The Seward football team opened defense of its nine-man state championship with a 54-6 nonconference victory over host Nikiski on Saturday.

Both squads are in the Denali Conference, but this game was nonconference because the Bulldogs travel to play Seward on Sept. 13. That will be the first game on Seward’s new turf field.

The Seahawks romped undefeated to the school’s first state title last season using bulk and speed.

Saturday showcased how much Seward will be about pure speed this season.

On the first play from scrimmage in the game, Nikiski’s Kaiden Parrish ran 80 yards for a touchdown.

After that, it was all Seahawks. Seward outscored Nikiski 40-0 for the rest of the half, putting enough points on the board to make the second half a running clock.

“We went down early because we gave up a big, old touchdown run,” Seward head coach Tyler Mallory said. “They didn’t get down on themselves. They picked it up and fixed it right away.

“I’m super proud of them.”

Ronan Bickling had a huge game at running back, running for four of the seven Seward scores in the first half. He had 145 yards on the ground, with four of his seven runs ending in the end zone.

Bickling won the 100-meter dash at the Division II state track meet in spring. That division in track includes all of the schools in nine-man football, as well as five of the six schools that play football at the Division III level.

Nine-man football is played on a field that’s the same size used for 11-man football, so containing that type of speed is even more challenging.

“We have do be able to contain it, and we just were not able to today,” Nikiski head coach Matt Trammell said.

Making Seward more dangerous is Bickling is not the only one with speed. Emerson Cross joined Bickling on the state-winning 400 relay in spring.

“The reality is, we’ve got a lot of guys that can run like that,” Mallory said. “It’s good to see. Ronan took advantage of it today, and I’m super proud of him for running the way he ran.”

Mallory said the team speed allows the blockers to get to the edge as well. The coach gave credit to Cross and Lane Petersen for blocking on the edge.

“Even our quarterback, Brett Gilmore, was out there blocking for him too, which I love,” Mallory said. “I love the selflessness of going and blocking for other guys, even when it may not be your job at quarterback.”

Gilmore, now in his third season starting at quarterback, ran nine times for 77 yards and also passed for 55 yards and two scores — one each to Petersen and Cross.

Noah Price had a rushing touchdown for Seward, while Petersen also added a score on the ground.

Nikiski has the type of rushing offense that can grind out long drives and keep the ball away from an offense like Seward’s.

The problem is the offense uses deception as a tool, like the Soldotna offense. Including jamborees, Saturday was the sixth time Seward has seen the Nikiski offense in two seasons.

Including the big 80-yard run, Nikiski had 136 yards of total offense. Parrish led the effort with eight runs for 114 yards.

“They know our playbook about as well as we do,” Trammell said, adding there are adjustments he can make for games down the road against Seward.

Mallory said the revelation on defense was junior linebacker Camden Schrock, who played as a freshman, but didn’t play last year.

“He started at linebacker and just rocked it,” Mallory said. “He was flying around and making plays that seniors make as a junior, and only a second-year junior.”

Trammell gave credit to senior Jackson Wittmer and sophomore Rex Wittmer for playing the whole game on the offensive and defensive lines.

“I’m proud of our guys in the second half, not holding their head down and playing competitively,” Trammell said.

The Seahawks play a nonconference game at Valdez on Saturday, Aug. 24, at noon. Valdez opened with a 46-6 victory over Monroe Catholic on Saturday.

Nikiski travels to Monroe Catholic for a game at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24.

Saturday

Seahawks 54, Bulldogs 6

Sew 20 26 8 0 —54

Nik 6 0 0 0 —6

1st Quarter

Nik — K. Parrish 80 run (run failed), 11:45.

Sew — N. Price 5 run (N. Price run), 9:44.

Sew — Petersen 5 pass from Gilmore (run failed), 7:14.

Sew — Bickling 24 run (pass failed), 6:20.

2nd Quarter

Sew — Bickling 59 run (run failed), 9:06.

Sew — Cross 20 pass from Gilmore (run failed), 4:36.

Sew — Bickling 47 run (Cross pass from Gilmore), 3:03.

Sew — Bickling 11 run (run failed), 0:32.

3rd Quarter

Sew — Petersen 2 run (Bickling run), 0:30.

Sew Nik

First downs 7 4

Rushing yards 26-277 36-116

Passing yards 55 21

Comp-att-int 3-10-0 2-6-0

Punts 1-54.0 5-31.0

Fumbles 0-0 0-0

Penalties 8-50 7-61

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Seward: Bickling 7-145, Gilmore 9-77, N. Price 4-34, Petersen 2-1, Cross 1-3, Schrock 1-10, Turner 2-7. Nikiski: K. Parrish 8-114, O. Parrish 8-(-4), Hemphill 2-30, Ellis 9-(-2), R. Wittmer 1-(-1), Love 1-(-7), W. Maguire 3-(-15), R. Maguire 4-1.

Passing — Seward: Gilmore 3-10-0—55. Nikiski: Ellis 2-6-0—21.

Receiving — Seward: Petersen 2-35, Cross 1-20. Nikiski: Love 1-16, O. Parrish 1-5.

Nikiski’s Ethan Ellis passes under pressure from Seward’s Ronan Bickling and Emerson Cross (10) on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Seward’s Brett Gilmore rushes against Nikiski’s Lynn Deveer on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Nikiski celebrates a touchdown by Kaiden Parrish on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)