For Chugiak’s Snell, the end zone is a familiar place

For Chugiak Mustangs running back Derryk Snell, carrying a football comes as naturally as tying his shoes or riding a bike.

A son and brother of football coaches, Snell has been donning football pads and a helmet for 13 years. It's simply what he does and who he is. It's ingrained in his DNA.

Long before Snell scored his 31st touchdown of the season last week and catapulted the Mustangs into the state playoffs as a No. 1 seed, he dominated his opponents as a "tiny mite" in Pop Warner football. An old home video shows little 6-year-old Snell stiff-arming three defenders on a big touchdown run.

"He was a little machine as a 6, 7 year old and never slowed up," said Snell's dad, Mike, who coached him then in youth football and now as a volunteer assistant at Chugiak.

Never the fastest player, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Snell is surprisingly nimble for his size and often uses jukes, cuts and spins to skirt defenders.

The stiff arm is still in his arsenal too — something he learned from watching his favorite player, former Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

"I've had that down since I was 6," Snell said with a laugh. "It just stuck with me."

A life-long football career has culminated in a stellar senior season for Snell. He verbally committed earlier this week to play NCAA Division I football at Montana State, he is averaging more than 200 yards and nearly four touchdowns per game, and the undefeated Mustangs are primed to make a deep run in the state playoffs.

But it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Snell made the varsity team as a freshman, and although he played well on the field, off the field his grades suffered.

"It was a lack of focus," Snell said. "I was playing varsity as a freshman so I think that kind of got to my head the first two years.

"I just realized I couldn't be doing that 'cause obviously I wanted to go play college football and I can't do that if I have bad grades."

Snell said he was baptized during his sophomore year, and finding God helped him refocus his priorities.

Now, after every touchdown, he stops and points to the sky as a nod to his great-grandfather, Robert Kirkpatrick, who died earlier this year. Kirkpatrick was one of Snell's biggest fans and always enjoyed watching highlight films, Mike said.

"I'm trying to make him proud and make my family proud," Snell said.

Snell and the Mustangs faced their biggest challenge this season in Utah in a nonconference game against Green Canyon in North Logan. In addition to playing a big Lower 48 team in an unfamiliar environment, Snell and several Chugiak players got sick on the trip.

"He was vomiting right up till kickoff," Mike said. "He was sick as a dog, couldn't keep anything down. It was brutal."

Green Canyon led 14-0 in the first quarter and then Snell and the Mustangs flipped the switch. Snell reeled off four straight touchdowns to help Chugiak to a 26-21 halftime lead and added two more in the second half to seal a 40-27 win.

A two-way player who plays linebacker on defense, he finished the game with 235 yards, six touchdowns including a pick-six and 7.5 tackles, including 2.5 for losses.

"He overcame a lot of adversity that day," Mike said. "He was tougher than nails for what he was going through."

Football and family go hand-in-hand at the Snell household. Mike has coached Derryk and his older brother, Wayde — now 23 and also an assistant at Chugiak — since they were little, and Derryk's mom Jonnie was always a "team mom," working behind the scenes on logistics like rosters and schedules.

"We have so much pride in football as a family," Mike said. "It's in our DNA. I don't know what I'm going to do next year. It's going to be the first year I haven't coached since 2001."

Wayde, a 2012 Chugiak grad and former NAIA player at Tabor College in Kansas, has been instrumental in his younger brother's success, Mike said. In the offseason, they spend countless hours playing catch or working in the weight room.

Snell also spends offseason time with Chugiak quarterback Hunter Harr and backup quarterback Aaron Tomosoulo, working on routes and speed work.

Snell started at Chugiak as a wide receiver and is known for his ability to make tough catches in traffic.

"He has great hands and unreal timing," Chugiak coach Roger Spackman said. "He always jumps right at the right time to get the ball and his ability to run after he catches it has always been great too."

For as much as Snell scores, he's just as excited, maybe more so, when his teammates find the end zone. During film time, Snell and Harr have a tradition of cheering and jumping around while they watch other players score.

"I think that's one reason our team has been successful this year is they just kinda pull for each other and are happy when other people succeed," Spackman said. "That all comes from the top down and that's probably (Snell) and Hunter."

Snell said the senior-laden team is close because many of the players have been together since their Pop Warner days on the Eagle River Panthers.

"We've known each other for almost our whole lives," Snell said. "We have each others' backs."

First National Bowl

Division I quarterfinals

Friday's games
7 p.m. — Service at Chugiak
7 p.m. — West at Colony

Saturday's games
Noon — Lathrop at Bartlett
3 p.m. — Wasilla at East (on radio FM-93.7)

Division II semifinals

Saturday's games
1 p.m. — Palmer vs. Thunder Mountain
4 p.m. — North Pole vs. Soldotna
(Both games at Machetanz Field in Palmer)

Division III semifinals

Saturday's games
1 p.m. — Nikiski at Barrow
2 p.m. — Eielson at Homer

Final regular-season standings

Division I

Cook Inlet Conference

East                 7-1 (5-0 CIC)
Bartlett           5-3 (4-1)
West                4-4 (3-2)
Service            3-5 (2-3)
South              2-6 (1-4)
Dimond          1-7 (0-5)

Railbelt Conference

Chugiak          8-0 (4-0 Railbelt)
Colony            7-1 (3-1)
Lathrop          3-5 (2-2)
Wasilla            3-5 (1-3)
West Valley    2-6 (0-4)

Division II

Northern Lights Conference

Soldotna          8-0 (4-0 Northern Lights)
Palmer             4-4 (3-1)
Kenai                3-5 (1-3)
Eagle River      3-5 (1-3)
Kodiak             3-5 (1-3)

Southeast Conference

Thunder Mtn     6-1 (3-0)
North Pole          6-2 (3-1)
Juneau                 3-4 (1-2)
Ketchikan           0-8 (0-3)

Division III

Peninsula Conference

Homer                7-1 (4-0 Peninsula)
Nikiski                4-4 (3-1)
Redington          4-4 (2-2)
Seward               2-6 (1-3)
Voznesenka       1-6 (0-4)

Aurora Conference

Barrow                5-2 (4-0 Aurora)
Eielson                 6-2 (3-1)
Houston              5-3 (2-2)
Monroe               4-4 (1-3)
Valdez                 0-8 (0-4)