Sports

Anchorage West picks apart Chugiak, turning 7 turnovers into 41-0 championship win

Panic did not infect the West football team when it lost consecutive games in midseason. The Eagles reasoned that each loss, to Chugiak and East, came by a mere touchdown, and while that was a drag, it was hardly cause for crying. Instead, they determined to learn from failure, fix their shortcomings and get back to the business of winning.

Sean Duffy remembered that stretch of the season late Friday night as he stood on his home field, draped in leis of candy – and glory. He smiled, then laughed, then shrugged his shoulders, and smiled some more. It was good to be the senior quarterback, and an Eagle.

"We looked at the film and thought we could fix the mistakes,'' Duffy recalled. "We had a rough patch, we corrected some things, and now we're state champions. I like saying that: 'We're state champions.' ''

West 41, Chugiak 0.

The Eagles capped an 9-2 season with victory in the First National Bowl, and their comprehensive excellence before about 3,500 fans at West High crowned them champions of Alaska's large-school division.

West earned its third title in the last six years by dint of Duffy's 300 yards passing and three touchdowns strikes, Shanai Leon's 11 catches for 185 yards and a touchdown, Julo Tagalu's 172 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and a defense that captured seven turnovers.

Just as in the semifinals, where West's win over East and Chugiak's win over Dimond reversed regular-season verdicts, West rebounded from a 28-21 regular-season loss to Chugiak.

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And while coach Tim Davis bagged his third championship in just seven seasons as head coach, he deferred credit. He talked about the kids he has coached this season and in past seasons, about his staff, about a culture of family he has tried to instill in his program.

"The kids drive this thing,'' he said.

For Chugiak (7-4), which sought its first championship since 1996, there was no getting past all those turnovers.

"We just can't make that many mistakes and expect to win the game,'' lamented Chugiak coach Roger Spackman. "We were lucky to be in the position we were at halftime. Our defense held us in there.''

West's defense stiffened at critical times too in a 7-0 first half. Chugiak in its first four drives drove, respectively, to the West 26-yard line, the 25, the 10 and the 23, and came up with nothing to show for it.

That development hinged on Chugiak mistakes – two turnovers and penalties at pivotal times – but also on a West defense that was so complete the Eagles did not nominate a player for Cook Inlet Conference Defensive Player of the Year because coaches believed they had so many defenders who were equally outstanding.

Josh Garcia, West's defensive coordinator, glowed while talking about his crew, which delivered its second shutout of the season.

"They've had that game in them all year,'' he said. "They had that possibility to be great. It was a Jekyll and Hyde year. We had some young guys and we had some experienced guys.

"They were special. They just didn't know it. It was a year of discovery.''

And for West senior Darian Lawson, it was a season interrupted by a broken right wrist but soothed by the support of teammates when he missed two games, and a season that ended spectacularly.

All Lawson did Friday night was open the scoring with a 66-yard catch and run for a touchdown, deliver a goal line hit that jarred loose the ball and furnished Maijun Strong's first-half, goal-line interception, and a second-half interception.

"It was kind of rough for me,'' Lawson said. "It was hard for me to that in my head, that I couldn't play for a while.

"When you want something as bad as I did, when you love football as much as I do, you fight through it.''

While West's offense flexed in the second half – Duffy threw touchdown passes to Leon and Turek Taylor, and Tagalu racked three touchdown runs, including a 66-yarder – West's defense continued to come up big. The ball hawks on West's seven seized turnovers: Strong finished with two interceptions, as did Leon, Lawson nabbed one, and Taylor and Henry Joling recovered fumbles. Throughout, defensive lineman Ozbourne Seuteni powerfully and deftly dealt with being double-teamed.

All that halted Chugiak's offense, which effectively drove the ball, but could not finish drives.

"They played harder than us,'' said Chugiak quarterback Ben Stewart. "They executed and we didn't.''

That's how one team, West, ended up staying on the field long after the final whistle, and the other, Chugiak, quietly walked away.

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Lawson accepted congratulations as he looked around at his teammates celebrating a season that at one point turned trying, but finished fantastically.

"With my team,'' he said, "anything is possible.''

Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr

West 7 0 20 14 -- 41

Chugiak 0 0 0 0 -- 0

First Quarter

West – Lawson 66 pass from Duffy (Adams kick), 2:30.

Third Quarter

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West – Leon 31 pass from Duffy (kick failed), 9:24.

West – Tagalu 2 run (Adams kick), 6:36.

West – Tagalu 66 run (Adams kick), 3:12.

Fourth Quarter

West – Taylor 44 pass from Duffy (Adams kick), 5:10.

West – Tagalu 8 run (Adams kick), 1:46.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – West: Tagalu 23-172, Tovio 3-10, Duffy 5-(-7). Chugiak: Lee 13-73, Stewart 16-71, Cormier 3-61, White 9-36, Snell 2-31, Faamatuainu 3-4..

PASSING – West: Duffy 14-26-0--300. Chugiak: Stewart: 9-24-5--119.

RECEIVING – West: Leon 11-185, Taylor 2-50, Lawson 10-66. Chugiak: Snell 5-56, White 3-42, Kindred 1-8.

Doyle Woody

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

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