Sports

South, Soldotna enter playoffs atop statewide football poll

South held onto the top spot in the final Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network large schools media poll, which was released Monday.

The Wolverines (7-1) defeated Bartlett 35-14 last weekend to secure the Cook Inlet Conference's top seed in the upcoming state football playoffs. South went 7-0 against Alaska competition, its only loss coming at Stephenville, Texas, in Week 2. All five teams in the large schools poll remained the same – albeit in a slightly different order. The top three spots remained unchanged from last week, with Lathrop (7-1) and West (6-2) in the No. 2 and 3 spots. Bartlett (6-2) dropped from No. 4 to No. 5, swapping spots with Wasilla (6-2).

Soldotna remained on top of the combined small/medium schools poll after defeating Kenai Central 21-14 at home Saturday to push their winning streak to 27 in a row. Small schools Eielson (7-0) and Nikiski (7-1) stayed at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, while North Pole (5-3) moved into the fourth spot and Juneau (4-4) climbed to fifth. Seward and Kenai dropped out of the poll, which does not release how many voters were polled or how many votes went to each team. The hard-luck Kardinals (3-4) have gotten little love from the voters this season despite losing by a combined 19 points to Soldotna, Lathrop and Wasilla.

Rankings go out the window this weekend, however, when things will be settled on the field. In the large schools playoffs, South will host Palmer on Friday at 7 p.m. at Anchorage Football Stadium. The 2-6 Moose earned the third seed out of the Railbelt Conference. Also Friday, Bartlett will travel to the Mat-Su to face Railbelt No. 2 Wasilla at 7 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Saturday's large schools games include an all-Anchorage battle between CIC No. 3 West and No. 4 Service at 4 p.m. West won the regular season meeting 23-20 in August. The location of the game had yet to be determined Monday, but it will be either played at West's new stadium or Anchorage Football Stadium, according to Alaska School Activities Association associate director Rus Schreckenghost. Shreckenghost said details were still being finalized Monday and had to do with ongoing construction at the Eagles' new on-campus facility.

Also Saturday, CIC No. 5 Chugiak (4-4) will travel to Fairbanks to face Railbelt No. 1 Lathrop for a 6 p.m. showdown.

In the medium schools division, Dimond Alumni Field will host a pair of semifinal match-ups. Northern Lights Conference top seed Soldotna and Southeast Conference No. 2 Juneau will play at 1 p.m., followed by Southeast No. 1 North Pole and NLC No. 2 Kenai squaring off at 4 p.m.

At the small schools level, top seed Eielson will host Barrow (3-5) at 1 p.m. Friday, while No. 2 seed Nikiski will host No. 3 seed Seward (5-3) at 4:30 p.m.

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