West 28, Bartlett 27: Defending champion Eagles head to large-school football final for 4th straight year

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West’s Lazono Martin reaches across the goal line for a score late in the first half. Bartlett’s Nigel Pagofie tries to hold him back. Bartlett faced West in the semifinals of the large school football championship on Friday evening, October 14, 2016, at Anchorage Football Stadium. (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News)

They played beneath the glow of a full moon, in a plummeting chill that turned exhales frosty, before a crowd that roared as if to manufacture heat, and simply delivered a football game both breathtaking and heartbreaking.

In a reversal of the regular-season result, defending large-school champion West held off Bartlett, 28-27, in a state semifinal at Anchorage Football Stadium.

The difference in the scoring summary appears as one missed extra point with less than three minutes remaining — Bartlett's Dani VanOrd rocketed her kick, but it veered wide-left, barely. Arguably, the biggest difference that produced the tiniest point differential came in turnovers — Bartlett 4, West 0.

When it was over, before thousands of fans could lumber away from the cold metal of the bleachers and hit the parking lot, the handshake line turned ugly. Players from both teams wrestled and shoved, some grappling to the artificial turf before they were separated by coaches. Chaos smoothed to hard feelings and harsh words, and the teams slowly retreated to their respective sidelines.

Without irony, the public address announcer began to unveil each team's sportsmanship award for the game, but that notion was quickly scratched.

West (7-3) marches on to the state championship game for the fourth straight year and awaits the winner of Saturday's Service-East semifinal — all four semifinalists come from Anchorage's Cook Inlet Conference. The Eagles have won two of the previous three state titles, and three in coach Tim Davis' previous seven seasons. Their appearance in the semifinals was their seventh straight.

"We played as a team, and we won this game as a team," said West senior Turek Taylor, who caught four passes for 106 yards and forced a fumble he recovered.

Bartlett (8-2), which won eight straight games after badly losing its season opener, could only wonder what might have been. The Golden Bears were seeking to make the championship game for the first time since they won it all in 2009.

"We had a bunch of turnovers and stuff like that," said Bartlett co-coach John Jessen. "We kind of shot ourselves in the foot and West played good, so all the credit goes to them."

West led 28-14 after receiver Darrell Moss out-maneuvered Bartlett's Trey Kingsland in the corner of the end zone to snatch Qyntyn Pilcher's fade pass with 73 seconds left in the third quarter.

But back charged Bartlett, which to that point had been somewhat stymied by its three lost fumbles and an interception. The Golden Bears two possessions later, in the fourth quarter, used Azayvon McFarland's 37-yard touchdown run to pull within a touchdown.

On their next possession — which came after West mistakes and consecutive delay-of-game penalties landed them at fourth-and 31, prompting a punt — the Golden Bears used Jontay Edwards' third touchdown run, a 6-yarder, to cut West's lead to 28-27. Just 2:46 remained. VanOrd's kick was off the mark.

"I'm really proud of our guys and I love our kicker," Jessen said. "She's a great kid — it wasn't her fault at all. I'm proud of my team and how they came back."

West's Will Troxel, whose pass-rush deflection of a Aaron Egoak pass in the third quarter turned into a Henry Joling interception at the Bartlett 7 and, soon, Moss' touchdown catch, said the Eagles know how to navigate tough times. He addressed the chaos at the end of the game, but he might as well have been talking about the entire game.

"Obviously, there's a bit of drama right now," he said. "One thing Davis has preached all four of my years is pushing through adversity. I'm really happy guys could utilize that skill."

When Bartlett beat West, 28-10, in the regular season, the Golden Bears held the Eagles to 123 yards total offense. West doubled that Friday with 249 yards offense, relying on Lazono Martin's 84 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 21 carries with principal back Justin Tovio sidelined by injury. Pilcher completed 12 of 20 passes for 161 yards and no interceptions.

Bartlett knows injuries too. Running backs Markus Sagatu and Kingsland have been banged up late in the season. Edwards proved a workhorse Friday with 177 yards and those three scores on 34 carries. He was thunder, breaking tackles and nearly always moving the pile forward. Hunter Cargill was lightning, quick and elusive in racking 169 yards on 10 carries, and McFarland accounted for 51 yards on six rushes.

Yet even as Bartlett piled up 399 rushing yards to West's 88, the Eagles escaped thanks to their running game late, as they bled the clock on a possession with 2:45 left, after C.J. Candido recovered Bartlett's onside kick. Two Martin runs for first downs — a 9-yarder on third-and-7 and an 18-yarder on second-and-11 — forced Bartlett to drain its timeouts.

And that allowed Hunter Hughes, who shares quarterbacking duties with Pilcher and furnished a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, to take a knee on the game's final play. He was able to run out the clock because West lineman Sefo Seui recovered Hughes' fumble one play earlier.

Taylor, West's two-way threat at receiver and defensive back, said the regular-season loss to Bartlett spurred his team.

"We faced the consequences," he said, "and learned from it."

West 7  14  7  0  — 28

Bartlett 7  7  0  13  — 27

First Quarter

West — Hughes 1 run (Harjehausen kick), 8:10.

Bartlett — Edwards 10 run (VanOrd kick), 1:41.

Second Quarter

West — Martin 2 run (Harjehausen kick), 5:42.

Bartlett — Edwards 3 run (VanOrd kick), 4:35.

West — Martin 5 run (Harjehausen kick), 1:19.

Third Quarter

West — Moss 5 pass from Pilcher (Harjehausen kick), 1:13.

Fourth Quarter

Bartlett — McFarland 37 run (VanOrd kick), 5:47.

Bartlett — Edwards 6 run (kick failed), 2:46.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — West: Martin 21-84, Hughes 10-8, Pilcher 4-1, Bell 2-(-5). Bartlett:
Edwards 34-177, Cargill 10-169, McFarland 6-51, Sagatu 2-2, Suon 1-0, Kingsland 2-(-1), Egoak 3-(-3).

PASSING — West: Pilcher 12-20-0–161, Taylor 0-1-0–0. Bartlett: Egoak 3-5-1–13.

RECEIVING — West: Taylor 4-106, Moss 2-15, Martin 2-10, Mendoza 2-7, Bailey Despain 1-15, Blake Despain 1-4. Bartlett: Regevig 2-23, Kingsland 1-(-10).