Football roundup: Seward tops Nikiski; Homer beats Voz

  • By Staff Report
  • Saturday, October 1, 2016 3:03am
  • Sports

The Seward football team captured its first ever conference season crown Saturday with a 22-8 victory over Nikiski in the regular season finale in Seward.

The Seahawks were co-champions of the former Greatland Conference in 2001 with Nikiski, so Saturday’s title is the first outright championship for Seward in the Peninsula Conference. Seward finished with a sparkling 4-0 conference record (5-3 overall), while Nikiski finished 3-1 (4-4).

“It was big,” said Seward coach Kelly Cinereski. “Nikiski was very good, they played a tough game, but our boys fought hard.”

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The victory proved to be especially crucial, as Seward will get to host next week’s semifinal playoff game at home against Houston, the No. 2 seed from the Aurora Conference.

Nikiski, meanwhile, will have to make the long bus ride north to play Eielson in Fairbanks, a team that defeated the Bulldogs 58-14 last week. Eielson is the two-time defending small-schools state champions.

“We’d much rather have Houston than Eielson,” Cinereski said. “But, I don’t know, we haven’t seen Houston play much either.”

Nikiski’s only score came on a fake punt attempt, while Seward got scoring plays from Rhett Seiverts, Nik Woodard, Michael Wilps and a two-point play from quarterback Nik Pahno.

Cinereski praised his defense, which held tough on several Nikiski drives, shutting out the Bulldogs late in the game.

“It was a hard-fought team win, all the way around,” he said. “It’s two times we’re in the playoffs in the last three years, so we’re starting to build a program here.”

Homer 42, Voznesenka 7

The Mariners finished off their season with a big win over the Cougars on Friday night in Homer.

Homer wrapped up the season with two straight victories to finish 2-6 overall, while Voznesenka ended at 1-6.

Led by the 243 rushing yard of freshman Noah Fisk, the Mariners broke open a 14-7 halftime lead with 20 third-quarter points.

Four Homer players took snaps in the quarterback position, led by Jack Heimbold’s 2-for-4 day. Heimbold struck for a pair of touchdown passes, both in the first half. Heimbold’s first score was caught by Justin Sumption 4 yards out for a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Heimbold then connected with Joe Ravin on a 20-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, putting Homer up 14-0 after a two-point run by Heimbold.

Voz responded by scoring with 12 seconds left before halftime when Azary Reutov carried the ball on a short scoring run.

Homer pulled away in the third quarter on a short Chris Cudaback touchdown pass, a short Fisk run and a long 67-yard Fisk scramble, which put the Mariners up 34-7 at the end of three quarters.

Overall, Homer outgained Voznesenka 454 yards to 70.

 

MARINERS 42, COUGARS 7

Homer 6 8 20 8 —42

Voznesenka 0 7 0 0 —7

1st Quarter

Hom — Sumption 4 pass from Heimbold, 5:35

2nd Quarter

Hom — Ravin 20 pass from Ravin (Heimbold run), 10:59

Voz — Reutov 4 run (Martishev kick), :12

3rd Quarter

Hom — Cudaback 7 pass (Woo run), 6:18

Hom — Fisk 1 run, 3:19

Hom — Fisk 67 run, 1:09

4th Quarter

Hom — Fisk 56 pass from Mann (Sallee run), 10:16

 

Hom Voz

First downs 22 5

Rushing yds 45-359 29-72

Passing yds 95 -2

Comp-pass-int 5-7-0 1-6-0

Punt yds 2-(-2.0) 5-38

Return yds 2-14 7-65

Penalties 3-35 5-35

 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Hom: Woo 3-19, Fisk 17-243, Heimbold 12-65, Salzman 3-14, Ravin 1-(-9), King 1-6, Love 7-23, Sumption 1-(-2). Voz: Kusnetsov 4-3, A. Reutov 13-49, Sanarov 12-20.

Passing — Hom: Heimbold 2-4-0—24, Mann 1-1-0—56, Salzman 1-1-0—8, Cudaback 1-1-0—7. Voz: Reutov 1-4-0—(-2), Murachev 0-1-0—0, Martishev 0-1-0—0.

Receiving — Hom: Fisk 1-56, Sumption 2-12, Ravin 1-20, Cudaback 1-7. Voz: Martishev 1-(-2).

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