After becoming accustomed to lining up against bigger opponents in the early weeks of the football season, the Soldotna Stars were more than ready for conference play.
The Stars continued their dominance with a 42-7 pummeling of Palmer in a Northern Lights Conference clash Friday night at Palmer High.
SoHi moved to 2-0 in the NLC and 5-0 overall in 2015, and extended their state-record winning streak to 34 unbeaten games.
Soldotna never let up en route to a 35-0 halftime lead, but Palmer running back Chase Ferris nixed the shutout with a 5-yard scoring run with 6:36 left in the third quarter, when Ferris took Palmer for a 35-yard drive.
An interception by Timmy Smithwick set the Stars up for their first touchdown of the night, a 2-yard plunge into the end zone by Kristian Palaniuk. Palmer had two end zone interceptions in the first quarter.
Later, Trevor Walden recovered a fumbled snap on a Palmer punt in the end zone to quickly put SoHi up 14-0, and Dylan Simons connected with Adrian Gomez-Dickson on a 42-yard pass to score again.
Simons added a 26-yard bootleg run touchdown and Mason Prior notched a 26-yard scoring run before the first half ended. Prior also had a 34-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to ice the game.
The Moose ended with three fumbles and two interceptions in the first half, while Simons recorded two interceptions — both in the first half — for a second straight game.
Kenai Central 67, Eagle River 0
The Kardinals’ bruising rushing attack led them to a convincing NLC victory on the road in Eagle River.
Kenai moves to 2-0 in the NLC and 3-1 overall, while the Wolves fall to 0-3 and 0-5.
In the first half, Andrew Welborn had a pair of rushing scores, while Zack Tuttle, Chase Gillies, Nick Beeson and Draiden McMinn also had rushing scores. In the second half, Conner Johnson had a fumble recovery for a score, Corbin Streiff returned an interception for a score, and Tyrone McEnerney and Caleb Streiff had rushing touchdowns.
Monroe 44, Voznesenka 6
The Rams notched a home victory over the Cougars on Saturday. The Cougars fall to 0-4 on the season.
Barrow 50, Seward 0
The Whalers went on the road to top the Seahawks Sarturday.
Thunder Mountain 34, Homer 30
The Mariners struggled to contain Falcons running back Qon Bear-Clark, who scored four times and racked up 316 rushing yards on 39 carries.
A back-and-forth battle all day saw Homer take the lead with just over 11 minutes remaining on a 45-yard completion from quarterback Teddy Croft to Justin Sumption, which put the Mariners ahead 24-20.
However, Thunder Mountain struck fast with a drive that ended with Bear-Clark pushing ahead for a three-yard touchdown, putting the Falcons into the lead 26-24 with just under 10 minutes left.
Bear-Clark scored again with 7:06 to play on a two-yard scamper, and the ensuing two-point conversion left Thunder Mountain with a 10-point margin. Homer cut it back to four points with a 60-yard bomb from Croft to Michael Swoboda, but that would be all she wrote.
Homer drops to 1-4 overall, while Thunder Mountain moved to 2-3.
Croft ended the day with three touchdown strikes for 201 passing yards, completing 7 of 10 throws, and added a rushing touchdown, one of 19 carries that totaled 55 yards. Josh Fisk ran for 118 yards on 16 carries, including a touchdown. Greg Smith caught three passes for 71 yards.
FALCONS 34, MARINERS 30
Thunder Mountain 8 6 6 14 —34
Homer 6 0 12 12 —30
1st Quarter
ThM — Bear-Clark 95 run (Bear-Clark run), 12:00
Hom — Fisk 49 run (kick failed), 10:00
2nd Quarter
ThM — Crawford 15 pass from Jenkins (kick failed), 5:00
3rd Quarter
ThM — Bear-Clark 15 run (kick failed), 7:05
Hom — Croft 3 run (kick failed), 5:05
Hom — Fisk 4 pass from Croft (kick failed), :00
4th Quarter
Hom — Sumption 45 pass from Croft (kick failed), 11:11
ThM — Bear-Clark 3 run (kick failed), 9:56
ThM — Bear-Clark 2 run (2-pt pass), 7:06
Hom —Swoboda 60 pass from Croft (kick failed), 6:23
