Doesn't hurt, either, that the team has sprinted to a 4-0 record on the gridiron, that moved Thunder Mountain up to second place behind perennial small-schools power Soldotna in the latest Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network Football Poll, released on Monday.
Thunder Mountain joins Soldotna and defending Cook Inlet Conference champion West as the last undefeated teams midway through the 2010 high school football schedule.
By rolling to a 33-0 win at Ketchikan on Saturday, Thunder Mountain put itself in the driver's seat for securing the first football state playoff berth in Southeast Conference history. The Falcons top the standings and have only home games left on the schedule.
Meanwhile, the football wizards at West came from behind for the fourth consecutive time to pull out a 20-15 victory over South on Saturday to maintain the top spot among big schools.
Eagles' quarterback Conor Feckley had four turnovers and a seat on the bench before the first half ended.
"That was the worst half of football I've played, ever," Feckley said.
But he came out on fire in the second half, throwing three touchdown passes to lead West to another win.
The Eagles go for their 13th consecutive regular season victory on Saturday.
Unlucky 13? Perhaps not; the opponent is Eagle River.
But the team to watch among large schools may be the one at bottom of the top five. By dominating previously unbeaten Juneau 26-7 on Friday, Colony (2-2) squared its overall record. More importantly, the Knights improved to 2-0 in Railbelt Conference play and beat its nemesis for the first time in a dozen attempts.
"Tonight our guys believed in themselves, that they were better than Juneau," first-year Colony coach Brian McIntosh told the Frontiersman.
In particular, the Knights believed in quarterback Anthony Bricker, who rushed for a whopping 243 years and accounted for three touchdowns. Ten of Bricker's carries went for at least 10 yards; six gained at least 20 yards.
"He ran the ball extremely well," McIntosh told the Frontiersman. "He's our slash. He's a quarterback, a receiver. Last year he was playing running back. He does it all for us."
His Juneau counterpart, Phillip Fenumiai, was no slouch, completing 22 of 44 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown.
ASBN Football Poll after Week 4 with next opponent: Large Schools 1) West (4-0) vs. Eagle River 2) Service (3-1) vs. Chugiak 3) Chugiak (3-1) vs. Service 4) Bartlett (3-1) vs. Dimond 5) Colony (2-2) vs. Lathrop Others receiving votes: Juneau-Douglas, West Valley Small Schools 1) Soldotna (4-0) vs. Skyview 2) Thunder Mountain (4-0) vs. Sitka 3) Eielson (3-1) vs. Valdez 4) Kenai (2-2) vs. West Valley 5) Skyview (3-1) vs. Soldotna Other receiving votes: Kodiak Prep football polls
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