Last-second touchdown delivers state football title to Bartlett

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West High cheerleaders try to stay warm before the start of the state championship football game Friday, Oct. 20, 2017 at the Anchorage Football Stadium. Bartlett won 40-33. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News)

The Golden Bears are the golden boys of Alaska Division I football.

Bartlett running back Hunter Cargill ran a 6-yard sweep to the left side for the go-ahead touchdown with just 12 ticks on the clock and Bartlett held on to defeat West 40-33 to claim the First National Bowl state championship under the Friday night lights at Anchorage Football Stadium.

"It's just a great feeling," Cargill said. "I don't know how to explain it. (Co-coach Daniel Esparza) called the play and I knew it was coming to me.

"My plan was just to run outside and I did it and we got in."

Bartlett trailed a driving West 33-32 late in the fourth quarter when a fumble recovery by junior defensive lineman Thomas Sio sparked new life into the Golden Bears.

With 1:56 remaining, Bartlett had to go 56 yards to pay dirt. Senior running back Jontay Edwards converted a key fourth-and-4 play at midfield that kept the Golden Bears alive.

With 28 seconds left, Bartlett quarterback Zai Malia-Hughes slung a 22-yard pass to junior Stanley Iakopo to set up Cargill's go-ahead score. West got the ball back at midfield after the Bartlett kickoff, but quarterback Qyntyn Pilcher's Hail Mary throw came up short and Bartlett players rushed the field.

"It came down to the last seconds," Edwards said. "I'm proud of my linemen, proud of all my teammates. We didn't give up."

The state title brings the season full-circle for the Golden Bears, who started the season as the top-ranked Division I team in Alaska.

In a social media post after the game, Bartlett co-coach John Jessen dedicated the win to former Bartlett teacher Tanya Nicole Taylor-Winchester, who died of cancer earlier this month, and former Bartlett player Mlooglug Chervang, who died last summer after a swimming accident in Goose Lake.

"The kids persevered," Jessen said. "They believed and they stuck with it and had a lot of heart and pulled it out."

The back-and-forth battle had all the ingredients of an epic championship game. The contest featured three lead changes, two ties, a 30-yard fumble return for a touchdown by West's Caadyn Stephen that gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead in the first half and a fade-route touchdown catch by Iakopo that tied the score at 14-14 as time expired before halftime.

Bartlett's workhorse running backs, Cargill and Edwards, were called upon time and again for a Golden Bears squad that accumulated 453 rushing yards. Cargill scampered for 183 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries and Edwards rumbled for 254 yards and two touchdowns on 46 carries.

Cargill took a big hit late in third quarter from West linebacker Javin Iloilo, the Cook Inlet Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and was slow to get up with Bartlett trailing 27-26. But he wasn't off the field for long and returned to the huddle in the fourth quarter.

"It still hurts but I came back in. It's the last game of the season and I just had to play for my teammates," said Cargill, a junior.

Sio helped anchor a Bartlett offensive line that opened up big holes for Cargill and Edwards, but his biggest play was the fumble recovery that allowed Bartlett to come back.

"They had us on the brink of giving up but you know, coming up clutch for my team, it's an honor," Sio said.

The championship is the first for Bartlett (8-3) since it beat Chugiak in the 2009 title game.

For West (6-5), which has won three state titles since 2010 and has played in five straight championship games, it was deja vu for in more ways than one.

The Eagles lost to East in last year's championship. In their only previous meeting this season with Bartlett, they also burst out to a quick lead, 19-0, only to fall 36-26 in the Week 3 game.

"We didn't get it done, we didn't coach it good enough, we didn't play good enough," West coach Tim Davis said. "It was a full team loss just like our wins have been full team wins."

Senior running back Savon Bell (90 yards), sophomore running back Arthur Tauiliili (81) and Pilcher (141 total yards) provided the bulk of the offense for West.

Before the game, Bartlett did its usual haka dance — a traditional Polynesian warrior dance the team does every game in front of its fans. After the game, they gathered with the championship trophy in front of their fans again and sang Bill Withers' "Lean on Me."

"We leaned on each other tonight," Edwards said. "Every thing that we do is for each other.

"We knew as seniors this was our last chance to step up and accomplish the goal. It's just an amazing experience, man."

West             7  7  13  6 — 33

Bartlett       0 14 12 14 — 40

First Quarter

West – Pilcher 1 run (Harjehausen kick), 5:18.

Second Quarter

West – Stephen 30 fumble return (Harjehausen kick), 7:40.

Bartlett – Edwards 5 run (Iakopo kick), 2:09.

Bartlett – Iakopo 16 pass from Malia-Hughes (Cargill run), 0:00.

Third Quarter

Bartlett – Cargill 2 run (Malia-Hughes run failed), 4:50.

West – Bell 37 run (Harjehausen kick blocked), 4:17.

Bartlett – Cargill 60 run (Cargill run failed) 2:28.

West – Tauiliili 15 run (Harjehausen kick), 1:05.

Fourth Quarter

West – Pilcher 15 run (Harjehausen kick blocked), 7:10.

Bartlett – Edwards 9 run (Edwards run failed), 3:58.

Bartlett – Cargill 6 run (Edwards run), 0:12.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – West: Bell 11-90, Tauiliili 8-81, Pilcher 8-59, team 1-(-4). Bartlett: Edwards 46-254; Cargill 27-183; Fudge 3-26, Lear 1-2, Malia-Hughes 1-(-8), team 2-(-4).

PASSING – West: Pilcher 9-16-1–82. Bartlett: Malia-Hughes 3-7-0–43.

RECEIVING – West: Gladney 2-37, Mendoza 2-30, A.J. Su'esu'e 4-10, Harjehausen 1-5. Bartlett: Iakopo 3-43.