West Valley claimed a historic victory over South, West survived a fourth-quarter scare from Chugiak and Bartlett dominated North Pole from the get-go Friday night in the third week of Alaska high school football.
West Valley drilled South 42-21 for what Wolfpack coach Kyle Allison was the team's first win over the Wolverines. Zachary Lester threw four touchdowns passes to lead the visitors from Fairbanks.
At West High, Chugiak scored twice in the fourth quarter to make it a one-touchdown game but West struck late to seal a 34-23 win in a rematch of last year's state championship game.
Bartlett turned a dynamic start into a dominating 49-7 win over the Patriots in North Pole, and in the Valley Soldotna ripped Wasilla 44-0 to run its state-record winning streak to 42 games.
Chugiak scored back-to-back touchdowns to in the fourth quarter to trim West's lead to 28-23 with about six minutes to play. But West clinched the win with Qyntyn Pilcher's 42-yard hookup with Turek Taylor with 2:46 left in the game.
Taylor and Pilcher both enjoyed big games for the Eagles – Pilcher completed 18 of 31 passes for 285 yards and four touchdowns, and Taylor caught nine passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns.
Snell led Chugiak with 88 yards on five catches and 65 yards on 16 carries.
Both teams scored on long drives while battling to an early 7-7 tie.
West struck first, ending a 12-play, 75-yard drive with Pilcher's one-yard run late in the first quarter.
Chugiak answered with a 12-play, 80-yard drive capped by Karletty Faamatuaini's four-yard run early the second quarter.
West secured a 21-7 halftime lead with two Pilcher TD passes, a 27-yarder to A.J. Su'ese'e and a 24-yarder to Taylor. West finished the half with 344 yards of total offense, including 221 passing yards from Pilcher, who completed 14 of 23 tosses that half.
Also sparking West that half was Lazono Martin, who provided an interception, a fumble recovery and 81 yards on five catches.
West Valley never trailed the Wolverines in a nonconference game at South High.
The Wolfpack led 8-0 after the first quarter on Lester's four-yard pass to Chancelor Fields Colbert. South made it 8-7 early in the second quarter thanks to a 3-yard touchdown run by Evan Benedict, but that's as close as the Wolverines got.
West Valley used two more Lester touchdown passes to lead 22-7 at the half and put the game out of reach by scoring twice in a 24-second span late in the third quarter.
Joshua Cummings dashed 11 yards for a touchdown that made it 28-7 with 1:16 left in the quarter. South fumbled a handoff to give the ball back to West Valley, which responded with a six-yard scoring run by Isaiah Warner.
South charged back in the fourth quarter with two straight touchdowns by Jack Hanson – a one-yard run and a 17-yard pass to Steve Sizeman. The touchdowns were separated by less than three minutes, with South's successful onside kick setting up the second score.
That made it 34-21 with a little less than nine minutes to play. West Valley cemented the win with Lester's final touchdown strike, a 65-yarder to Cummings.
In North Pole, Bartlett's Trey Kingsland returned the opening kickoff 92 yards to set the tone for the Golden Bears.
Bartlett's ground game produced 248 yards, and Markus Sagatu's versatility furnished three touchdowns.
Sagatu scored three times in the first half to lift the Golden Bears to a 35-0 lead, scoring on a 25-yard catch and on runs of 12 and 39 yards.