The Streak kept rolling for the Soldotna Stars football team with a 42-0 Northern Lights Conference victory over Kodiak Saturday afternoon, their 45th in a row.
SoHi scored 21 first-quarter points en route to the win, and is now 6-0 for the season and 2-0 in the NLC standings, putting them on top of the list. Kenai shares the top spot with an identical record.
SoHi didn’t stray from its usual ground-and-pound game, racking up 381 total yards of offense, 250 of which were rushing.
SoHi junior Brenner Furlong piled up 133 rushing yards with three touchdowns, two on the ground and one in the air. SoHi quarterback Brandon Crowder completed 7 of 16 passes with a touchdown for 131 yards.
Bryce Martin, Brandon Crowder, Jace Urban and Andy West all collected interceptions to highlight the defensive play. SoHi held Kodiak to a mere 110 offensive yards all day.
A 48-yard air strike from Crowder to Furlong opened the scoring before four minutes were up in the first quarter, and Furlong struck again with a 36-yard rumble later in the quarter.
Martin returned a pick-six on Kodiak quarterback Andreas Carros to boost the lead to 21-0 with 3:40 to play in the opening quarter.
Voznesenka 12, Redington 8
The Voznesenka Cougars put themselves in position to make a late season run at the playoffs with a win Friday over Joe Redington Jr/Sr High School outside of Wasilla.
The win boosted Voz to 1-1 in the Peninsula Conference, good for third in the standings behind Nikiski and Homer. Voz is 1-4 overall.
“It’s huge,” said Voznesenka head coach Justin Zank. “It was something we addressed after the game, this was not only a big game for this season but a big game overall.”
The win was just the fourth in school history for the Cougars, which iced the victory with a late fourth-down stop on defense.
“It was a dogfight,” Zank said. “The way we did it, it’s going to help us in the future.”
Redington took an early 8-0 lead on a first-quarter touchdown, but Voz quarterback Azary Reutov ran the ball in on a sneak play to close the deficit to 8-6 by halftime.
Azary gave the Cougars the lead for the first time in the third quarter by connecting on a passing touchdown to brother Kalinik Reutov.
With Redington driving late in the game, Voz needed to make one big play, and the Cougars received it in the form of Nikit Anufrev, who got to the quarterback on a fourth-down sack, giving Voz the ball.
Voznesenka will face Peninsula Conference opponents Seward and Homer in the final two weeks of the season, a pair of games which will decide the postseason seedings.
Seward 28, Monroe 13
The Seahawks won their third straight game to rise to 3-3 overall with a sloppy Friday win over the Monroe Catholic Rams. Seward remains 2-0 in the Peninsula Conference.
After giving up an early touchdown, Seward rallied back to win amid a “mud bowl,” according to Seward coach Kelly Cinereski, who praised his squad for putting in a full team effort.
“They had us schooled, and their coaching did well for them,” Cinereski said.
After falling into an early 7-0 hole, Seward took an 8-7 lead, which stood at halftime.
The Rams drove down the field and capped the possession with a goal line fumble that was luckily recovered in the end zone by a Monroe player, giving the Rams a 13-7 lead.
From there, Seward scored 21 unanswered points to claim the victory.
Overall, Seward got touchdowns from four different players, as quarterback Nik Pahno, running backs Beau Frieberg, Michael Wilps and Nick Woodard all got into the end zone. Cinereski also credited his offensive and defensive lines for taking control late in the game, with lineman Kris Hettick leading the way.
STARS 42, BEARS 0
Soldotna 21 7 7 7 —42
Kodiak 0 0 0 0 —0
1st Quarter:
Sol — Furlong 48 pass from Crowder (Jones kick), 8:11
Sol — Furlong 36 run (Jones kick), 4:29
Sol — Martin 15 interception return (Jones kick), 3:40
2nd Quarter:
Sol — Lefao 1 run (Jones kick), 0:13
3rd Quarter:
Sol — Furlong 7 run (Jones kick), 6:51
4th Quarter
Sol — Crowder 1 run (Jones kick), 3:17
SoHi Kod
First downs 14 6
Rushes-yards 44-250 23-41
Pass yards 131 69
Comp-Att-Int 7-16-0 4-14-4
Punts 2 4
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties 8-45 3-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
Rushing — Soldotna: Schrader 8-47, Furlong 19-133, Urban 7-23, Walkden 1-3, Crowder 7-39, Lefao 1-1, Quelland 1-4. Kodiak: Carros 9-21, Miranda 4-(-2), Galindez 1-(-2), Walton 4-5, Rastopsoff 5-19.
Passing — Soldotna: Crowder 7-16 — 131. Kodiak: Carros 4-14 — 69-4.
Receiving — Soldotna: Lefao 1-24, Furlong 2-57, Trammell 2-11, West 3-39. Kodiak: Walker 1-37, Walton 1-15, Francisco 1-4, Miranda 1-13.
