Perennial state power hopes to turn around season-opening loss to Lathrop in first title game in country.
Lathrop (Fairbanks) will try to repeat what was considered its biggest win in school
history Saturday when the Malemutes battle perennial state power
Soldotna in the Alaska School Activities Association Division II
football championships. Alaska will be the
first state to complete a 2021 fall high school football season Oct. 22, a year after it had
to shut down its 2020 postseason due to the pandemic.
Lathrop (6-1) opened
the season with a shocking 27-21 win over Soldotna, winners of eight straight
state titles and 22 straight games heading into the 2021 opener.
Since
then, the Stars (7-1) have rattled off seven straight wins, including a 73-20
semifinal win over North Pole last week. According to the
Peninsula Clarion,
they scored on 10 of their 12 possessions, piled up more than 500 yards
and took a 30-0 lead in the first quarter en route to their most
lopsided win of the season.
Gehret Medcoff rushed eight times for 146 yards, including touchdowns of 63 and 46
yards,
Brock Wilson rushed just four times for 97 yards including TDs of
58 and 29 yards and quarterback
Brayden Taylor accounted for three
scores to highlight a balanced attack.
Galen Brantley Jr. has guided Soldotna to a 156-15 mark since 2004 with 10 unbeaten seasons.
File photo by Skip Hickey
The
one-sided game was in stark contrast to the previous week when Soldotna
squeaked out a 42-41 win over South Anchorage on a last-minute Taylor TD run, who also preserved the victory with an interception on
defense.
The Stars were the ones in despair to
start the season when Lathrop pulled off the upset. The
previous four meetings between the teams were
lopsided Soldotna victories — including two in 2019, 51-14 and 69-22 — the
latter for the state Division II state title.
The
Aug. 20 victory at Lathrop was so emotional and surprising, Malemute
players were moved to tears. They are only the third team in a decade
to knock off the Stars.
"It is like
investing four years into something, getting it all ready and then it
all comes out and that's why you cry," Lathrop senior linebacker
James Opp told
webcenterfairbanks.com. "It's crazy. It''s a lot."
Said
Lathrop coach Luke Balash: "It is something special to see teenage boys
crying with emotion. They were a part of something special, bigger than
themselves and that is a big deal."
Soldotna, under
coach Galen Brantley Jr., has been a big deal for some time
now, going 156-15 since 2004 with 10 unbeaten seasons during that stretch.
A season-opening defeat in 2018, 18-13 at home to West
Anchorage, ended a 59-game win streak that began after a first-game loss in 2012, 27-7 at home against Palmer. Sometimes the Stars don't align in the early part of the year but seem to gain momentum as it progresses.
Last season, due to COVID-19, Soldotna played four games ... all victories. Brantley Jr. said the best part of last week's semifinal wins was
to just come out of the game healthy. They'll play a Lathrop team that
moved into the finals following a 14-12 win over Eagle River.
Lathrop is No. 4 in the state, according to the MaxPreps computer rankings, and Soldotna is No. 5. Since 2010, the Stars have finished among the top 5 every season, including No. 1 in 2013, 2016 and 2019.
Snow is forecast in Anchorage on Thursday and Friday, with clearing skies Saturday and temperatures "soaring" into the middle 30s.
“Now if we can avoid the land mines of
COVID throughout the week, and show up with everything, we feel like we
have a great chance," Brantley Jr. told the Clarion.
In the other ASAA playoff final on Saturday,
Redington (Wasilla) plays
Houston (Big Lake) at noon in the Division III championship. The Division I championship game is scheduled for Oct. 22.
Soldotna hopes to huddle up for another championship and a little revenge when it takes on Lathrop on Saturday.
File photo by Skip Hickey
