Kenai, Homer open with impressive shutouts

The Kenai Kardinals sure were Friday night. So were the Homer Mariners.

Both teams rolled to victory on the Kenai Peninsula as Alaska once again became the first state in the nation to kick off its high school football season. Kenai crushed Lathrop 47-0 and Homer blanked visiting Nikiski 27-0.

Sophomore quarterback A.J. Hull ran, passed and kicked for points for the Kardinals, throwing for four touchdowns, rushing for one and booting five extra points. He finished with 143 passing yards and 26 rushing yards.

"He didn't surprise us at all," Kenai assistant coach Jim Beeson said. "He's just a good little athlete."

The game was just the latest thing to go sideways for Lathrop this week.

Like all of the Fairbanks teams, the Malemutes had to practice indoors all week because of heavy smoke from Interior wildfires. Then as they drove south Thursday, their bus broke down in Anchorage. They didn't get to Kenai until around midnight.

Beeson said the indoor practices put Lathrop at a disadvantage.

"It's hard to spread out and run a whole play," he said. "Just the stuff you take for granted that you can do outside, like a quarterback exchange, you can't simulate in a gym."

Hill, who spent most of last season quarterbacking the junior varsity team, hit Dalton Chappell, Bryson Lowe, Silas Rodriguez and Nick Rouswell with touchdown passes.

Chappell, who caught three passes for 51 yards, also snagged an interception and returned it 23 yards for a third-quarter score.

In Homer, David Craig broke loose for scoring runs of 40 and 24 yards to stake the Mariners to a 14-0 halftime lead.

Homer only went to the air four times and gained all of its yardage on the ground, covering 134 yards on 43 carries.

Kaden Spurgeon led all rushers with 92 yards on 19 carries for Nikiski, which -- like Homer -- stayed on the ground most of the game.

Lathrop 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Kenai 14 13 14 6 -- 47

1st Quarter

Kenai -- Hull 10 run (Hull kick), 11:01

Kenai -- Chappell 19 pass from Hull (Hull kick), 5:12

2nd Quarter

Kenai -- Lowe 16 pass from Hull (Hull kick), 7:06

Kenai -- Rodriguez 25 pass from Hull (kick failed), 3:05

3rd Quarter

Kenai -- Rouswell 23 pass from Hull (Hull kick), 4:22

Kenai -- Chappell 23 interception return (Hull kick), 4:09

4th Quarter

Kenai -- Kiefer 23 run (kick failed), 10:31

Lathrop Kenai

First downs 8 13

Rushes-yards 31-51 35-200

Passing yards 20 143

Passing 8-11-1 7-17-1

Punts-avg 5-30.4 1-31

Fumbles-lost 11-4 1-1

Penalties-yards 9-90 8-70

7

Individual statistics

Rushing -- Lathrop: Sutton 12-46, Nunemann 7-40, Silva 8-(-36), Nichols 1-(-2), Frye 2-1, M. McCoy 1-2. Kenai: Kiefer 16-108, Rouswell 13-64, Hull 5-26, Conner 1-2.

Passing -- Lathrop: Silva 4-6-1-29, Nunemann 4-5-0-(-9). Kenai: Hull 7-17-1-143.

Receiving -- Lathrop: Mitchell 5-34, M. McCoy 1-(-4), Nichols 1-(-4), Sutton 1-(-6). Kenai: Chappell 3-51, Rodriguez 2-53, Rouswell 1-23, Lowe 1-16.

Nikiski 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Homer 7 7 0 13 -- 27

1st Quarter

Homer -- Craig 26 run (Walsworth kick)

2nd Quarter

Homer -- Craig 40 run (Walsworth kick)

4th Quarter

Homer -- Hendrickson 2 run (kick failed)

Homer -- Carr 6 run (Walsworth kick)

Nikiski Homer

First downs 9 9

Rushes-yards 34-104 43-134

Passing yards 11 0

Passing 2-18-1 1-4-0

Punts-avg 5-23 8-30.4

Fumbles-lost 5-3 0-0

Penalties-yards 4-30 8-70

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Nikiski: Spurgeon 19-92, S. Krogseng 2-11, Parker 7-4, Wik 3-1, Anderson 1-0, Covey 2-(-4). Homer: Craig 8-62, Hendrickson 19-41, Jacobsen 1-15, Carr 9-10, Resetarits 2-9, Day 4-(-3).

Passing -- Nikiski: Anderson 2-17-1-11, Wik 0-1-0-0. Homer: Hendrickson 1-1-0-0, Shealy 0-3-0-0.

Receiving -- Nikiski: Wik 2-11. Homer: Craig 1-0.