No one exhaled harder than West's Julo Tagalu when time expired Friday night and his No. 1-ranked football team remained unbeaten with its 18-13 win over No. 2-ranked Dimond.
In the space of just three plays and 42 seconds of clock time late in the game, Tagalu covered an emotional journey from agony to elation.
Tagalu's fumble in Dimond territory as the Eagles hoped to run out the clock furnished the Lynx the ball at their 34-yard line with 1 minute, 13 seconds left.
But on Dimond's second snap from scrimmage, Tagalu sacked Lynx quarterback Vondell Pilcher and forced a fumble West's Ozzie Seuteni recovered with 31 seconds left. That turnover enabled the Eagles (3-0, 2-0 Cook Inlet Conference) to run out the clock at Dimond's Alumni Field.
Following his fumble, Tagalu said, all he could think about was redemption – and preserving victory for teammate Darian Lawson, who suffered an arm injury in the first half and was done for the evening.
" 'I gotta get that ball back, I gotta get that ball back,' '' Tagalu said he told himself. " 'I gotta get that ball back for Darian and for my team.' ''
Fittingly, Tagalu's sack and forced fumble effectively ended a game in which each defense basically shook down the opposing offense for its lunch money.
And that was against offenses coming off explosive performances. West scored 45 points on West Valley in its season opener and dropped a 48-point anvil on Service a week ago. Dimond was coming off 47-21 win over South.
But West forced Dimond into six turnovers – five interceptions and that late fumble – and held Lynx rushers to just eight yards on 28 carries. The Eagles also benefited from a first-quarter Dimond snap that sailed over the head of punter John Paul Moran and handed the Eagles exquisite field position.
Dimond seized four turnovers – three interceptions and a fumble – and limited West's dynamic passing game to a mere 66 yards.
"Phenomenal effort from both defenses,'' said West coach Tim Davis. "(A combination of) athleticism and early-season missed execution by the offenses. I know they probably feel like they left points out there, and I know we feel we did.''
West's interceptions came from Lawson, P.J. Seui, Shanai Leon, Gordon Tui and Marc Fisher. Dimond (2-1, 1-1 CIC) got two interceptions from Raffa Zavala and one from J.J. Tanuvasa.
"West has got a good defense,'' said Zavala, a defensive back and receiver who also caught a game-high seven passes for 56 yards. "Our defense stopped them too, but they finished some plays.
"We'll be back. We'll see them in the playoffs.''
In a tale of two halves – West scored all its points in the first half, Dimond answered with all its points in the fourth quarter – the Eagles prospered early courtesy of ridiculously good field position.
West's three scoring "drives'' started, respectively, at Dimond's 13-yard line, its 10 and its 24. Those starting points came by virtue of that errant Dimond snap on a punt, Lawson's 41-yard punt return and Seui's interception.
Tagalu rushed for two of West's touchdowns and Seui, who led all rushers with 91 yards on 20 carries, furnished the other, all of which gave the Eagles an 18-0 lead.
Dimond finally responded early in the fourth quarter. Zavala's 32-yard punt return set up the Lynx at West's 27. Three plays later, Pilcher scrambled nearly all the way to the left sideline, reversed course back to the middle of the field and hit Kota Ainu'u with a 22-yard touchdown strike. Tucker Lyons' extra point closed West's lead to 18-7.
Three possessions later, Pilcher's 43-yard pass to Ainu'u set up Pilcher's 2-yard touchdown pass to Tanuvasa. The Lynx couldn't execute the point-after – they never got the kick away – but pulled to within 18-13 with 2:04 left.
Then Tagalu fumbled, but quickly gained redemption with his sack and forced fumble.
"He'll have some ups and downs in his life,'' Davis said. "He responded from his down, and he overcame his adversity.''
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
West 6 12 0 0 -- 18
Dimond 0 0 0 13 -- 13
First Quarter
West – Tagalu 2 run (kick blocked), 6:23.
Second Quarter
West – Seui 1 run (kick failed), 7:18.
West – Tagalu 1 run (kick blocked), 4:32.
Fourth Quarter
Dimond – Ainu'u 22 pass from Pilcher (Lyons kick), 9:40.
Dimond – Tanuvasa 2 pass from Pilcher (conversion failed), 2:04.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – West: Seui 20-91, Tagalu 12-38, Duffy 4-18, Sommer 2-4, Tovio 3-(-1), Taylor 2-(-5). Dimond: Pilcher 12-14, Tanuvasa 11-7, Mathies 3-6, Hendrickson 2-(-19), Team 1-(-31).
PASSING – West: Duffy 8-24-1—66, Sommer 0-2-2--0. Dimond: Pilcher 14-24-3—149, Hendrickson 4-11-2--17.
RECEIVING – West: Leon 3-14, Seui 2-17, Taylor 1-34, Strong 1-5, Lawson 1-(-4). Dimond: Zavala 7-56, Sablan 5-43, Ainu'u 2-65, Tanuvasa 2-7, Boese 1-9, Tufaga 1-4.
In other games Friday
Colony got its first win of the season by handing Palmer its first loss of the season, 24-0 in Palmer, and West Valley fended off a ferocious North Pole comeback to win 27-26 in North Pole. Both were nonconference games.
In Palmer, Colony's Stephan Bilafer scored three touchdowns to help first-year coach Rhett Magner register his first victory.
Bilafer opened the scoring with a 60-yard dash to give his team a 7-0 lead. An interception gave the ball back to the Knights (1-2), who extended their lead to 10-0 with a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Boyer.
Boyer recovered a fumble by Palmer (2-1) to set up a 16-yard touchdown run by Bilafer. Bilafer's third touchdown came on a 35-yard run, and Boyer added a two-point conversion for a 24-0 halftime lead.
In Fairbanks, four first-half touchdown passes by Zach Lester were just enough to allow West Valley (2-1) hold off North Pole (2-1).
North Pole, down 27-6 at the half, charged back with a huge second-half effort by Dew Rogers.
Rogers rushed for two touchdowns, including a 68-yard run, and passed for another to lead the Patriots (2-1).