West Anchorage High School’s Zephaniah Sailele (6) breaks through Juneau defenders during Saturday’s game at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

West Anchorage High School’s Zephaniah Sailele (6) breaks through Juneau defenders during Saturday’s game at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Huskies come up short at home in 28-27 nailbiter against West Anchorage

Juneau jumps out to 19-0 lead on Eagles’ mistakes, but end up in battle until final few seconds

A game loaded with gut-wrenching plays and momentum switches ended up every bit as close as its 28-27 final score, with the Juneau Huskies on the short end against West Anchorage High School after an agonizingly long decision by officials with 81 seconds left didn’t go the Huskies’ way.

Juneau (2-3 overall, 1-3 in the Cook Inlet Conference) showcased a new look in its second home game of the season with frequent use of a four-receiver spread offense. The team also took advantage of several miscues by West Anchorage, particularly in the first half when the Huskies jumped out to a 19-0 lead in the second quarter.

“I would take that kind of effort any day of the week,” Juneau Head Coach Rich Sjoroos said. “And you know they didn’t come out on top on the scoreboard, but I sure felt like they won today, just the way they played and the effort they gave. Sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story, at least that’s how I feel about it.”

Juneau’s Noah Ault (1) launches a long pass toward Jayden Johnson (4) during Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau’s Noah Ault (1) launches a long pass toward Jayden Johnson (4) during Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

The Eagles threw three interceptions during the game, were called for penalties on two punts that led to Juneau first downs, and nearly fumbled the game away after seemingly clinching the win in the final two minutes.

However, West Anchorage also hit a Hail Mary pass on the last play of the first half to narrow the gap to 19-7. They then put Zephaniah Sailele — who’d spent the first half as a defensive lineman — in at running back with punishing effectiveness throughout the second half to overcome the Huskies’ edge.

Sailele has played running back for the Eagles at other times during the season, but the game plan was to keep him on defense at the start of Saturday’s game, said West Anchorage Head Coach Tim Davis.

“We’ve been trying to maintain so he can run,” Davis said. “He runs so fierce. There’s so much energy being exerted by him and we thought that we had to have him more fresh for defense. But I think tonight we went into the second half saying ‘You know what? We’re going to find other guys for defense and you’re gonna carry this thing.’ And tonight was beautiful. He absolutely carried this thing.”

Officials huddle in the end zone with 81 seconds left in Saturday’s game between Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and West Anchorage High School — as the head coaches for both teams watch — trying to determine if a fumble on a play by West Anchorage should result in a safety or Juneau getting the ball on the 1-yard line. The decision was a safety, resulting in Juneau getting the ball deep in its territory with the score 28-27, rather than at the 1-yard line with a 28-25 deficit. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Officials huddle in the end zone with 81 seconds left in Saturday’s game between Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and West Anchorage High School — as the head coaches for both teams watch — trying to determine if a fumble on a play by West Anchorage should result in a safety or Juneau getting the ball on the 1-yard line. The decision was a safety, resulting in Juneau getting the ball deep in its territory with the score 28-27, rather than at the 1-yard line with a 28-25 deficit. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

There were plenty of “what-if” moments involving single plays. But perhaps the biggest came when West Anchorage —taking over on downs with 90 seconds left deep in its own territory with a 28-25 lead— fumbled on the ensuing snap and sent players into a scrum at the goal line.

Officials were left to decide if the Huskies had recovered on the 1-yard line or an Eagle had been tackled in the end zone for a safety. After a prolonged conference, the latter was called based on an official blowing a whistle while a West Anchorage player with the ball was hit in the end zone.

While that narrowed the gap to 28-27 and allowed Juneau to get possession of the ball on its 33-yard line after a free kick with 1:15 left and two timeouts, they were without starting quarterback Noah Ault who’d been injured on a long scramble during Juneau’s previous possession a couple of minutes earlier as Huskies were trying to drive for a winning or tying score.

Juneau Huskies senior Caleb Ziegenfuss (16) runs behind the blocking of junior Walter Haube-Law (55), junior Ricky Tupou (77) and senior Johnathyn Kestel (32) during the Huskies 28-27 loss to the West Anchorage High School Eagles on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)

Juneau Huskies senior Caleb Ziegenfuss (16) runs behind the blocking of junior Walter Haube-Law (55), junior Ricky Tupou (77) and senior Johnathyn Kestel (32) during the Huskies 28-27 loss to the West Anchorage High School Eagles on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)

Backup Caleb Ziegenfuss — who’d played various offensive, defensive and special teams positions throughout the game — picked up eight yards on a scramble on first down. But the next three passing plays were an incompletion, sack and incompletion to effectively end the game with 25 seconds remaining.

