The final day of the flag football season is Thursday, and pairings for next week’s Cook Inlet Conference tournament are at stake.
So far three seeds have been decided in the eight-team league. The South Wolverines (6-0) are No. 1, the West Eagles (5-1) are No. 2 and the Eagle River Wolves (0-6) are No. 8.
In between them, Dimond (4-2) and East (4-2) are tied for third place going into their 7 p.m. showdown at Dimond High.
Bartlett (2-4) and Chugiak (2-4) are tied for fifth place, and Service (1-5) is one game behind them heading into a 6 p.m. home game against Chugiak.
A win by the Cougars could make it a three-team fight for the No. 5-7 seeds. A loss by Service would give Chugiak the No. 5 seed, Bartlett the No. 6 seed and Service the No. 7 seed.
The CIC tournament begins Monday with games at Dimond High and West High. Semifinals are Wednesday and the championship game is Thursday.
In games earlier this week, Dimond and East each picked up victories to remain deadlocked in the standings.
East rode a three-touchdown night from Olyvia Mamae to beat Service 21-7.
A wide receiver, safety and special teams player, Mamae scored her first touchdown on a 60-yard pass from quarterback Angel Ioane. She got her second on a 40-yard interception return and her third on a 35-yard run.
Zakiya Taylor and Madyson Baker each had four flag pulls and Hannah Logoleo and Naomi Goodloe each had one interception for the T-birds. Baker helped cement the win in the fourth quarter with two quarterback sacks.
Dimond defeated Chugiak 39-6 behind a productive running game and a defense that intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown.
Skyler Coleman rushed for two touchdowns and 240 yard on 14 carries for the Lynx, including one on a 72-yard dash to the end zone.
Mai Mateaki had a 45-yard touchdown sprint while rushing for 115 yards on eight carries, and Deli Mulu scored twice on short runs of 7 and 2 yards.
Mateaki added a 32-yard pick-six and three pulls to lead Dimond’s defense, which got another interception from Ellie Cunningham, seven pulls from Lauren Tufaga and four pulls from K.C. Sargento.
For Service, the loss to East came three days after the Cougars put a scare into undefeated South before losing 12-7. South pulled out the Saturday win behind a huge game from Hannah Kragt, who returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown and had 10 flag pulls, three of them for losses.
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