South Wolverines quarterback Slade Schuster learned of his promotion from junior varsity to varsity on Monday.
“(The coaches) brought me up to watch film and told me I was playing,” he said Friday night. “At first I was kind of nervous, but then I knew I had to do it. I had to step up.”
Schuster did just that to help the defending Division I state champion Wolverines to a 40-6 drubbing of the host West Eagles. Schuster passed his first varsity test in efficient if not electrifying fashion.
The junior completed 63.6% of his passes for 177 yards and a late touchdown pass to Conner Lowe.
West’s Gabe Taylor returned a fourth-quarter interception 32 yards for the Eagles' lone score, but Schuster did a fine job of limiting mistakes by not forcing big plays. He rushed 16 times for 25 yards, often looking off the first or second pass options and keeping the ball himself.
Schuster got the start in place of senior signal caller Jackson Harmon, who dressed out Friday night but said he’d only play in an emergency while still nursing a lower-body injury from two weeks ago. Fellow senior and would-be backup Isaac Lujan remained out with a hand issue.
Senior linebacker Loke Iese, who along with senior safety Kellen Curtis are the foundation of the defense, showed his versatility by throwing five touchdowns last week, and while he could have quarterbacked again, this was Schuster’s night.
“Slade’s assignment was to keep the ball moving and get the ball to our offensive threats,” said Curtis, who recorded two interceptions. “He needed to be a team player, and he did a great job.”
Senior Quincy Heartwell-McKoy scored touchdowns on two dynamic runs in South’s 26-point second quarter. His 17-yard scamper for a score with 10 minutes, 29 seconds to go in the second quarter included a spin move against a solo defender Barry Sanders would be proud to see.
Heartwell-McKoy finished with a team-high 73 rushing yards.
South improved to 3-1 and is scheduled to play at Service next Saturday to close out what amounts to a regular season in irregular COVID-19 times.
West dropped to 2-2 and wrapped up its regular season because next week’s game with Dimond was canceled after someone within the Lynx program tested positive, sending the team into quarantine.
The promise of playoff games was recently made by the Alaska School Activities Association to almost all teams, pandemic pending of course. West coach Tim Davis said the Eagles expect to host a quarterfinal game in two weeks, possibly against Juneau.
Davis used one word to summarize West’s performance against South: “Yuck.”
The Wolverines held the Eagles to 69 total offensive yards — and only 15 in the first half. West entered the evening averaging almost 293 yards per game on offense.
“The biggest thing for our defense was to communicate and further bond with one another,” Curtis said.
Chahon Faralan-Taylor, Grayson Shaw and Rowan Kramer recorded sacks of West quarterback Benni Collins. The Wolverines scored a safety and Aidan Ohlson pounced on a blocked punt for a touchdown.
The Eagles sacked Schuster three times, and junior lineman Brendan Amiatu-Tanois had one of them.
He and Curtis both came up with turnovers in the waning seconds of the blowout — Amiatu-Tanois recovered a South fumble with about a minute left and Curtis intercepted West’s final pass at the buzzer — and both rejoiced as if they had made game-winning plays.
“Play every play like it’s your last one, your last game,” Amiatu-Tanois said, expressing a reality of life right now. COVID-19 can shut things in a heartbeat, as Anchorage high school volleyball teams learned earlier this week when their sport was suspended for two weeks because of multiple team quarantines.
With attendance limited by mitigation policies, maybe 100 socially-distanced fans watched from each of the bleachers behind their respective teams. The game was played amid a kind of eerie silence. At times, the whirring fans of the refrigeration system at nearby Dempsey-Anderson Arena were louder than anything at the football field.
“All that’s going on certainly takes a toll,” Curtis said. "But I think we’ve definitely done a pretty decent job. We’re adapting like everyone else.
“Each game we get to play is special. Tomorrow is not promised.”
Matt Nevala co-hosts “The Sports Guys” radio show, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on KHAR AM 590 and FM 96.7 (@cbssports590). Find him on social media at @MNevala9.
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