Sports

Dimond makes easy, season-ending work of Eagle River, 58-0

Dimond substituted early, often and generously. The Lynx rarely attempted passes. And they kept the amount of damage Jordan Tufaga inflicted on winless, overmatched Eagle River to a sportsmanlike level Thursday in a season-ending Cook Inlet Conference football game with little at stake, and certainly nothing of significance.

Dimond, which was eliminated from playoff contention last week, eased to a 58-0 victory at its Alumni Field, closing the campaign 4-4 overall and 3-4 in the CIC.

Eagle River absorbed another pounding, and another second half with a running clock -- the latter courtesy of agreement by the head coaches -- and finished 0-8 overall, 0-7 in the CIC.

Back in the day, baseball players referred to this kind of late-season game, one between two teams with zero postseason prospects, as "playing out the string.'' You play it because it is on the schedule.

Still, Tufaga went out on a high note on Senior Night, which doubled as Breast Cancer Awareness Night, when many Lynx wore pink gear, the Lynx cheerleaders adorned their hair with pink ribbons and the Wolves cheerleaders waved pink pom-poms.

Tufaga last week torched East for six touchdowns -- five rushing scores and another touchdown on a fumble return -- and Friday only touched the football six times. That still was enough for him to punish the Wolves for four touchdowns, of four different types.

Tufaga blazed for a 39-yard touchdown on his first carry, returned a punt 59 yards to the end zone later in the first quarter and, before quarter's end, caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Jeremiah Macalino-Maga. In the opening minute of the second quarter, he picked off Wolves freshman Chad Heagy and returned it 39 yards for a pick-six.

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Not a bad two-week haul for Tufaga -- 10 touchdowns scored five different ways: rushing, receiving, punt return, fumble return and interception return.

By the second quarter, Dimond coach Chris Borst and his staff already were substituting freely. That continued, so much so that the final carry of the game went to Daejuan Bland, who racked a 28-yard gain on what Borst said was the junior's only rushing attempt this season.

The Lynx also received a 1-yard touchdown run from lineman-turned-fullback Isaiah Pili; a 3-yard touchdown pass from Maga to Dominick Sipili; a 60-yard scoring run on a fake punt from Rocky Vasai -- the players, not the Lynx staff, called that one in the second quarter -- a 24-yard touchdown run from Romi Zavala and a 33-yard field goal from Cedarian Brunelle.

Brunelle's fourth-quarter field goal required more of him than just booting the ball off Maga's hold. Brunelle ran onto the field for the attempt, but didn't go straight to his kicking position. He raced back to his own 40 to pick up the kicking tee, which had sat there for several minutes after a Dimond kickoff. Brunelle hustled the nearly 40 yards to where Maga awaited and seconds later calmly knifed a strong kick through the uprights.

Reach reporter Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog.

Eagle River 0 0 0 0 ? -- 0

Dimond 35 13 0 10 ?-- 58

First Quarter

Dimond -- Tufaga 39 run (Brunelle kick), 10:22

Dimond -- Tufaga 59 punt return (Brunelle kick), 9:08

Dimond -- I. Pili 1 run (Brunell kick), 5:14

Dimond -- Sipili 3 pass from Macalino-Maga (Brunelle kick), 2:23

Dimond -- Tufaga 18 pass from Macalino-Maga (Brunelle kick), 29.6

Second Quarter

Dimond -- Tufaga 39 interception return (kicked failed), 11:19

Dimond ?-- Vasai 60 run (Brunelle kick), 2:09

Fourth Quarter

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Dimond? -- Romi Zavala 24 run (Brunell kick), 8:09

Dimond ?-- Brunelle 33 field goal, 4:23

Eagle River Dimond

First downs 6 11

Rushes-yards 27-83 29-293

Passing yards 36 48

Passes 4-10-3--?36 4-5-0--?48

Punts 2-26.5 0-0.0

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Fumbles-lost 5-4 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-31 9-72

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- ? Eagle River: Wilson 10-64, Banks 13-30, Heagy 3-3, Team 1-(-14). Dimond: Vasai 4-76. Tufaga 3-62, Romi Zavala 3-58, Tanuvasa 3-38, Bland 1-28, Macalino-Maga 4-19, Brunelle 1-8, Nelson 2-7, Pili 4-6, Sipili 1-2, Dobbins 2-(-4), Savaiinaea 1-(-7).

PASSING ?-- Eagle River: Heagy 4-10-3?36. Dimond: Macalino-Maga 3-4-0?36, Vasai 1-1-0?12.

RECEIVING ?-- Eagle River: Smith 2-36, Barnes 1-4, Banks 1-(-4). Dimond: Tufaga 1-18, Hendrickson 1-15, Parker 1-12, Sipili 1-3.

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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