Sports

Service, Wasilla replace West, Colony in football poll

Service vaulted into this week's large-school football rankings just in time to make this week's game against South a battle between top-five teams.

The Cougars parlayed their 14-12 squeaker over Dimond into the No. 4 spot in the weekly Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network poll.

West and Colony, ranked fourth and fifth respectively last week, dropped out of the poll. West lost its place thanks to a 55-9 loss to South, and Colony was bounced after Wasilla whipped the Knights 50-20.

Wasilla's win was enough for the Warriors to secure the No. 5 spot in the large-school poll. Bartlett remains No.1, followed by South, Lathrop and Service. The top three teams remained the same as last week.

There were no changes in the poll for small-school and medium-school teams. Soldotna, winners of 25 in a row, continued its reign at the top of the rankings, followed by Eielson, Ketchikan, Nikiski and North Pole.

Only two games this week match ranked teams.

North Pole visits Wasilla on Friday, and South and Service meet in a Cook Inlet Conference game at Service on Friday.

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Both the South-Service game and the Eagle River-Chugiak game in Chugiak the same night will kick off at 8 p.m., an hour later than usual.

The late starts are an accommodation for Rosh Hashana, which begins at sundown Wednesday and ends at sundown Friday. The two-day Jewish New Year is one of several religious and cultural holidays observed by the Anchorage School District, which does not allow after-school activities on those days. Sundown is at 7:46 p.m. on Friday.

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