Crunch time: Prep football playoffs kick off this weekend

All three defending state high school football champions are in the postseason mix, including four-time defending medium-school champion Soldotna, owner of a state-record 47 consecutive wins, as the playoffs open this week around the state.

Soldotna (8-0) is the only undefeated team in the state as it prepares to play North Pole (3-5) in the ASAA/First National Bowl semifinals Saturday at Palmer. The other semi, also Saturday in Palmer, pits Thunder Mountain (6-2) against Palmer (4-4).

On the large-school front, quarterfinal games are set for Friday and Saturday at campus locations. Chugiak (5-3), which this season moved to the Railbelt Conference and won the title after decades in the Cook Inlet Conference, entertains Service of the CIC on Friday. Railbelt runner-up Colony (6-2) plays host to defending state champ West (5-3) of the CIC on Friday. Saturday brings Wasilla (2-6) of the Railbelt at CIC champion Bartlett (7-1), which has won seven straight, and Lathrop (5-3) of the Railbelt at East (6-2) of the CIC.

Meanwhile, the small-school semis Saturday feature defending, two-time state champion Eielson (7-1) entertaining Nikiski (4-4) and Seward (5-3) entertaining Houston (6-2). Eielson has won three of the last four state championships.

Only two matchups this weekend are rematches from the regular season. Soldotna thumped North Pole 57-13 in Week 2, and Eielson dispatched Nikiski 58-14 two weeks ago.

Large-school Lathrop and medium-school North Pole are particularly battle-tested. Both teams played seven of their eight regular-season games against teams that qualified for the playoffs. Bartlett, East and West, the Nos. 1-3 seeds from the CIC, meanwhile, each played six regular-season opponents who made the playoffs.

Medium-school Palmer was presumably hardened by its regular-season schedule too. Palmer's four losses came to teams that qualified for the playoffs — three large schools (Bartlett, East and Colony) and Soldotna. The teams that beat the Moose, who played five playoff-bound teams, own a combined 27-5 record.

Soldotna likewise played five regular-season games against teams that are playoff-bound. The Stars' closest call came in a 22-21 victory at East. Soldotna marched 75 yards, courtesy of 18 straight running plays, to score a touchdown with 48 seconds left, then eschewed a potentially game-tying extra point in favor of a two-point conversion. The Stars seized victory with Brandon Crowder's double play-action pass to tight end Andy West.

Soldotna has not lost since the first game of the 2012 season, when it fell to Palmer before reeling off nine straight wins on the way to the first of four consecutive state championships. The Stars have won seven state titles in nine previous seasons under coach Galen Brantley Jr.

ASAA/First National Bowl Football Playoffs

Large-school quarterfinals

Friday

Service (4-4) at Chugiak (5-3), 7 p.m.

West (5-3) at Colony (6-2), 7 p.m.

Saturday

Wasilla (2-6) at Bartlett (7-1), 3 p.m.

Lathrop (5-3) at East (6-2), 4 p.m.

Medium-school semifinals

At Palmer High

Saturday

North Pole (3-5) vs. Soldotna (8-0), 1 p.m.

Palmer (4-4) vs. Thunder Mountain (6-2), 4 p.m.

Small-school semifinals

Saturday

Nikiski (4-4) at Eielson (7-1), 1 p.m.

Houston (6-2) at Seward (5-3), 2 p.m.