“It wasn’t very ideal hopping in the fourth quarterback without playing the whole game (there) and I was playing several other positions where I had to go in for other people, so it makes it kind of hard to jump around,” he said.

Both teams punted on their first offensive possession, with Juneau winning the field position battle by beginning its second possession on the West Anchorage 39-yard-line. After a one-yard run by Ziegenfuss and an incomplete pass by Ault to Ziegenfuss, Ault hit senior playmaking wide receiver Jayden Johnson for an easy 38-yard touchdown pass after the defender covering him fell down with 7:30 left in the first quarter.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Jayden Johnson (4) hauls in one of two touchdown passes from Noah Ault during Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Jayden Johnson (4) hauls in one of two touchdown passes from Noah Ault during Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

The four-receiver offense by the Huskies, mingled in about evenly with the single-wing formation they used heavily so far this year, was used to help open offensive opportunities against a West Anchorage team with lots of large players, Sjoroos said.

“I knew that against this defensive line you can’t use the formula that we used last week,” he said, referring to last week’s 17-6 road win over California’s Bishop High School. “That wasn’t going to work for four quarters against these guys. We did enough of it to try and keep them honest.”

West Anchorage, which ran a no-huddle offense throughout the game, committed its first turnover on the ensuing possession when Juneau’s Daniel Campbell intercepted a pass that he returned to the Huskies’ 39-yard line.

On the Huskies’ first ensuing play Johnson ran an end-around for 37 yards to the West Anchorage 24-yard line. From there the Huskies’ ground the ball out into the end zone, with Samuel Sarof getting the bulk of the carries and smashing the ball across the goal line on a short run with 3:39 remaining in the first quarter. A missed two-point try left the score at 13-0 Juneau.

An official signals a touchdown as Samuel Sarof (27) barely makes it across the goal line for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in the first half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

An official signals a touchdown as Samuel Sarof (27) barely makes it across the goal line for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in the first half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

The Huskies quickly followed up with their second defensive interception of the quarter when Ziegenfuss snagged a rollout pass on the Eagle’s first play, giving Juneau the ball at the West Anchorage 41-yard line. But the Huskies, after driving to the West Anchorage 23-yard line, turned the ball over when they failed to convert a fourth down attempt.

West Anchorage punted on its next possession and the Huskies, taking over on their own 47-yard line, went on a drive to the Eagles’ 11-yard line with key playing including a 17-yard Ault-to-Johnson pass and another pass by Ault to Johnathyn Kestel to the 16-yard-line. When the drive stalled Sammy Mazon kicked a 29-yard field goal to put the Huskies up 16-0 with 7:07 left in the half.

The Eagles would drive inside Juneau territory on their next possession, but came up short on a fourth-and-4 conversion at the Huskies’ 39-yard line.

Sammy Mazon, a recent addition to the Juneau Huskies playing in his second game, kicks a 29-yard field goal during the first half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sammy Mazon, a recent addition to the Juneau Huskies playing in his second game, kicks a 29-yard field goal during the first half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau took over with 5:14 left in the half, but their drive appeared to stall with about 2:15 left in the half — until West Anchorage committed yet another mistake on a Huskies’ punt with a roughing the kicker penalty. The Huskies got the ball inside the Anchorage 5-yard line, but on fourth down with 17 seconds until halftime and no timeouts Sjoroos opted for another field goal by Mazon to put Juneau up 19-0.

“I thought we left some points on the field in the first half, that we could have maybe had more than 19,” Sjoroos said.

West Anchorage took over at its 35-yard line with eight seconds left and, after one long pass fell incomplete, a second Hail Mary was caught by the Eagles’ Ariel Sanchez at the Huskies’ 35-yard line and he was able to run the ball into the end zone to put the visiting team on the board 19-7 at halftime.

