Bartlett ground game grinds on Wasilla for 508 yards and a 62-12 playoff win

Gauging Bartlett High's dominance over Wasilla in a large-school state football quarterfinal Saturday afternoon did not require a glance at the scoreboard.

One look at Bartlett quarterback Aaron Egoak early in the third quarter, when he was already bleeding time off the clock, proved instructive. Egoak began waiting for the back judge to signal the last five seconds between plays before he called for the snap from center Thomas Sio.

That was a merciful tactic, and it was followed by a fourth quarter played under the mercy rule as Bartlett raced to a big early lead and dispatched visiting Wasilla, 62-12, to pocket its eighth consecutive win.

So thorough was Bartlett's demolition that it racked up an astonishing 563 yards total offense on 48 snaps from scrimmage. In averaging nearly 12 yards per play, the Golden Bears (8-1) basically averaged a first down every time Sio snapped the ball to Egoak.

Bartlett played without two of its best running backs — Markus Sagatu and Azavyon McFarland both sat out with injury, but are expected back for the semifinals — yet still delivered 508 rushing yards.

Jontay Edwards banged out 149 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, and Trey Kingsland generated 86 yards and two touchdowns on five carries.

Hunter Cargill, summoned from the JV team a couple of weeks ago, furnished 85 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. And Edren Irving, Jonnavin Suon (one touchdown), John Yang (one touchdown) and Jaylen Wilson contributed strong work among Bartlett's bevy of backs.

"We do our blocks for whoever has the ball," said Bartlett left guard John Semeatu. "We have faith in our backs."

"We have plenty of depth," Sio chimed in. "Our backs are just elusive."

Bartlett, the top seed from the Cook Inlet Conference, advanced to a semifinal this week against fellow CIC member West. Bartlett beat West, 28-10, midway through the regular season.

[East makes it an all-CIC football semifinals with win over Lathrop]

"We're going to have to come out and battle," said Bartlett co-coach Daniel Esparza. "I told the kids the next two weeks are going to be incredibly difficult."

Esparza said using a multitude of running backs, even a recently promoted player like Cargill, is relatively seamless because Bartlett's varsity and junior varsity players practice together.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Golden Bears' offensive line is so sharp in its blocking for the wing-T attack. The beef up front belongs to Sio, guards Semeatu and Dylan Bryan and tackles Richard Aholelei and Tony Sa'o, and tight ends Jerome Afe and Matt Regevig take care of blocking business too.

That Bartlett engineered a punishing ground game seemed fitting on a bluebird afternoon when a pregame ceremony honored the memory of Bob Swatosch, the founder of Golden Bears football and its coach for the program's first 18 seasons.

Swatosch, 79, who cherished a strong running game and championed "Pride, poise and discipline," died Sept. 30 in Anchorage of complications from congestive heart failure. A moment of silence was observed before the game. Swatosch's widow, Sylvia, and two of Swatosch's longtime assistant coaches, Dean Kassube and Wayne Anderson, were in attendance.

Bartlett raced to a 14-0 lead on touchdown runs from Edwards and Kingsland. Wasilla countered with Nick Alexander's 1-yard touchdown run, but the Golden Bears immediately answered with an 8-yard scoring run from Edwards. Kingsland added a 43-yard touchdown run and caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Egoak to give Bartlett a 36-6 lead at halftime.

Alexander did yeoman's work for the Warriors (2-7). He gained 123 yards on 21 carries and consistently moved the pile forward.

Kingsland did strong work of his own all over the field. Besides his 104 yards total offense on just six touches — five rushes, one reception — he contributed an interception and a strip-fumble recovery.

[In an offensive shootout, Service rides defense past Chugiak and into semifinals]

[West sacks Colony to grab spot in football semifinals]

[Check out all the scores from this weekend's state football games]

Wasilla     6   0    6   0   — 12

Bartlett    22 14  19  6  — 62

First Quarter

Bartlett — Edwards 20 run (kick blocked), 10:55.

Bartlett — Kingsland 8 run (Malia-Hughes pass from Egoak), 8:08.

Wasilla — Alexander 1 run (kick failed), 4:44.

Bartlett — Edwards 8 run (Kingsland run), 2:51.

Second Quarter

Bartlett — Kingsland 43 run (Kingsland pass from Egoak), 3:07.

Bartlett — Kingsland 16 pass from Egoak (kick failed), 1:09.

Third Quarter

Bartlett — Suon 42 run (Suon kick), 11:09.

Bartlett — Cargill 8 run (kick failed), 9:41.

Bartlett — Cargill 32 run (run failed), 5:11.

Wasilla — Drumm 35 run (kick blocked), :00.

Fourth Quarter

Bartlett — Yang 1 run (Suon kick), 5:20.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Wasilla: Alexander 21-123, Drumm 6-66, Cork 8-29, McDermott 10-18, Hongslo 1-2, Vroman 1-0, Kamenick 1-0, Shogren4-(-11). Bartlett: Edwards 9-149, Kingsland 5-86, Cargill 8-85, Suon 5-64, Irving 5-63, Yang 3-30, Wilson 3-29, Garrett 1-8, Egoak 3-(-6).

PASSING — Wasilla: Shogren 1-7-1-0, Hongslo 0-1-0–0. Bartlett: Egoak 3-6-0–59.

RECEIVING — Wasilla: Walkemeyer 1-0. Bartlett: Suon 1-22, Regevig 1-17, Kingland 1-16.A