Alaska News

Colony extends Lathrop losing streak to 20

The fifth-ranked Colony Knights faced the football team with the state's longest losing streak with predictable results Friday night.

The Knights scored all their points in the first half in a 31-14 Railbelt Conference romp over Lathrop, which lost its 20th straight game.

Skye Rench scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns on runs of 13 and 8 yards and the Knights never looked back.

Anthony Bricker tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Colony kicker Connor Weihs, who also nailed a 25-yard field goal.

Colony, which was coming off an impressive 26-7 victory over previously undefeated Juneau-Douglas, improved to 3-2 overall, 3-0 in the Railbelt.

Lathrop (0-5, 0-3) got on the scoreboard in the second half with two Jonah Silva touchdown passes. He connected with Vincent Barnett for a 60-yard play in the third quarter and hit Matt McCoy with a 40-yarder in the fourth.

Palmer 47, North Pole 19

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Four players scored two touchdowns apiece to give Palmer an easy 47-19 Railbelt Conference win over North Pole in Fairbanks.

Douglas Chadwick raced 54 yards for Palmer's first touchdown and Moo Rogers scored for North Pole on a 10-yard run in a first quarter that ended with Palmer ahead by a point, 7-6.

The Moose (3-2 overall, 2-1 Railbelt) soon went on a tear. Jim McCall rushed for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass. Ian Arhens rushed for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass. David Clement ran for two touchdowns, and Jackson Buresh threw the TD passes to McCall and Ahrens.

The loss will make it tough for North Pole (1-4, 1-3) to return to the playoffs this season. The Patriots were a state semifinalist last season.

Juneau 31, Wasilla 14

Juneau-Douglas quarterback Phil Fenumiai connected with Colin Gozelski for a 33-yard touchdown pass late in the game to cement a 31-14 home victory over the Wasilla Warriors.

The Crimson Bears (4-1 overall, 3-1 in the Railbelt Conference) led 17-0 at the half.

Wasilla dropped to 2-3 and 1-2.

Soldotna 46, Skyview 27

Soldotna played like a No. 1 team Friday night, steamrolling Skyview 46-27 in a Northern Lights Conference game at Skyview.

The Stars, ranked first among small schools in the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network poll, ran their record to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference while snapping Skyview's three-game winning streak. The Panthers slipped to 3-2, 1-2.

Phil Bennett of Soldotna ran for 123 yards and two scores, but teammate Robbie Smithwick nearly doubled his output with 224 yards and a pair of scores.

Smithwick averaged more than 22 yards per carry.

As expected, the game was a showdown of a high-powered running team against a strong passing attack, with Soldotna's ground game prevailing -- 487 yards rushing versus Skyview's 209 yards passing.

Soldotna, which hasn't lost a Northern Lights game since 2005, had four running backs with more than 60 yards.

E. Marriott 27, Ketchikan 7

Nathan Muir, one of 18 players on the roster for Earl Marriott of Surrey, British Columbia, rushed for two touchdowns in the first half to trigger his team's 27-7 nonconference win Friday night over Ketchikan.

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The Canadians clinched the victory with a long fourth-quarter drive that lasted almost 11 minutes and ended with a 12-yard touchdown run by Peter Hayer.

Luke Purschwitz scored the lone touchdown for Ketchikan (1-2 overall) on a 49-yard run.

Earl Marriott finished its Alaska trip with a 1-1 record. It lost to Sitka 21-13 last weekend.

Anchorage Daily News

sports@adn.com

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