West Anchorage High School’s Ariel Sanchez (2) catches a Hail Mary pass beyond Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Daniel Campbell and scores a touchdown to give the Eagles their first score at the end of the first half of Saturday’s game at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

West Anchorage High School’s Ariel Sanchez (2) catches a Hail Mary pass beyond Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Daniel Campbell and scores a touchdown to give the Eagles their first score at the end of the first half of Saturday’s game at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

The visitors got the ball to start the second half, but a personal foul penalty put them in a hole they had to punt out of. But Juneau went three-and-out — but then West Anchorage committed yet another error with its third interception of the day to the Huskies’ Sage Schultz, who gave his team the ball at its own 26-yard line.

The Huskies’ offense stalled and, after another punt, the West Anchorage offense came to life at its own 35-yard line with Sailele in the backfield. On the second play he ran the ball to the Juneau 31-yard line and, five straight running plays by the Eagles later, scored to give the visitors their second touchdown, with a missed extra point making the score 19-13 with 4:20 left in the third quarter.

“We used up a lot of our fuel tank in the first half,” Sjoroos said. “It’s a tough matchup. They got a lot of kids that play football and a lot of big bodies…And they found a formula that was kind of working for them in the second half.”

A fumble by Juneau on its next possession gave West Anchorage the ball on the Huskies’ 31-yard line and three more runs by Sailele, the last for a 13-yard touchdown, gave the Eagles their first lead with 2:49 left in the quarter.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Jayden Johnson (4) breaks free of a tackler as he runs a pass in for a touchdown against West Anchorage High School on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Jayden Johnson (4) breaks free of a tackler as he runs a pass in for a touchdown against West Anchorage High School on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

While the moment seemed in West Anchorage’s favor, yet another mistake from them would give it back to Juneau. The Huskies lined up for a punt after a three-and-out series, but a running into the kicker penalty resulted in a fourth-and-1 Juneau would convert. From there they drove to the West Anchorage 31-yard line, where Ault connected with Johnson for their second touchdown of the day. A failed two-point conversion left Juneau up 25-20 with 11:26 in the game.

Sailele continued his torment of the Huskies as the Eagles started their next possession at their 41-yard line, running for 12, 24 and seven yards on the first three plays. Two plays later a 14-yard pass to Sanchez for his second touchdown and a two-point conversion put West Anchorage back in front 28-25 with 9:41 remaining.

Juneau Huskies’ junior Gunnar Niere (33), senior Stefano Rivera (99), senior Hayden Aube (2) and senior Gunnar Tarver (66) stop West Anchorage running back Manny Maga (20) during the Huskies 28-27 loss to the Eagles on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)

Juneau Huskies’ junior Gunnar Niere (33), senior Stefano Rivera (99), senior Hayden Aube (2) and senior Gunnar Tarver (66) stop West Anchorage running back Manny Maga (20) during the Huskies 28-27 loss to the Eagles on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)

The teams then exchanged punts as Juneau finally kept Sailele in check, but he had West Anchorage threatening again at the Juneau 32-yard line with just over three minutes to go. However, in one of the biggest defensive stops of the game, Juneau’s Ethan Van Kirk and Hyrum Fish stuffed Sailele for no gain on a fourth-and-inches, giving the Huskies the ball and a chance to win with 3:11 remaining.

On the first play Ault got the Huskies to the midfield stripe with an 18-yard scramble — but it was a costly run as he injured his shoulder diving for yardage and didn’t return to the game. Three plays later Ziegenfuss threw an interception that gave West Anchorage the ball at its 15-yard line with 90 seconds remaining — and Eagles players celebrating what appeared to be a likely victory.

But an Eagles coach reminded his players “it’s not over yet — something could go wrong, so be ready” — and that’s exactly what happened.

Caleb Ziegenfuss (16) tries to stiff-arm a tackler while trying to rally Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on a final drive in the closing seconds against West Anchorage High School on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Caleb Ziegenfuss (16) tries to stiff-arm a tackler while trying to rally Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on a final drive in the closing seconds against West Anchorage High School on Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

A direct snap to Sailele on the first play was botched and fumbled, resulting in a skirmish at the West Anchorage end zone that officials originally ruled was Juneau’s ball at the 1-yard line. But after officials conferred for several minutes — to clamorous chants from the home crowd — the ruling was a whistle had blown the ball dead for a safety.

While that gave Juneau the ball and the opportunity to win with a field goal with 81 seconds remaining, the need to drive about 50 yards instead of one proved too much to overcome.

The Huskies’ next game is on the road against the state’s top-ranked team, Dimond High School in Anchorage, at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21. Sjoroos said given the effort his team put in against West Anchorage he believes a strong matchup on the road is possible.

