PALMER — When the offense sputtered in the second half, the defense took over to carry the Eielson Ravens to their third straight small-school state football championship and their fourth in five years.
The Ravens swarmed Houston 40-18 Saturday evening at Machetanz Field, sealing the win with two interceptions late in the fourth quarter, including one by Billy Makinen that was returned for six points.
"The defense really bailed us out in the second half," Eielson coach David DeVaughn said. "(Houston) made some adjustments at halftime that were really giving us some trouble with communication and coming into things late … our defense bailed us out."
Despite the loss, Houston (7-3) can still be proud of its season. Under coach Glenn Nelson, the Hawks went from an afterthought to state runners-up.
"For a while we would be the target," Nelson said. "People would see us on their schedule and put a 'W' next to it.
"We got tired of being the target and we wanted to start being the bully. Even though we lost, people saw that we got a lot of fight."
[Chugiak capped a remarkable run with the Cook Inlet Conference flag football title]
Playing in its first state championship, Houston took an early 6-0 lead on a 27-yard run from Ben Pelesasa. It was Hawks' only lead of the game.
Eielson (9-1) responded less than a minute later with a 50-yard touchdown run by Antonio Griffith. The Ravens tacked on the extra point to take a 7-6 lead.
In the second quarter, Eielson's Tobias Dobashi-Noa thundered for three more scores, including a 6-yard touchdown with three seconds remaining, and the Ravens went into halftime up 28-6.
Momentum shifted to Houston in the second half with a touchdown by Malaki Barrett on a blocked punt.
Later in the quarter, Pelesasa scored another Houston touchdown, dragging Eielson defenders into the end zone to cut the Raven's lead to 28-18.
After the touchdown, Houston recovered an onside kick in the most bizarre play of the game.
The kickoff went into a strong headwind and floated backward into the waiting arms of Houston's Will Croghan. Since the ball went farther than 10 yards, the Hawks gained possession.
But Houston came up empty against the steadfast Eielson defense, which kept Houston out of the end zone for the rest of the game.
A Taylor Benjamin interception put Eielson on Houston's 16-yard line and Jayden Manibusan scored on the next play with just over two minutes left in the game. Makinen's interception ended Houston's next possession.
"We were really young this year, and to watch those seniors show those younger guys what it took to get here (was great)," DeVaughn said. "If you would have asked me five months ago if we were gonna be here, I probably would have said no, but these older guys took these younger guys in and put them under their wings and held them accountable to do the work and it paid off."