Lathrop tops Soldotna to claim 2nd straight Alaska state DII football championship

For the second year in row and the third time in the last four years, the Lathrop and Soldotna High football teams met in the final game of the season with the Division II Alaska state championship on the line.

Last year’s title tilt was won by the Malemutes somewhat handily, 39-28. This time around the result was the same, but it was a much closer bout that wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter in a 21-18 Lathrop triumph.

“I’m more proud of this game than any one all season, the way our guys kept bouncing back through adversity,” Lathrop head coach Luke Balash said.

Both teams came into the game with undefeated records as the clear cream of the crop at their level of competition.

This year’s game didn’t fail to live up to the hype and was filled with tough running, hard hitting and clutch plays on both sides of the ball by each team.

Ultimately, the two biggest deciding factors for the Malemutes came down a timely defensive stop just before halftime and a gutsy decision on offense in the second half.

Soldotna had the lead for most of the first half and was threatening to extend its lead to double figures just before halftime but was thwarted by both Lathrop’s defense at the one-yard line and an expiring clock.

“The goal-line stand just before halftime was so huge,” Balash said.

The Stars had wasted a timeout, essentially icing their own placekicker before he missed the extra point attempt on their first touchdown drive of the game in the first quarter. Instead having another chance to punch the ball in from a yard out or kick a short field goal, they went into halftime leading 12-7.

“Big credit goes to the defense for saving us in this game,” Lathrop junior quarterback Jenner Webb said. “After giving away two turnovers in a row, they made it so that we were only down one touchdown.”

After Soldotna was forced to punt on its first drive of the second half due to pre-snap penalties stalling what initially looked like a promising possession, Lathrop had a big decision deep in its own territory on a fourth-and-1 from the 18-yard line.

Balash called a timeout to talk about it after the Malemutes unsuccessfully tried to get the Stars’ defense to jump offsides. He briefly pondered just playing conservative and punting the ball instead of risking giving the ball back to their opponents with great field position.

“I checked with my defensive coordinator and he said ‘Are kidding coach? We can’t get a yard?’ and I looked at the players and they were like ‘Coach we got to go for it,’ ” Balash said. “If that’s what everyone wanted to do, that’s the consensus and that’s our heart.”

The Malamutes brought in the better runner of their two junior quarterbacks in Webb and he rewarded the bold gamble by ripping off an impressive 49-yard run to flip the field and give his team a massive jolt of momentum.

“I got to give credit to my (offensive) line,” Webb said. “They opened a hole that a semi truck could’ve fit through.”

Their other quarterback, Solomon Wade, came back in to finish the drive by throwing a nine-yard touchdown to star senior receiver Earl Parker three plays later for the go-ahead score.

Both quarterbacks bounced back from throwing interceptions on Lathrop’s first two possessions of the game and made key plays for the team when they needed to be made.

“It was just being there for your guys,” Wade said. “Just locking in, fixing the mistakes, and doing what you have to do in the moment. Big players make big plays in big moments.”

Each team would tack on another touchdown to their final total but the Malamutes came up with just enough stops on defense in the second half to hold the Stars offense at bay.

“Our defense played amazing in this game,” Wade said. “They played lights-out and are really something special.”

This marks not only the second straight year he has finished the season as a state champion, but doing so with his younger brother as his teammate in sophomore lineman Wayne Snowden.

“It’s legendary,” Parker said. “You don’t see that often, especially two times. There’s nothing more I could ask for.”

Balash said he loves a quote from the famous football movie “Friday Night Lights” that says “the only difference between winning and losing is how people treat you, the process is still the same.”

“The process this year wasn’t any different than last year, the year before that, or the 18 years before that,” he said. “It’s just the process that you do and you give whether you think you have a championship team or not.”