on Edwards throughout the game and he didn’t waver in his trust of the 5-foot-11, 220-pound running back with time running out.
“I’m thankful that’s he here,” Gerke said after completing 11 of 20 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns — both to Edwards.
Edwards said he had great confidence in Gerke, despite the slip.
“He didn’t give up and that’s what we train for, not giving up,’’ Edwards said.
Edwards gave Barrow all of its scores, particularly the game-winner which he had three Ravens clinging to him as he dove.
“It was the last drive and I had to give it all,” he said. “Even if I’m tired, I can’t stop and I won’t stop. I’ve just got to keep moving forward.’’
Along with the five touchdowns, Edwards had game-highs of 105 yards rushing on 12 carries and six receptions for 98 yards. He also converted two point-after kicks and defensively, he tied Colton Blankenship with a team-high six tackles and he had a sack for the Whalers, 2-0 conference and 3-0 overall.
Edwards, who scored on runs of 26, 29 and 19 yards, showed Friday that he can be one of those rare players who can affect a game single-handedly.
“You get those. We’ve had our Nicks and our Jons,’’ DeVaughn said, alluding to former Ravens standouts and siblings Nick and Jon Rogers. Jon is now a senior cornerback and Nick a redshirt freshman safety at Central Washington, an NCAA Division II program.
“Those are the guys you hang your hat on, and he’s (Edwards) able to carry that load, and he does them right when they put it on his shoulders,’’ Eielson head coach David DeVaughn said. “We feel we have the same thing, guys in position to make plays all the way down the wire.”
Growden was that way for Eielson, leading the Ravens with 16 carries for 98 yards and passing for 119 yards on six of 18 attempts with an interception.
His 8-yard run set up an 8-7 lead for Eielson with 8:42 left in the second quarter. He rallied Eielson for a 21-20 lead in the third after scoring on a 3-yard run with 7:02 left and engineered a drive that Ricky Nelson capped with a two-yard run with 5:09 remaining.
After Edwards caught a 43-yard touchdown pass with 2:16 left in the third for a 26-21 Whalers lead, Growden put Eielson ahead 28-26 with 11:43 left in the fourth. With third and goal from the Barrow 18, Growden avoided a pass rush and bolted around left end for the touchdown.
“It took us until halftime to realize that they’re not going to fall down,” Growden said. “They’re a good team and they were out for us. We played as hard as we could.
“In the first half, I don’t think we came out with everything we have. In the second half, we started to pick up, but I think we were just a little too late, or we played a little short.”
After Edwards’ game-winner, Eielson got the ball to the Barrow 26 in the waning seconds, thanks to a 25-yard reception by Kevin Barnicle, who then lateraled the ball to wide receiver Charles King, who then pitched it to Sam Rogers.
Growden, with no time left, heaved a desperation pass to King in a packed end zone with two Ravens teammates and three Barrow defenders. The ball sailed out of the reach of King, who had entered the game as the state’s leading receiver.
Cool!
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