West and Dimond advance to Division I state football championship with dominant semifinal victories

The table for the 2024 Division I Alaska state football championship is set as defending champion West Anchorage and undefeated Dimond will face off for the second time this season Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Colony High School.

Both teams punched their respective tickets to the finals by notching blowout victories in the semifinals to leave no shred of doubt who are the two best and hottest teams in the state.

In the first game of the day, the Eagles traveled to face crosstown rival Bettye Davis East High and avenged their first and only home loss of the season from Week 2 by flipping the script on the Thunderbirds in a 34-14 win.

“Everything we’ve been talking about is what we call the relentless equation which is the idea that things that happen to you that you have no control over plus the things you have control over equals the outcome,” West head coach Tim Davis said. “The distance you can run with your legs is not controlled by the legs of others. That was the message this week and it’ll be very similar going into this next week.”

What began as a defensive battle only saw six points scored in the first half. Those were scored on a six-yard run for West senior running back Zephaniah Sailele, the first of his hat trick day. It was back-to-back big plays on special teams that sparked the second-half scoring frenzy for West.

After an East returner fumbled on the opening kickoff of the third quarter, junior Aleki Toleafoa was at the right place at the right time to scoop up the loose ball and take it into the end zone.

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On the ensuing kickoff, West wanted to keep riding that wave of momentum and successfully executed an onside kick and recovery. The ball took a perfect bounce in the air past the necessary 10 yards and senior Dylan Sanders got it in stride but couldn’t advance it per rules.

“Coach Corey Evans is our special teams coordinator, and he’s got a great plan that he put in place and our guys went out and absolutely executed it,” Davis said. “They were in position for fortuitous things like the weird fumble down there. We practiced the onside kick this week and the kicker had got that bounce going and what a beautiful onside kick. We felt good about that call.”

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Sailele tacked on two more red-zone touchdowns on the Eagles’ next two possessions to extend their lead. He finished with the three scores and more than 100 rushing yards before sitting out most of the fourth quarter.

“My success comes from God,” he said. “He helps me with everything and my Kings put in some great work, my (offensive) linemen are really good.”

The final nail in the coffin for East and cherry on top for West was a 65-yard deep ball bomb from senior Jethro De Castro to his leading wide receiver Ariel Sanchez for the last points of the game. After giving up a double-digit lead at home, it was vindicating for the Eagles players to keep the one they established this time around.

“It feels really good,” Sailele said. “I’ve been waiting for this day, I’ve been waiting for this game especially for this moment right here. I feel like I got my get back.”

The Eagles wanted a chance to continue playing together for another week more than anything and feel like they “earned it” with their performance against the Thunderbirds.

“Selfishly, I get to spend one more week with these guys as their head coach for the year 2024 and that’s my victory,” Davis said. “Now, we still have work to do and more lessons to learn.”

Lynx pull away in second half to sweep Golden Bears

While this will mark a second straight trip to the state title game for West, Dimond’s appearance snaps a 23-year drought. The Lynx last appeared in the title game in 2001, which also happened to be the last season they went undefeated and were crowned champions.

This year’s team punched its ticket to the finals against the same opponent they began their impressive 2024 campaign against, Bartlett. In the regular-season opener, Dimond held off a furious late rally by the Golden Bears to hold on for a five-point victory.

Dimond didn’t leave anything up to chance on Saturday in the rematch as a five-touchdown performance by star quarterback Cayden Pili and a second-half shutout by the defense paved the way to a 36-6 blowout.

“The boys came out hard and I felt like there were a couple unlucky plays and calls that kind of cost us in the first half from getting a little bit more,” Dimond head coach Brian Yim said. “We came out in the second half, our defense has been playing lights out all year, they got that going and we kind of leaned on the big boys inside to put together some runs inside and it worked out.”

Pili scored his first four touchdowns with his legs on short runs in the red zone and delivered a 10-yard strike in the back of the end zone to senior Alex Borke in the fourth quarter for his fifth and final scoring play.

“I was just looking for my open guys,” he said. “My line did a good job blocking and just trying to find the open gaps and keep the ball moving.”

A stout Dimond offensive line anchored by center James Luaao has been vital for Dimond this season. The unit has plowed the way for Pili and the rest of ball carriers on the ground and given the quarterback time to find and throw to his intended targets in the passing game has been

Luaao, a first team CIC all-conference selection and Offensive Lineman of the Year award recipient is grateful for the experience to go put in work in the trenches and could care less about who gets credit of the offense’s success.

“We love blocking for our (quarterback),” Luaao said. “Sometimes it doesn’t always work out, but we always try our best in the end, and it’s always about communication on the field between me and boys. We all come together as one and make it work out.”

The first time Dimond and West faced off this season, the Lynx rolled to a 29-12 victory in Week 4 but since then, the Eagles have yet to lose again and are riding a six-game win streak heading into the state title game. Yim and his players know their CIC foes will be looking to avenge their only other loss of the year by trying to spoil Dimond’s perfect season.

“I’ve coached with a lot of those guys already in the past, so I just respect what they do,” Yim said. “We are right down the road from them, we work out and do 7-on-7s over there in the summer with them so we’re real familiar with each other. I’m excited for another opportunity, and I think we’ve got a good shot to come out on top as long as we do our job and keep playing the way we’ve been playing.”

The table is set for the Division II state title game as well as it will be a matchup between Lathrop and defending champion Soldotna for the fifth year in a row. Both teams punched their respective tickets with blowout wins in the semifinals as well. On Friday night, the Malemutes rolled over North Pole 42-13 and on Saturday, the Stars did the same to Chugiak in a 56-7 triumph.

Both title tilts will take place at Colony out in the Mat-Su with the Division I finals on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and the Division II finals played the following evening on Saturday at 4 p.m.