Sports

Soldotna's Stars streaking once again

Soldotna's football team is streaking once again, but Stars head coach Galen Brantley would prefer not to dwell on his team's potential record-tying run of victories.

"I'll be honest with you, we don't put a whole lot of stock in it," Brantley said as his 4-0 Stars prepared for a Saturday showdown at Northern Lights Conference rival Homer. "We don't talk about it and it's not something we put up in the locker room."

Soldotna's last loss was a 27-7 defeat to the Palmer Moose in the opening game of the 2012 season. Since then the Stars have reeled off 24 consecutive victories. If they win the final three games of the regular season and two potential playoff games, they'll tie their own Alaska record of 29 straight wins set between the 2006-08 seasons, a mark they share with the East Thunderbirds of 1985-87.

Brantley said Soldotna's previous record-tying run may have surprised those who hadn't been paying attention to the small schools division (the Stars moved into the medium schools classification when that division was created in 2011).

"That first time I think it kind of snuck up on people," he said.

But as the Stars close in on history once again, Brantley said he's already hearing talk about the streak.

"There's certainly been a little more attention this time," he said.

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Soldotna's previous streak was stopped by Tim Davis' large school West Eagles, who defeated the Stars 34-21 in the opening game of 2009. West went undefeated in the regular season that year and featured Cook Inlet Conference Offensive Player of the Year Justin Kauffman and co-Defensive Player of the Year David Solomona.

When asked how to best slow down the Stars, Davis answered with a laugh.

"Ha! Having those guys on the team we had in 2009 would help," he said.

Davis said the secret to Soldotna's success is rooted in the program's coaching staff. The Stars have only had four head coaches since the school opened in 1980: Bob Boudreaux, Rob Dimick, Sarge Truesdell and Brantley, who has been the head coach since 2007.

"He's probably the smartest coach in the state," Davis said of Brantley.

Brantley said continuity in coaching is the key to building successful programs like Soldotna's.

"If you look at any of the programs that are successful year over year, they have the same coaching in place," said Brantley, who graduated from Soldotna in 1993. "Look at Palmer, those guys have been there since I was in high school."

The last time Soldotna missed the state playoffs was 2005, when the Stars went a pedestrian 5-3 and were knocked out of playoff contention by eventual champion Kenai Central in the final game of the regular season. Since then they've gone 71-6, including 14-4 against teams from the large schools division. The only small or medium division foe to beat Soldotna in that span is arch rival Kenai, which defeated the Stars for the 2009 small schools championship and again in the 2011 medium schools title game.

Since Alaska split its football playoffs into attendance-based classifications, the Stars have won six state championships (4 small, 2 medium) -- one more than Kenai's five (4 small, 1 medium).

Brantley said he's heard talk about the Stars potentially moving into the large school classification. With the recent conversion of nearby Skyview to a middle school, Soldotna has about 750 students -- the cutoff for large schools is 801 -- and the Alaska School Activities Association is set to reevaluate football conferences and classifications in the coming months.

Brantley said the Skyview reshuffling added both players and a defensive coordinator, fellow Valley City State graduate Eric Pomerleau, who he credited for running Soldotna's stingy defense. The Stars have allowed just six points in four games.

If the Stars do move up, Brantley said that won't change the way his team approaches each game.

"We'll play whoever they put in front of us," he said.

Players from West team frequently square off against Soldotna players in offseason camps, and Davis said he thinks the Stars would have no trouble fending for themselves at any level of play in Alaska.

"Of course it depends on each year, but I think they'd be a playoff-caliber team year after year," he said. "They're always going to be pretty solid."

Another factor that's played into Soldotna's success is their unique offense, a "full house T," a version of the old-school, run-first wing T. It's a system based on precise blocking at the point of attack and deception in the offensive backfield, where the running backs line up three-wide directly behind the quarterback. Both Brantley and Truesdell coach the offense at the youth football level in Soldotna, meaning many incoming high school players have run the offense for several years.

"I'd say they're getting it pretty extensively before they get here," Brantley said.

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Despite his players' familiarity with the scheme, Brantley said there isn't anything special about what the Stars do on offense.

"It's not like there's a whole lot of magic to it," he said. "We've made a living running the same five plays."

Davis said it's a system that's difficult for opponents to plan for.

"It's unique and realistically the kids they have they get 'em believing they can run a few specific plays and run them really well," he said.

Brantley said the program also benefits from strong community support.

"We have supportive administrators and very involved parents," he said.

The Stars won't have an easy road to tie the streak. Their upcoming schedule includes a road game this Saturday at Northern Lights Conference rival Homer, then home dates against nonconference West Valley in Week 7 and Kenai in the final week of the regular season -- a game that could very well be for the conference title. If they can negotiate that stretch without a loss, they'd have to defeat the No. 2 team from the Southeast Conference in the medium schools playoffs before taking on the winner of the other semifinal for the championship.

For his part, Brantley said he's going with the tried-and-true coaching cliche of "one game at a time."

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"I don't think we can overlook anybody," he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 257-4335 or mtunseth@alaskadispatch.com

Decade of dominance

Soldotna football since 2005:

Year Record Playoff result

2005 5-3 missed playoffs

2006 9-1 Small schools champions

2007 10-0 Small schools champions

2008 10-0 Small schools champions

2009 8-3 Small schools runner-up

2010 11-0 Small schools champions

2011 9-1 Medium schools runner-up

2012 9-1 Medium schools champions

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2013 11-0 Medium schools champions

2014 4-0

Total: 86-9 6 state championships

Matt Tunseth

Matt Tunseth is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and former editor of the Alaska Star.

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