The Soldotna Stars juggernaut continued its perfect season with a 47-0 Northern Lights Conference win over the Eagle River Wolves Saturday afternoon in Eagle River.
Jace Urban opened the scoring with three minutes left in the first quarter on a 5-yard dash into the end zone. Brandon Crowder followed suit with a quarterback sneak midway through the second quarter, and Brenner Furlong scrambled in from 43 yards out to push the lead to 21-0.
Jeremiah Lefao returned an interception to score as time expired on the first half, bringing SoHi’s lead to 28-0.
Soldotna coach Galen Brantley Jr. said the Stars were able to use the blowout win to rest some injured starters, including lineman Aseli Finau and tight end Andy West, and give the SoHi backups some varsity experience.
“The final score looks good, and we had a chance to rest some people,” Brantley Jr. said.
With the win, Soldotna (3-0 NLC, 7-0 overall) can clinch a playoff spot and the top seed from the conference with a win at home over Kenai Central next Saturday. A Kenai victory would muddy the playoff picture considerably, as a defensive points tiebreaker would likely be needed to separated a three-way tie atop the standings.
Brantley Jr. said SoHi will be needing all hands on deck for the Kenai matchup.
“I think we played well defensively, but we’re still not able to get over those hurdles of mental breakdowns,” he said.
Seward 24, Voznesenka 0
The Seahawks wrapped up a second consecutive small-schools playoff berth with a shutout win over Voznesenka on Saturday. It was the fourth straight victory for Seward (4-3 overall) after starting the year 0-3.
At 3-0 in Peninsula Conference play, Seward will now vie for the conference title and top seed next Saturday at home when the Seahawks take on the visiting Nikiski Bulldogs.
Homer 58, Redington 12
The Mariners picked up their first win of their season Saturday with a dominating Peninsula Conference victory in Homer.
Homer improved to 1-6 overall with the win (1-2 conference) and will host Voznesenka at home next Friday in the regular season finale.
The Mariners decimated Redington with 402 team rushing yards, led by the 295 yards from freshman Noah Fisk, who scored five touchdowns on the day. Jack Heimbold also had a pair of scoring runs.
Homer held Redington to 113 total yards of offense.
The Mariners exploded out of the gate with 24 points in the first quarter, getting a 44-yard run from Noah Fisk, a three-yard run by Jack Heimbold and a 30-yard rumble by Fisk. All three scores were followed by successful two-point conversions.
