The visiting Soldotna football team held on for a 28-21 victory over West Valley on Friday in Railbelt Conference play.
The Stars move to 4-0 in the league and 5-0 overall, while the Wolfpack are 1-3 in the league and 1-4 overall.
West Valley got the ball on its 33 with 49 seconds left and trailing 28-21. Zack Kemp spoiled the Wolfpack’s homecoming with an interception on the first play.
SoHi head coach Galen Brantley Jr. said the game shows how good West Valley is and how good the Railbelt Conference is.
The previous two weeks, the Wolfpack lost to undefeated West by a point and to Palmer, which is 3-1 in the Railbelt and 4-1 overall, by a point.
“It’s unbelievable, honestly, the transformation of that group of kids,” Brantley Jr. said of West Valley. “A couple of years ago, they were not good.
“They were getting beat by everybody.”
He said West Valley head coach David DeVaughn does a great job of putting players in the right spots and not letting them quit.
“Just a class act all the way,” Brantley Jr. said. “There was actually a point in the game where the officials were trying to give him a fifth down, and he actually walked out on the field and told them no.”
West Valley’s record shows how good the league is. SoHi is tied with Lathrop at 4-0 for the league lead.
“It’s going to be an interesting finish to this thing,” Brantley Jr. said. “We’re doing everything we can to hold it together, but we definitely feel it.
“The other teams in the conference have closed the gap.”
West Valley led 7-0 after the first quarter on a run by Jackson Reese.
SoHi led 14-7 headed to the half on a 9-yard run by Chase Hall and a 32-yard run by Dax Walden.
“After we got punched a little bit, we realized we were in a fight and ended up clawing back out of it,” Brantley Jr. said.
Walden had the only score of the third quarter with a 4-yard run. That drive was extended when SoHi tried a fake punt and was stuffed, but West Valley had a facemask penalty to give the Stars a first down.
“That was one of those breaking points in the game, for sure,” Brantley Jr. said.
With 9 minutes, 13 seconds, left in the game, Hall scored on a 2-yard run for a 28-7 lead.
Brantley Jr. said SoHi was having trouble running off tackle, so Hall’s internal runs were huge.
“He was a little banged up and kind of battled through it,” Brantley Jr. said. “That was a bright spot for us.”
West Valley quarterback Conner Wright hit 74- and 21-yard touchdown passes to Landon Wiedmaier, the second coming with 4:27 left to play to cut it to 28-21.
Brantley Jr. said the Stars, led by interior lineman Koda Lepule, actually did a lot of good things against the run, but those two blown coverages were costly.
“We got the ball and had a chance to ice the game,” Brantley Jr. said. “We needed a first down, and just couldn’t get it.
“We sputtered and did not play well offensively.”
SoHi hosts Railbelt foe Wasilla, which is 0-4 and 0-5, at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19.
