And you thought the Palmer Moose liked to run the football.

The Moose put aside the ground game they've used to great success over the years and took to the air Saturday in Fairbanks -- with great results.

Quarterback Dustin Silva passed for 146 yards and four touchdowns in Palmer's 33-0 Railbelt Conference rout of West Valley.

It was a rare aerial performance by fourth-ranked Palmer, which usually sticks to a ground-oriented offense.

"Dustin Silva is a great quarterback," senior running back Brennan Bohman told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "He's a returner, and we all have a lot of confidence in him when the ball is in his hands. With receivers like Jimmy McCall and Kris Merritt and Mike Daniels, we have a lot of confidence that we can throw the ball and run the ball."

The Moose did both against West Valley to run their record to 3-0 overall, 2-0 in the Railbelt. Palmer entered the game ranked fourth in this week's Alaska Sports Brodcasting Network's statewide media poll.

Silva completed 8 of 14 passes -- an enormous number of attempts for a Palmer team -- and hit McCall, Merritt and Daniels with touchdown passes. McCall caught two, both of them 20-yarders. Daniels scored on a 15-yarder and Merritt on an eight-yard play.

Bohman spearheaded the running attack by gaining 163 yards on 20 carries, including a nine-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

"You've got to give props to the offensive line because they create the holes for the running backs and all we have to do is read and run,'' Bohman said. "We've got a pretty young line, but all week we've been working on getting our calls and getting everything right.''

Palmer led 19-0 at the end of three quarters and added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the game way out of West Valley's reach. The Wolfpack are 0-3 and have scored once this season.

Palmer 7 2 0 14 -- 33

West Valley 0 0 0 0 -- 0

First Quarter

PAL -- McCall 21 pass from Silva (Zegzdryn kick), :30.6.

Second Quarter

PAL -- Daniels 15 pass from Silva (kick failed), 8:24.

PAL -- Bohman 9 run (pass failed), 1:03.

Fourth Quarter

PAL-- McCall 21 pass from Silva (Zegzdryn kick), 7:22.

PAL -- Merritt 8 pass from Silva (Zegzdryn kick), 3:52.

PAL WV

First downs 17 9

Rushes-yards 41-289 34-153

Comp-Att-Int 8-15-0 3-12-1

Passing yards 146 18

Return yards 130 41

Punts 2-20.0 3-32.3

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-0

Penalties-Yards 5-35 3-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-- Palmer: Bohman 20-163, McCall 4-76, Ahrens 9-32, Silva 4-17, Sorenson 1-5, Corbin 1-(-1), Scoresby 2-(-3). West Valley: Comeau 15-77, Cogley 7-41, McKinstry 8-22, Plass 2-8, Agae 2-5.

PASSING--Palmer: Silva 8-15-0-146, Bohman 0-1-0-0, Corbin 0-0-0-0. West Valley: McKinstry 3-12-0-18, Plass 0-0-1-0 .

RECEIVING--Palmer: McCall 3-88, Ahrens 2-23, Merritt 2-20, Daniels 1-15. West Valley: Cogley 1-10, Clark 1-6, Comeau 1-2 .

Seward 40, Valdez 16

Brian Schmidt flashed some speed and endurance in Seward's 40-16 toppling of Valdez, racing 71 yards for one touchdown and 55 yards for another in the Greatland Conference game in Seward.

Evan Pullins returned a fumble 15 yards for a defensive touchdown for the Seahawks, who also got touchdowns from Aaron Sorenson, Sam Rininger and Michael Thorn.

The win was the second straight for the Seahawks, who last week snapped an 11-game losing streak that dated back to 2007.

Seward improved to 2-1 with its first conference win of the season and Valdez remained winless in three games.

Kodiak 48, Thunder Mountain 20

Raphael Matautia scored on two explosive plays and Riley McFarlin rushed for a pair of touchdowns to power the Kodiak Bears to a 48-20 home-field victory over Thunder Mountain.

Matautia returned a kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown and caught a 25-yard scoring strike from Matthew Chavarria as Kodiak improved to 2-1 with the non conference win.

McFarlin rushed for a team-high 78 yards and scored on runs of 48 and nine yards.

Quarterback Camden Thomas scored two touchdowns for Thunder Mountain, a first-year team in the new Southeast Conference that fell to 0-2.

Eielson 48, Barrow 13

Barrow hung around for the first half of a Greatland Conference game at the Whalers' wind-swept artificial turf before Eielson ran away with it in the second half.

The visiting Ravens outscored Barrow 27-6 after halftime to remain undefeated (3-0 in conference, 3-0 overall). Barrow slipped to 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Soldotna 70, Houston 0

The Soldotna Stars scored early and often in a 70-0 bruising of Houston in a Northern Lights Conference game Saturday in Houston.

Soldotna returned the opening kickoff to Houston's four-yard line. Nineteen seconds had ticked off the clock when Dylon Story rushed four yards into the end zone.

That was the first of five first-quarter touchdowns for the Stars, who improved to 2-0 in the Northern Lights and 2-1 overall. Soldotna scored on each of its first five possessions to lead 35-0 after one quarter.

It was 56-0 at the half, with Story scoring three times.

It was the latest punishment taken this season by Houston, which is 0-3 and hasn't scored a point yet.

Soldotna 35 21 7 7 -- 70

Houston 0 0 0 0 -- 0

First Quarter

S -- Story 4 run (Koch kick), 11:41

S -- Story 43 run (Koch kick), 9:22

S -- Syverson 31 run (Koch kick), 7:35

S -- Price 60 run (Koch kick), 4:44

S -- Jansen 2 run (Koch kick), :11

Second quarter

S -- Price 40 run (Koch kick), 7:45

S -- Story 14 run (Koch kick), 7:31

S -- Harvey 15 run (Koch kick), 2:10

Third Quarter

S -- Dimick 7 run (Koch kick), 7:35

Fourth Quarter

S -- Harvey 17 run (Koch kick), 3:23

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- Soldotna: Story 4-70, Price 4-122, Jansen 4-46, Jester 3-17, Dimick

7-51, Fowler 5-39, Harvey 5-40, Syverson 2-42. Houston: Dukes 6-4, Frank 3-0, Qual 1-4, Ruta 1-(-2).

Passing -- Soldotna: Jansen 0-2-0 --. Houston: Frank 9-25-4--123.

Receiving -- Houston: Lapham 2-34, Qual 4-59, Richardson 1-20, Buzby 1-7, Ruta 1-3.

South 27, Dimond 7

After a scoreless first half filled with decent defense and lots of mistakes, South scored four unanswered touchdowns en route to a 27-7 Cook Inlet Conference victory over Dimond at Anchorage Football Stadium.

South lost three fumbles in the first half, while Dimond mustered 38 yards on 29 plays -- 12 of which were for negative yardage.

The Wolverines got rolling in the second half, recovering a Dimond fumble and cashing in soon after with Kyle Kirn's two-yard quarterback sneak.

Elliott Bauer contributed touchdown runs of 57 and 38 yards and Andrew Hornak scored on a one-yard plunge to give South a 27-0 lead.