East High football defeats Bartlett in 6th overtime; West pulls away from South with rushing attack

The adversity for both the Bartlett High and Bettye Davis East Anchorage football teams began long before the Saturday afternoon kickoff of the annual Boot Game, played in memory of former East all-state defensive lineman Aanooalii Filoialii, who was killed in a 2002 auto accident.

Each side was missing key players on both sides of the ball, including both teams’ starting quarterbacks, due to injury. But that didn’t stop those who were left standing from producing a thrilling classic that featured six overtime periods, with the visiting Thunderbirds escaping the Golden Bears’ den in a 50-48 victory.

“Honestly, either team could’ve won that game,” East coach Jeff Trotter said. “Both teams played with incredible heart and effort. As a fan, it’s a fun game to watch, but as a coach, my blood pressure almost killed me out there.”

After a low-scoring and fast-moving first four quarters, which resulted in a 12-12 tie at the end of regulation, a scoring frenzy ensued in overtime. Each team got a chance to score from the other team’s 10-yard line, and since neither had a kicker, it meant all or nothing for touchdowns and two-point conversion attempts.

At one point it seemed like neither team was going to be able to stop the other from getting into the end zone as they each succeeded in scoring in all but one of the overtime sessions. Only in the second possession of the sixth overtime was East’s defense finally able to get a goal-line stand on a two-point conversion attempt, as a flock of Thunderbirds gang-tackled Bartlett quarterback Salvation Tyrell a yard short of tying the game again.

“It was amazing,” East senior wide receiver Brandon Young said. “You could tell both teams were tired. We wanted to go home and get some food and one team finally did it.”

Not only was Young in on the crucial game-winning defensive play, he also played a large role in keeping his team’s hope of holding onto the Boot Trophy with his clutch plays on offense in both regulation and overtime.

“We didn’t have much practice together and there were little ups and downs, but we connected when it was important and got the job done,” Young said.

He scored the first points of the game on a 35-yard catch-and-run play where he took a short completion from quarterback Bentley Stubbs, who will be replacing Toa Samoa as the starter for the remainder of the season after Samoa suffered a broken arm in last week’s win over Colony.

“We always preach ‘next man up,’ and it hurt having our starting quarterback go down, but I thought Bentley did a good job, especially recovering from a couple of errors in the beginning,” Trotter said. “The team rallied around him, and without him, I don’t know if we get to that sixth overtime.”

The two connected again on back-to-back scoring plays in the first overtime period on a 5-yard touchdown and on the two-point conversion to extend the game again. Stubbs scored a 3-yard rushing touchdown in the second session and linked up with Young again on a two-point conversion attempt in the fifth overtime period to force a sixth.

“He’s the best receiver in the state, no doubt,” Stubbs said. “If he’s open, I’m throwing it. If he’s not, I’m throwing it. I like to throw the ball to Brandon. He’s a great guy, we have a good connection and we’ve been playing together for three years.”

Bartlett was without star defensive lineman Deuce Alailefaleula, who suffered a knee injury in last week’s win over Service. East took advantage of his absence by repeatedly running the ball up the middle and found tremendous success even after starting senior running back Roshae Olaes-Rivas left the game in the first quarter with a lower leg injury.

The East tandem of senior Tenari Atisanoe-Harmon and junior Prince Siliato combined for nearly 200 rushing yards. Atisanoe-Harmon found the end zone five times in overtime between three touchdowns and a pair of successful two-point conversions, including the game-winning scores on back-to-back plays from 8 yards out, and then powered his way across the goal line again to tack on two more points for the cherry on top.

“We always have a stable of backs, which we’re lucky to have,” Trotter said. “We’re lucky and blessed to have a lot of running-back-type kids and it showed. One guy went down and we didn’t miss a beat.”

West unleashes bell-cow back in homecoming win over South

On Friday night across town, the Eagles notched their first win at the Nest on Hillcrest this season. West topped South 23-16 thanks in large part to the Herculean effort of junior running back Zephaniah Sailele and his offensive linemen, who are collectively known as “The Kings.” They banded together to rack up more than 260 rushing yards and all three of the team’s touchdowns in a regular-season rematch of last year’s Division I state title game.

“We fought hard against a very tough team and we were fortunate tonight to walk away with the win,” West coach Tim Davis said. “I love watching our Kings. Coach Navarro gets those boys absolutely dialed in. They were leading our running backs into overloaded boxes and great schemes drawn up by South.”

Despite nice weather conditions, West decided to keep the ball predominantly on the ground with Sailele carrying the ball a staggering 50 times over the course of the game. While his blockers did a great job of opening holes and creating lanes for him, the bulk of the yards came after contact when Sailele repeatedly bounced off of, ran through and even dragged multiple South defenders almost every time he touched the ball.

“I give all my glory to the man above,” Sailele said. “He helps me with everything I need.”

After each team marched down the field and scored on their opening possessions, both defenses stiffened up and only gave up a short field goal apiece to close out the first half with West up 10-9, a missed extra point that bounced off the upright being the only reason it wasn’t tied at the end of the second quarter.

The third quarter featured far more punts than points with neither team being able to finish a drive in the end zone or even notch another field goal. But the Eagles were able to cap off a drive they began late in the third period in the first couple of minutes of the fourth with Sailele’s second scoring run of the night.

“I love my Kings,” he said. “We had to adjust a lot though because their defense was pretty hard to run against, but I feel like it was a good win overall.”

West tacked on another touchdown from Sailele to complete his hat trick and go up by two scores with just over 4 1/2 minutes left in the game. The Eagles’ defense nearly pitched a shutout in the second half until South was able to cut their lead to seven on the ensuing possession with a 1-yard touchdown by quarterback Cole Yarrington. After recovering an onside kick attempt by the Wolverines, Sailele picked up 14 more yards and a first down to seal the win.

“It was phenomenal work by Zeph just to make one man miss and the Kings cleaned up the rest,” Davis said. “There were some really great moments for Zephaniah tonight because he is a very dynamic running back.”

Elsewhere in Division I gridiron action, Service pulled away from Colony to secure a homecoming victory of its own in lopsided fashion Friday night and, Dimond stayed unbeaten with a blowout 45-8 win over Juneau-Douglas at home.

At the lower levels, Soldotna remained the only undefeated team in Division II with a 42-point win over Wasilla, and Seward did the same in 9-man with a 20-point win over Valdez. Other impressive performances included Lathrop blowing out Chugiak by more than 40 points and West Valley more than doubling Palmer’s points in a nearly 20-point win.

Week 6 Results

Friday

Houston 21, Kodiak 6

Soldotna 63, Wasilla 21

Lathrop 56, Chugiak 12

West Valley 32, Palmer 14

Redington 20, Kenai Central 6

West 23, South 16

Service 41, Colony 21

Saturday

East 50, Bartlett 48 6 OTs

North Pole 17, Eagle River 8

Dimond 45, Juneau-Douglas 8

Seward 46, Valdez 26

Barrow 30, Homer 20