Anchorage Daily News

High school football fans were left hanging Sunday without a clue as to who would get the Cook Inlet Conference's fourth and final playoff spot.

But at long last, the decisive piece to the puzzling state football schedule has been set. Anchorage School District officials concluded Monday that of the four tied CIC teams, Dimond earned the fourth spot.

"After all that craziness, it turned out to be a simple scenario," said Mike Graham, the principal at East High, which coordinates CIC football.

The regular season ended last weekend with four teams -- Dimond, Chugiak, East and West -- having 3-4 conference records. Considering the complex tie-breaking rules, School District officials weren't certain late Saturday night which team survived elimination.

But here's what they came up with Monday morning:

The first tiebreaker is win-loss records in head-to-head games among the four tied teams. Both Dimond and Chugiak were 2-1. East and West, though, were 1-2 and therefore eliminated from the mix. •

That left Dimond and Chugiak's head-to-head record, and Dimond moves on because it beat Chugiak on Sept. 6.

The 16-9 victory at Dimond Alumni Field put the Lynx into the postseason under first-year coach Sonny Rodriguez for the first time since 2005.

Asked how he liked Dimond's chances to sneak into the playoffs after getting pummelled by East, 48-20, on Saturday, Rodriguez replied:

"Nobody wants to back into the playoffs," he said. "And I'm not so sure we even deserve to be there."

Dimond finished its season on a three-game losing skid.

Some could argue Chugiak deserved to extend its season. Coach Duncan Shackelford said the Mustangs played their best football in the final three weeks, going 2-1 with two shutouts and losing Saturday to No. 2 South by a touchdown.

"That's the way it goes," Shackelford said. "There was no doubt we were a good team going into the last few games."

Deserving or not, the Lynx are in and face South on Friday night at Anchorage Football Stadium in a large-school state quarterfinal. The Wolverines beat Dimond 29-22 at Dimond earlier this season.

The other quarterfinal features a rematch of last week's CIC game of the week in which Bartlett upset Service 42-27.

The game ended with Service quarterback Kevin Reilly frustrated over the officiating. He argued with a referee and had to be held back by one of his teammates. The incident led to a brief shouting match between Service coach Jason Caldarera and Bartlett coach John Jessen.

"We out-physicaled a really physical football team," Jessen said after the game.

The win throttled the No. 3 Golden Bears into the final Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network's poll of the season. Bartlett is ranked for the first time since it was ranked third in the preseason poll.

Service dropped out of the poll for the first time this season, while No. 4 Palmer and No. 5 Juneau-Douglas bounced back into the state rankings after a three-week hiatus.

In the small-schools poll, the two-time defending state champion Soldotna Stars were voted No. 1 for the ninth consecutive week. They host Valdez on Saturday in a rematch of last year's state semifinal.

Nikiski ended its season ranked No. 2 and will travel across the Gulf of Alaska to face Kodiak for the first playoff game ever on Kodiak Island.

Kodiak was knocked out of the poll for the first time this season after falling to Houston at home on Saturday.

Nikiski's ferry ride will be long and Kenai's trip to Eielson will be longer, but Houston has the longest first-round road trip. The No. 5 Hawks drive to Anchorage and catch a flight to face No. 3 Barrow for first playoff game north of the Arctic Circle on Saturday.

As for Shackelford, whose Mustangs just missed a shot at the large-school playoffs, he too has a road trip planned this weekend -- to fish on the Kenai Peninsula.

"I know there's some steelhead to be caught," he laughed.

Find Kevin Klott online at adn.com/contact/kklott or call 257-4335.

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