The Soldotna football team opened the season with a 78-41 Railbelt Conference victory over Palmer on Friday at Justin Maile Field at Soldotna High School.
A sunny, warm, relatively calm evening in mid-August is exactly the time when Alaskans squeeze in summertime activities before the weather takes a turn for the worse.
For Soldotna quarterback Owen Buckbee and Palmer quarterback Nolan Garner, that activity was slinging the ball all over the yard.
Both threw for four touchdowns and no interceptions, with Buckbee finishing 6 for 7 for 182 yards and Garner going 13 for 18 for 247 yards.
“That’s a kid who’s a senior leader, who’s a returning starter who led a team to a state championship,” Soldotna head coach Galen Brantley Jr. said of Buckbee. “We’re really lucky to have his experience.
“He was very efficient.”
Despite the explosiveness on offense, a disastrous start to the game kept Palmer from ever threatening to win against the two-time defending Division II state champs.
Soldotna scored on its first six drives — Buckbee had two rushing scores, two scoring throws to Matthew Schilling and another to Zack Kemp. Chase Hall also ran for a touchdown on a night he’d rush 14 times for 154 yards.
Meanwhile, Palmer fumbled on three of its first five drives, with Koda Lepule, Dax Walden and Lukas Schiano getting recoveries. Brantley Jr. credited Wyatt Williams with a great strip on the Walden recovery.
The Moose also went three-and-out and punted after a holding call negated a long touchdown pass in falling behind 42-0 with 9:32 left in the second quarter.
“It’s frustrating,” Palmer head coach Tim Popowski said. “We’ve got a lot of veterans on offense, and Nolan’s a good quarterback and a good leader.
“We just made mistakes today that hurt us.”
Starting at the 9:32 mark of the second quarter, Palmer would score the next three times it touched the ball — on Garner passes to Reed Craner and Evan Denoncour, and on a run by Corbin Gerken. Gerkin rushed 12 times for 180 yards.
SoHi matched with three straight scores — on two runs from Hall and a Buckbee strike to Bryan Berg.
On the 18th possession of the half, Palmer receiver Kejuan Harrison was open and made a nice adjustment to catch a Garner pass, but fell at the 2-yard line as the clock expired. That was just steps short of a 13th touchdown of the half as the Stars led 63-20 at the break.
The numbers kept flying in the second half as Palmer got the ball first and scored on its first two possessions — Garner passes to Lee Kirby and Denoncour.
Sandwiched between those scores was Buckbee’s final series of the game, which ended on Hall’s fourth rushing touchdown.
Buckbee led Stars to 10 scores in 10 series.
“Coach put together a good game plan,” Buckbee said. “We were able to pick apart the defense they put in front of us and execute.”
Brantley Jr. said Palmer packed the box and the Stars were more than willing to throw with their veteran quarterback.
“We worked a lot on throwing in the offseason,” Buckbee said. “Once practice started, we worked on it a ton and it showed during the game today.”
With Buckbee throwing and Matthew Schilling, who caught four balls for 138 yards, at tight end, SoHi back will have more room to run.
“Matthew’s a weapon,” Brantley Jr. said. “I think Matthew’s as good an athlete as we have in our state in any sport. I mean, he’s special.”
The scoring finally stopped when SoHi backup QB Matthew Innes lost a fumble to Palmer’s Makana Alone, and Garner lost his third fumble of the day, this time to Hall.
Innes had a touchdown run and Palmer’s Ezra Zimmerman had a rushing TD to push the final to 78-41.
Brantley Jr. said the front seven on offense had a great game blocking, and Walden had a good game in the backfield. The coach also said it was nice to see Andon Wolverton get three touches coming back from an anterior cruciate ligament tear.
The coach said Kemp, a free safety and the captain of the secondary, exited early with an injury and Palmer exploited that.
“They have the skill kids to be explosive,” Brantley Jr. said. “They showed that once they were able to settle down and get going.”
Popowski said linebacker Jayden Hartman played well on defense, but overall the Moose were not disciplined enough to stop the Stars.
The Palmer coach also liked the collective effort of the Palmer receivers, with Garner spreading the ball to seven pass catchers.
Soldotna hosts Chugiak on Friday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m., while Palmer hosts North Pole on Friday, Aug. 22, at 7 p.m. Both are Railbelt contests.
Friday
Stars 78, Moose 41
1st Quarter
Sol — Schilling 79 pass from Buckbee (Lu. Hillyer kick), 11:12.
Sol — Kemp 25 pass from Buckbee (Lu. Hillyer kick), 10:52.
Sol — Buckbee 4 run (Lu. Hillyer kick), 9:22.
Sol — Schilling 14 pass from Buckbee (Lu. Hillyer kick), 4:53.
Sol — Hall 1 run (Lu. Hillyer kick), :04.
2nd Quarter
Sol — Buckbee 5 run (Lu. Hillyer kick), 9:34.
Pal — Craner 64 pass from Garner (Pettit kick), 8:27.
Sol — Hall 50 run (Lu. Hillyer kick), 7:54.
Pal — Gerkin 80 run (kick failed), 7:35.
Sol — Berg 19 pass from Buckbee (Lu. Hillyer kick), 4:42.
Pal — Denoncour 9 pass from Garner (Pettit kick), 1:50.
Sol — Hall 16 run (Hillyer kick), 0:38.
3rd Quarter
Pal — Kirby 18 pass from Garner (Pettit kick), 8:32.
Sol — Hall 9 run (Hillyer kick), 6:16.
Pal — Denoncour 36 pass from Garner (Pettit kick), 5:16.
4th Quarter
Sol — Innes 14 run (Berg pass from Fielden), 7:32.
Pal — Zimmerman 55 run (Pettit kick), 4:38.
Sol Pal
First downs 22 13
Rushing yards 53-467 24-247
Passing yards 182 287
Comp-att-int 6-7-0 13-18-0
Return yards 7-173 10-225
Punts 0-0 2-39.0
Fumbles 1-1 4-4
Penalties 5-50 7-60
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing — Soldotna: Hall 14-154, Walden 7-76, Richards 5-44, Wolverton 3-43, Moore 6-36, Piscoya 3-31, Innes 3-27, Buckbee 4-21, Hughes 4-13, Kemp 1-11, Carter 2-10, Williams 1-1. Palmer: Gerkin 12-180, Zimmerman 8-73, Garner 4-(-6).
Passing — Soldotna: Buckbee 6-7-0—182. Palmer: Garner 13-18-0—247.
Receiving — Soldotna: Schilling 4-138, Kemp 1-25, Berg 1-19. Palmer — Craner 2-84, Kirby 3-72, Denoncour 2-45, Harrison 2-42, Blayney 2-23, Zimmerman 1-18, Gerkin 1-3.
Palmer’s Nolan Garner passes under pressure from Soldotna’s Logan Myers on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at Justin Maile Field at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna’s Koda Lepule celebrates a fumble recovery with Matthew Innes and Liam Peck on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at Justin Maile Field at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna’s Matthew Schilling catches a pass in front of Palmer’s Lee Kirby on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at Justin Maile Field at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
