A pair of juniors dazzled for Chugiak on Senior Night to push the Mustangs to a 48-12 victory over Wasilla under the lights Friday at Tom Huffer Sr. Memorial Stadium.
Quarterback Hunter Harr and wide receiver/running back Derryk Snell were in on five of the Mustangs' six touchdowns in a win that clinched a state playoff berth for Chugiak.
"It feels good to win for the seniors, obviously," Snell said. "It wasn't the best win, we (had) a lot of mistakes, but when it comes down to it, we played for the seniors and we had a good game."
Chugiak (2-1 Railbelt Conference, 4-3 overall) used big plays on offense to go up by four scores at halftime. On defense, the Mustangs stuffed the box and limited Wasilla's run-oriented offense to 164 yards. The Warriors (1-3, 2-5) attempted one pass all game.
Harr completed 4 of 12 passes for 84 yards and the two touchdowns to Snell. He also rushed for 42 yards and two scores.
Snell finished with 188 total yards and added a rushing touchdown.
"We're real glad he's on our team," Chugiak coach Roger Spackman said of Snell, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior.
The biggest play from a senior came on special teams. Kicker Jacob Morey nailed a 44-yard field goal in the second quarter after hitting a 30-yarder in the first quarter.
Morey couldn't connect on two more field-goal attempts in the second half, but the senior finished with 12 points, half of them from PATs.
"It's good for him," Spackman said. "He's worked real hard to get better."
The Warriors struggled to collect first downs but tacked on two touchdowns on two big plays.
A bad snap on fourth down soared over the head of Chugiak punter Sean Silk and was recovered by Evan Desrochers in the end zone in the second quarter for Wasilla's first score.
With seconds left in the third quarter, Wasilla running back Nicholaus Alexander found a hole up the middle and scampered 51 yards to the end zone for the Warriors' longest play of the night. Alexander finished with 126 rushing yards, most of them coming in the second half.
Chugiak answered Alexander's score with a 55-yard return by Ramal Maad on the ensuing kickoff. Maad faked a toss to a teammate and followed his blockers up the left side deep into Wasilla territory.
Three plays later, Maad found the end zone on a 22-yard run that forced a running clock in the fourth quarter.
With two conference wins apiece, Chugiak, Colony and Lathrop have all clinched playoff spots out of the Railbelt.
So has Wasilla, even though the Warriors only have one conference win. Wasilla finished conference play with a 1-3 mark, and even if West Valley is able to match that record — the Wolfpack are 0-3 in Railbelt play with one conference game left — Wasilla wins the tiebreaker by virtue of its 36-28 win over West Valley earlier this month.
Chugiak wraps up the regular season next week with a conference showdown with top-ranked Colony. Wasilla closes the regular season with a nonconference game against Palmer in the annual Potato Bowl.
Wasilla 0 6 6 0 — 12
Chugiak 17 17 7 7 — 48
First Quarter
Chugiak — Harr 8 run (Morey kick), 9:11.
Chugiak — Morey 30 field goal, 4:43.
Chugiak — Snell 23 pass from Harr (Morey kick), 1:47.
Second Quarter
Wasilla — Desrochers 0 fumble recovery (kick blocked), 10:54.
Chugiak — Snell 26 run (Morey kick), 6:42.
Chugiak — Morey 44 field goal, 2:46.
Chugiak — Snell 16 pass from Harr (Morey kick), 0:18.
Third Quarter
Chugiak — Harr 14 run (Morey kick), 5:28.
Wasilla — Alexander 51 run (kick blocked), 0:1.
Fourth Quarter
Chugiak — Maad 22 run (Morey kick), 11:17.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Wasilla: Alexander 17-126, McDermott 4-18, Desrochers 7-16, Reed 4-12, Hongslo 5-2, Cork 5-0, team 4-(-10). Chugiak: Snell 7-130, Faamatuainu 7-53, H. Harr 8-42, Maad 1-22, Jones 3-16, White 2-16, Sison 1-16, A. Harr 2-9, Tomosulo 2-(-7), team 1-(-7).
PASSING — Wasilla: Hongslo 0-1-0–0. Chugiak: Harr 4-12-0–84, Tomosulo 1-5-0-20.
RECEIVING — Chugiak: Snell 3-58, White 2-46.