Sports

Late touchdowns carry North Pole past Wolfpack

Forget football. Are you ready for some fireworks?

North Pole outlasted West Valley 41-35 Friday night in a dramatic game in Fairbanks that included a huge second half that produced 62 of the game's 76 points.

The fourth quarter featured 42 points and three lead changes, two of them in the final three minutes.

West Valley, which led 8-6 at the half and 21-13 after three quarters, had a chance to win at the end but the Wolfpack came up empty on two plays from the North Pole 4-yard line.

North Pole's Shane Hurst provided the winning points with a three-yard run that came with 2 minutes, 3 seconds to go.

At 2:29, West Valley grabbed a short-lived 35-33 led on Joshua Cummings' third touchdown run of the night, a six-yarder. Cummings also scored on runs of 11 and 63 yards.

North Pole jumped to a 6-0 lead when Deaundre Campbell returned the opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown. But the Patriots didn't lead again until Curtis McNeal returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown and a 33-28 North Pole lead with less than seven minutes left in the game.

ADVERTISEMENT