Anchorage Daily News

Todd Cook isn't losing sleep over his game plan to beat the Soldotna Stars, but after losing to them in the last two state championship games, the Kodiak coach is running out of ideas.

"I'm open to suggestions," the four-year coach said by cell phone Tuesday night.

The Bears are a big fat 0 for 8 against the two-time defending small-schools state champions. But they aren't the only team with a losing record against Soldotna, which has amassed 28 straight victories since 2006.

Only one small-schools team in the state -- Eielson -- has more wins than losses against the Stars.

So how on earth do Cook and his Bears plan to beat the 9-0 Stars, the juggernaut they face Saturday in the state championship game at Anchorage Football Stadium?

"Slow them down and chew up the clock," Cook said. "Eating up every second we can is going to be the key."

But even Cook knows that's going to be ridiculously tough.

Soldotna is Alaska's king of the Wing-T offense and boasts such beefy linemen and talented running backs that it crushed Colony, a large-schools playoff team 40-16, earlier this year.

The Bears came within two points of beating the Stars in the 2005 regular season, one point in the 2006 regular season and nine points in the 2006 state championship game. But the remaining five games were decided by an average of 42.8 points. In last year's state title game, Soldotna cruised to a 47-27 win.

In the only meeting between the teams this season, Kodiak fell 48-0 at home in Week 7. The Bears generated 41 total yards of offense and coughed up three fumbles.

But that was without Alex Woodell, Kodiak's new star running back. The 155-pound junior has given the Bears new life after playing defense all season. In two playoff games, he's rushed for 454 yards on 65 carries and five touchdowns.

Despite Kodiak's bleak history with Soldotna, Woodell said he's looking forward to Saturday's 4:30 p.m. game.

"We're going to show them what Kodiak can do," he said.

The Bears need to hang onto the ball, Cook said, and come out firing -- not flat -- because scoring early points off turnovers is what the Stars do best.

One flaw in Soldotna is its special teams, Cook said.

Witness the two kickoff returns for touchdowns that Eielson's Colten Growden scored against Soldotna in last week's semifinal. His runs exposed a rare Soldotna vulnerability, but Cook expects Stars coach Galen Brantley Jr. has since fixed the problem.

"Their offense is all about hiding the football," Cook said. "And they do it well."

Brantley installed the Wing-T after researching it years ago from a Division III school in Michigan called Olivet College, which at the time was leading the nation in rushing.

With that said, Cook has contacted football coaches in Michigan who often face Wing-T offenses to get their opinion. The big question: How do you stop running backs from chewing up so many yards with all those misdirection fakes?

The feedback -- in the form of game tapes from other teams that use or play against the Wing-T -- didn't help.

"You look on the tapes, and the refs, the cameramen, heck, I didn't even know where the ball was," he said. "I need to send them our tape.

"Honestly, I don't know if it can be stopped. I'm not saying it's impossible, but we don't have players like they do."

But Cook isn't all doom and gloom.

Playing in Saturday's state championship, he said, is "better than sitting at home."

Plus the Bears are wildly successful for such a relatively young program. In six seasons of varsity football, they have advanced to three state championship games.

And in football, Cook added, anything is possible.

"You know, the Browns did beat the Giants," Cook said in reference to Cleveland's upset win this week over defending Super Bowl champion New York on Monday Night Football.

To help pull off an upset of its own, Cook had Kodiak's scout team mimic Soldotna's offense at practice this week, with each back running pretending to have the ball so the Bears defense gets used to fake handoffs.

Tuesday's practice on Kodiak Island lasted late into the evening.

"We go until we can't see the football anymore," Cook said.

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

Barrow book signing

Lew Freedman, a former Anchorage Daily News sports editor and author of "Thunder on the Tundra," will be signing copies of his book about the Barrow Whalers football team at the following locations:

TODAY: Barnes & Noble, 4-6 p.m.

FRIDAY: Pandemonium Books, Wasilla 6:30-9 p.m.

SUNDAY: Title Wave Books, 1-3 p.m., and Mosquito Books (Ted Stevens International Airport), 6-9 p.m.

LARGE-SCHOOLS

COUGARS: Jason Caldarera took over a dynasty nine seasons ago at Service but had to rebuild it twice. Now the Cougars are one game win from their first state title since 1999. How did the coach bring Service back to an elite status?

Friday in Sports

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