Anchorage Daily News

Eagle River claimed a rare victory, Juneau's new school briefly held a lead in its football debut and Kodiak survived a blustery day in Barrow on a busy day of high school football Saturday.

And in Seward, a kid whose home got a complete remodel a couple years ago courtesy of the TV show "Extreme Makeover" pulled off a nifty makeover job of his own in the second half to lead Eielson to a big victory.

In Chugiak, Eagle River kicked off the football season Saturday with a rare victory, a 57-0 throttling of Houston that marked the team's second win since the school started playing varsity football in 2006.

"I was really pleased with them. They were disciplined on the things they needed to do," first-year coach Kenny Ray said. "We had very few penalties and we played as a team.

"All three of our teams won today, and that's a big plus. We're hoping to get things going and try to do some positive things."

The brother duo of Malcolm and Buron Bell accounted for four Eagle River touchdowns, including two long runs by Malcolm. He scored twice in the third quarter, one on a run of 29 yards, the other on a run of 20 yards.

Buron's TDs came on runs of seven and eight yards.

The Wolves stuck to the ground almost the entire game, attempting only four passes. And though the Bells did much of the scoring, eight players carried the ball, including Brandon Metzel, who had a team-high 81 rushing yards on seven carries, including a 10-yarder for a first-quarter touchdown.

After playing one season of junior varsity football when the school opened in 2005, Eagle River has struggled at the varsity level. It was winless its first two seasons before finally getting a victory last season with a 45-7 nonconference win over Skyview.

Saturday's win came at Chugiak Stadium, where most of the current Eagle River coaches previously either coached or played. They hope to bring the winning attitude they picked up at Chugiak to the Eagle River program.

"I've got three guys off the 1996 state championship team," Ray said. "We're preaching discipline and being positive. We (teach) that if you do the little things right, everything else takes care of itself."

The next goal for the Wolves is to get in the win column against a large-school team. Both victories so far -- Saturday's over Houston and last year's over Skyview -- came against teams that play in small-schools division.

Palmer 25, Dimond 22

Jim McCall caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Dustin Silva with 12 seconds left to go as Palmer overcame a 22-12 fourth-quarter defecit to pull out a 25-22 nonconference win over Dimond Saturday at Machetanz Field in Palmer.

McCall also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass with four minutes left. Palmer's Evan Parsons recovered a Dimond fumble with 1:01 left at the Dimond 41-yard-line to set up the winning score.

Dimond 0 12 0 10 -- 22

Palmer 6 0 6 13 -- 25

First Quarter

Palmer -- Ahrens 5 run (kick failed), 1:22.

Second Quarter

Dimond -- Lopez 59 pass from Nasir (kick failed), 6:09.

Dimond -- Lopez 29 pass from Nasir (kick failed), 1:14.

Third Quarter

Palmer -- Ahrens 2 run (kick failed), 7:11.

Fourth Quarter

Dimond -- Dodson 30 field goal, 8:27.

Dimond -- Nasir 8 run (Dodson kick), 5:25.

Palmer -- McCall 25 pass from Silva (Bohman kick), 4:01.

Palmer -- McCall 14 pass from Silva (kick failed), 0:12.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Dimond: Nasir 14-75, Romo 6-12, G. Scanlan 5-(-3). Palmer: Ahrens 19-83, Bohman 18-88, Scoresby 7-21, McCall 5-36, Silva 5-14, Sorensen 2-0.

PASSING -- Dimond: Nasir 9-17-0--165; Palmer: Silva 5-16-0--88, Bohman 1-2-1--39.

RECEIVING -- Dimond: Lopez 3-104, Dodson 2-22, Afusia 2-21, McCloskey 2-18. Palmer: McCall 4-93, Bohman 1-32, Daniels 1-2.

Eielson 35, Seward 0

Matthew Rogers, whose family got a new home a couple years ago courtesy of the "Extreme Makeover" television show, performed a nifty little makeover Saturday for the Eielson football team.

Rogers, a freshman who didn't take a snap in the first half, took over at quarterback in the second half to lead the Ravens to a 35-0 romp over host Seward.

Rogers rushed for three touchdowns to help blow open a game Eielson led 7-0 at the half on the strength of a rushing touchdown by Sam Rogers, Matthew's older brother.

The Rogers live in a North Pole home that was remodeled by the popular television show in 2006; part of the makeover that included the installation of a backyard football field.

The Greatland Conference game marked the beginning of the season for both teams.

Kodiak 21, Barrow 0

Nasty weather ruled the day in Barrow, where an inch of rain and 15 to 20 mph winds led to numerous fumbles in Kodiak's 21-0 nonconference blanking of the Whalers.

Barrow recovered four Kodiak fumbles but still couldn't stop the Bears.

Matthew Chavarria scored on a four-yard keeper and hooked up with receiver Raphael Matautia for long pass play that ended with a touchdown to lead Kodiak to a 14-0 halftime advantage.

The Bears cemented the win with 28 seconds left when Matautia returned an interception for a touchdown.

Sitka 20, Thunder Mountain 6

Alaska's newest addition to the football scene -- Thunder Mountain of Juneau -- led briefly in its debut Saturday in Sitka, but the thrill was short-lived. Sitka shut down the Falcons the rest of the way to prevail 20-6.

Junior running back Jesse Conrad made history by scampering four yards into the end zone at 3:45 of the first quarter for his school's first touchdown and a 6-0 Thunder Mountain lead.

Sitka tied the game with quarterback Ryne Sorenson's one-yard run. Sorenson sealed the victory in the fourth quarter by scoring again, this time on a 15-yard interception return.

The game was the first of an abbreviated seven-game schedule the Falcons will play this year. Two games will be against teams from Washington and none are against teams farther north than Kodiak.

Thunder Mountain, a first-year school that plays as an independent, is Juneau's second high school.

"The community always thought we couldn't support two teams," said coach Bill Byouer, a former JV coach for Juneau-Douglas High. "Well, that's not the case. We're splitting the talent between the two schools.

"We've got some talent, but we've got kids we need to build. We opened the door for another 13 or 14 kids who've never played football before. It's a work in progress."

Skyview 55, Valdez 8

Explosive running by Austin Tennis sparked Skyview's 55-8 nonconference rout of visiting Valdez.

Tennis broke loose for touchdown runs of 91 and 31 yards, finishing the day with 128 yards on three carries.

Other highlights for the Panthers included Nick Symmonds' 40-yard interception return for a touchdown and and his eight-yard TD catch from Jordan Jones, who threw for a pair of touchdowns.

Colony 17, North Pole 7

Colony intercepted three passes -- including one on North Pole's first play from scrimmage -- to triumph 17-7 in a defensive battle with visiting North Pole. The Patriots entered the game as the No. 1 team in the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network's preseason media poll.

Monroe 42, Delta 0

Isaiah Weeks ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns as Monroe rolled to a 42-0 Greatland Conference win in Fairbanks. Lawrence Stepovich, Connor Tamai, Nick Gavora and Dan Ellis also scored for the Rams, who scored 35 points in the second half.

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