On Saturday, Eagle River faced North Pole in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Eagle River Wolves took a 17-8 hit to the loss column at the hands of the North Pole Patriots. Despite 123 more yards than the Patriots, the Wolves couldn't convert that extra yardage to scores.
Despite the loss, Eagle River still got an impressive performance from Michael Roschi, who rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries. Roschi's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 100 rushing yards dating back to last season. Eagle River also got a significant boost from Nolan Beaty, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 98 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Eagle River was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 279 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as North Pole only rushed for 97.
A big part of North Pole's win came down to the chemistry between Braiden Martin and his top target Devin Cooper-Jackson. Martin rushed for 18 yards and a touchdown while Cooper-Jackson rushed for 52 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
Eagle River's defeat dropped their record down to 3-3. As for North Pole, the victory was the fifth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 5-1.
Eagle River will square off against Soldotna at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. Soldotna knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 31 points or more in their past six matchups -- so hopefully Eagle River likes a good challenge. As for North Pole, they will face off against Palmer at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. North Pole is facing Palmer at the right time seeing as Palmer is stuck on a three-game losing streak.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