“We’ve turned the corner and we’re not going to lay down for anybody,” he told his players after the game.

Ziegenfuss, who filled in as the starter for two earlier games when Ault was hurt, said he’ll be ready to do so again if needed next Saturday.

“I’m always confident,” he said. “I’m confident in our team. I think we have a tough team, tough hearts. I think I think we can get the job done.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.

Ariel Sanchez (2) is congratulated by West Anchorage High School teammates after catching a Hail Mail touchdown pass at the end of the first half against Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Saturday at at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Ariel Sanchez (2) is congratulated by West Anchorage High School teammates after catching a Hail Mail touchdown pass at the end of the first half against Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Saturday at at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau Huskies players break through a banner as they take the field to start the second half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau Huskies players break through a banner as they take the field to start the second half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

A fourth-and-inches play by West Anchorage High School is stopped short of the first down by the Juneau Huskies’ Ethan Van Kirk (3) and Hyrum Fish (12) near the end of Saturday’s game at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

A fourth-and-inches play by West Anchorage High School is stopped short of the first down by the Juneau Huskies’ Ethan Van Kirk (3) and Hyrum Fish (12) near the end of Saturday’s game at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sage Schultz (5) intercepts a pass for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in the second half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sage Schultz (5) intercepts a pass for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in the second half of Saturday’s game against West Anchorage High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

A West Anchorage High School player is credited with a touchdown — even though his knee touches the ground before he breaks the plane of the goal line with the ball — during the first half of Saturday’s game against Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

A West Anchorage High School player is credited with a touchdown — even though his knee touches the ground before he breaks the plane of the goal line with the ball — during the first half of Saturday’s game against Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

More in Sports

A young bleeding tooth mushroom sheds excess water in red drops. (Photo by Bob Armstrong)
On the Trails: Birds, leaves and mushrooms at the onset of autumn

On a dark and dismal day in late September, I cheered myself… Continue reading

Jayden Johnson (4) throws a pass for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in the first quarter of Saturday’s game against Bartlett High School at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. Johnson, a senior wide receiver, played nearly the entire game at quarterback. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Juneau Huskies blow first half lead, lose home finale 34-20 to Bartlett High School

With JDHS on verge of potential tying score in final minutes, Bartlett returns fumble 95 yards for TD.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Ida Meyer runs past Ward Lake as she competes in the Women’s 5,000-meter race during the Division 1 Region V Cross Country event on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Meyer won the event with a time of 19:37.76. (Christopher Mullen/ Ketchikan Daily News)
Ida’s ‘Meyer Miles’ too much for Region V harriers

JDHS senior wins championship, leads Crimson Bears to girls’ cross-country team title

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Nick Iverson leads his teammates Erik Thompson and Owen Woodruff as they take first, second and third place in the Men’s 5,000-meter race during the Division 1 Region V Cross Country meet at Ward Lake in Ketchikan on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Iverson won the event with at time of 16:27.11. (Christopher Mullen/ Ketchikan Daily News)
Iverson puts senior stamp on Region V championship as Crimson Bears take boys team title

“I think if we didn’t combine schools there would be no way we had a chance of getting state this year.”

Jeremy Hamey, a Juneau resident, is having a career year as a professional poker player. (Alaska Sports Report photo)
Juneau poker pro Jeremy Hamey wins back-to-back tournaments in California

Juneau’s Jeremy Hamey has gone from making jumpers to making a living… Continue reading

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s swim and dive team does a cheer before the start of the Kayhi Swim Invitational at the Gateway Aquatic Center last Friday. (Christopher Mullen/ Ketchikan Daily News)
Crimson Bears devour Kings in Ketchikan pool

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears swim and dive team… Continue reading

Juneau Huskies junior quarterback Noah Ault (1) awaits the snap from junior center Jonah Mahle (54) as junior offensive lineman Kyle Carter (71) and junior running back Samuel Sarof (27) await action during a game against West Anchorage at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park earlier this season. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)
Juneau Huskies host Bartlett Golden Bears with playoff implications on senior night

JDHS can finish anywhere between fourth and eighth in conference with two games to go.

Juneau’s PJ Foy was named to the Junior National Team. (Alaska Sports Report photo)
Juneau swimmer PJ Foy named to U.S. Junior National Team

Juneau swimmer PJ Foy’s big year just keeps getting better. He competed… Continue reading

Most Read