Bartlett climbs atop football poll

"Everybody wants to be well thought of," Bartlett head coach John Jessen said Tuesday, a day after his Golden Bears were named Alaska's top large-schools football team in the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network's weekly poll.

But Jessen said a top ranking in August is a far cry from success in October.

"It's not time to put the balls away yet," he said.

Bartlett moved into the top spot with a 39-0 non-conference rout of Wasilla, combined with a loss to Colony by previously top-ranked North Pole.

In its victory, Bartlett racked up more than 400 yards on the ground. Senior running backs Cyrus Chenault (198 yards, two touchdowns) and Jamal Hale (182 yards, three touchdowns) accounted for most of that yardage.

Chenault said the Golden Bears were happy with the weekend's performance, but the ranking isn't going to anyone's head.

"We don't think about that at all," he said.

The Colony Knights moved up into the No. 2 spot with a 17-7 Railbelt Conference win over preseason No. 1 North Pole, while the Service Cougars earned themselves a No. 3 ranking with their first win over Cook Inlet Conference rival South.

Juneau-Douglas dropped a spot to No. 4 with a 41-0 Railbelt win over West Valley and the Chugiak Mustangs made their poll debut at No. 5 following a 37-0 CIC win over East.

Jessen said it's still too early to tell which teams will be left standing once the dust settles two months from now.

"I keep thinking it's really balanced this year," he said.

If Bartlett wants to hold onto the top spot next week, they'll have to get past an unranked South team that Jessen said is far from a pushover.

"They have a lot of confidence," he said. "I expect it to be a fight."

In the small-schools poll, Kenai jumped up two spots from last week following a dominating 47-0 win over a hard-luck Lathrop squad.

Leading up to the game, Lathrop was forced to practice mostly indoors because of heavy smoke in the Fairbanks area. On its drive south, its bus broke down in Anchorage. Then, following the loss at Kenai, the Malemutes discovered someone had stolen several thousand dollars worth of electronics from a room at the school where the team had stored belongings. Kenai police are investigating the crime.

Preseason No. 1 Soldotna fell to the fourth spot in the poll following a 34-21 loss at West in a game that saw SoHi's record-tying 29-game winning streak come to an end.

Four of the five ranked small-school teams come from the Northern Lights Conference, which has claimed seven consecutive state titles at the small-schools level.

Eielson is the lone Greatland Conference team in the poll at No. 2 following a 35-0 conference win over Seward. Ravens coach David DeVaughn said the NLC is clearly where the small-schools powers reside.

"They've got a little bigger enrollment and are traditionally football schools," he said. "They hold all the cards until someone takes them away."

DeVaughn said he doesn't believe his squad deserves to be ranked ahead of NLC powers Soldotna and Kodiak, which grabbed the No. 3 spot with a 21-7 non conference win at Barrow.

"I think it's definitely too high right now," he said. "We haven't done a whole lot to earn that yet."

DeVaughn did admit his high-flying Ravens shouldn't be taken too lightly.

"We have the potential to be a good, solid team," he said.

Daily News reporter Matt Tunseth can be reached at mtunseth@adn.com or 257-4335.

Week 2 poll Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network high school football poll.

LARGE SCHOOLS 1. Bartlett (1-0) 2. Colony (1-0) 3. Service (1-0) 4. Juneau-Douglas (1-0) 5. Chugiak (1-0) Others receiving votes: Palmer

SMALL SCHOOLS 1. Kenai (1-0) 2. Eielson (1-0) 3. Kodiak (1-0) 4. Soldotna (0-1) 5. Homer (1-0) Others receiving votes: Skyview