On Saturday, North Pole faced Lathrop in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The North Pole Patriots came out on top against the Lathrop Malemutes by a score of 28-19. The victory was nothing new for the Patriots as they're now sitting on three straight.
Patrick Melvin went supernova for North Pole, rushing for 156 yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Melvin a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Braiden Martin, who rushed for 20 yards and a touchdown.
North Pole's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Elijah Johnson and Landon Ritter. Johnson also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, making a tackle and defending a pass in addition to snagging an interception.
North Pole was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 269 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 172 rushing yards in three consecutive games.
When it comes to explaining why Lathrop lost, don't look at Oschaun Easaw. Despite the final result, he rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Easaw's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 115 rushing yards dating back to last season.
North Pole's win bumped their record up to 3-1. As for Lathrop, their defeat was their third straight at home, which dropped their record down to 1-3.
North Pole will welcome Chugiak at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Chugiak's defense has only allowed 16.8 points per game this season, so North Pole's offense will have their work cut out for them. As for Lathrop, they will head out on the road to challenge Eagle River at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
