But in the end, quarterback Amu Aukusitino and the Cougars came up with too many big plays for Eagle River to keep up with in a wild 66-36 Cook Inlet Conference win that kept Service undefeated.
Aukusitino threw three touchdown passes -- for 32 yards, 62 yards and 38 yard -- and returned an interception 50 yards to help his team improve to 6-0 in conference and 6-0-1 overall. He also ran for a 12-yard touchdown and threw for a PAT conversion.
Of the game's 14 touchdowns, seven covered 50 yards or more.
Much of the fireworks come in a frenetic span of 2 minutes, 4 seconds in the first quarter.
Service struck first with Aukusitino's 32-yard pass to Matthew Ilalio with 8:05 left in the quarter. Eagle River answered immediately with Josh Vanderlooven's 50-yard kickoff return at 7:56. Then came Aukusitino's 62-yard strike to Alan Busey at 7:38. And not long after that came Ed Hall's 55-yard run for Eagle River at 6:01.
That gave Service a 14-12 lead. With 41 seconds left in the quarter, Service built a small cushion when Aukusitino tossed a 38-yard touchdown to give his team a 21-12 lead into the second quarter.
Service staked a 38-22 lead at halftime and led 45-22 after three quarters.
The game featured two interception returns for touchdowns and two kickoff returns for touchdowns. The longest scoring player came on Malcolm Bell's 90-yard kickoff return that ended the scoring with 6:40 left. The shortest were a pair of one-yard bursts by Ilalio.
Eagle River, which picked up a mid-week victory when Chugiak was forced to forfeit three victories, moves to 1-5 in the CIC and 1-6 overall.
Service 21 17 7 21 -- 66
Eagle River 12 10 0 14 -- 36
First quarter
Service -- Ilalio 32 pass from Aukusitino (Bomar kick), 8:05
Eagle River -- Vanderlooven 50 kickoff return (kick failed), 7:56
Service -- Busey 62 pass from Aukusitino (Bomar kick), 7:38
Eagle River -- Hall 55 run (run failed), 6:01
Service -- Butler 38 pass from Aukusitino (Bomar kick), :41.
Second quarter
Eagle River -- Oberlander 33 FG, 11:04
Service -- Aukusitino 50 interception return (Busey pass from Aukusitino), 6:47
Service -- Ilalio 1 run (Bomar kick), 2:31
Eagle River -- Madubuko 58 pass from Kott (Patin kick), 1:24
Service -- safety, :10
Third quarter
Service -- Ilalio 1 run (Bomar kick), 7:54
Fourth quarter
Service -- Aukusitino 12 run (Bomar kick), 11:48
Eagle River -- Madubuko 11 pass from Kott (Dunn pass from Kott), 11:22
Service -- Toomer 2 run (Bomar kick), 8:22
Service -- Busey 75 interception return (Bomar kick), 7:17
Eagle River -- Bell 90 kickoff return (run failed), 6:40
Palmer 42, Colony 6
The Palmer Moose clinched a playoff spot Friday night by pounding the rival Colony Knights 42-6 at Palmer's Machetanz Field.
The Moose scored the final 30 points to turn a temporarily close game -- Colony trailed just 12-6 in the second quarter -- into a blowout.
Steven Lee scored on a catch-and-run play and the Moose ran in the point-after conversion to go up 20-6 with 7 minutes, 27 seconds left in the half.
Palmer struck again early in the third quarter with Jared Straight's athletic catch of a Jackson Buresh pass. Another two-point conversion made it 28-6.
Buresh found Ian Ahrens for another touchdown with 16 seconds left in the third quarter for a 35-6, and less than two minutes into the fourth quarter Palmer scored yet again to force a running clock.
Colony got its only touchdown when Wyatt Peltier dashed 25 yards to cap a drive during which the Knights twice converted on fourth down.
Wasilla 42, N. Pole 29
Wasilla secured its first playoff berth since 2007 by beating North Pole 43-29 Friday night in a Railbelt Conference contest in North Pole.
Devon Teeling rushed for 293 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Tyler Anderson caught a pair of touchdown pass from Ben Fielder to lead the Warriors.
North Pole grabbed a 14-8 lead early, but Wasilla charged back to lead 21-15 at the half.
Teeling scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter and a 49-yarder in the third. Fielder found Anderson with scoring strikes of 7 and 52 yards.
Moo Rogers led North Pole with three touchdowns, two on the ground and one in the air.
Nikiski 58, Seward 6
Nikiski scored touchdowns on all seven of its first-half possessions and scored on its first possession of the second half to force a running clock for the rest of the game in a 58-6 Greatland Conference home-field victory over Seward.
The Bulldogs didn't surrender a point until the final minute of the game. Deciding against taking a knee and running out the clock, Nikiski instead ran a play -- and fumbled away the ball. Seward capitalized with Sam Reninger's short run for a touchdown with 28 seconds left.
Colton Anderson, who missed last week's 56-0 romp over Delta Junction, fired three consecutive touchdown passes to get the Bulldogs started. Two of them went to Jesse Eide.
After that Stephen Hartley and Josh Brown took over scoring duties. Hartley scored on a 29-yard run to give Nikiski a 27-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and he and Brown scored all three second-quarter touchdowns. Hartley returned an interception five yards for a score and Brown rushed for a pair of touchdowns, once for 11 yards and another from six yards out.
That put Nikiski up 48-0 at the half, and Kaden Spurgeon's two-yard burst early in the third quarter made it 55-0 and put the mercy rule -- in the form of a running clock -- into play.
Garrett Fuller booted a 30-yard field goal to wrap up Nikiski's scoring.
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