Juneau Huskies blow first half lead, lose home finale 34-20 to Bartlett High School

In a game Juneau Huskies Head Coach Rich Sjoroos called a tale of two halves, his team took advantage of mistakes by visiting Bartlett High School to take a 20-8 lead in the final home game of the regular season. But miscues by Juneau in the second half, including perhaps the strangest play of the season near the end, resulted in a 34-20 Huskies loss.

A juggling catch by Johnathyn Kestel deep in Bartlett territory that could have resulted in a tying score with about three minutes left instead turned into disaster when he fumbled as he was hit and Bartlett star playmaker Andre Jameson took the ball 95 yards the other way for a touchdown that made the score 34-20 with 2:54 remaining.

Jameson, a senior running back and safety, also scored on a kickoff return and long touchdown run to prevail in a battle of playmakers against Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior wide receiver and defensive back Jayden Johnson. Johnson, in a first this season, played nearly the entire game at quarterback in a gameplan that focused heavily on his speed and ability.

The Golden Bears (5-2 overall, 4-2 Cook Inlet Conference) did give the Huskies (2-5 overall, 1-5 conference) a last gasp after the fumble return by committing two straight personal fouls that gave Juneau the ball in Bartlett territory, and Johnson hit Kurt Kuppert for a pass to the Bartlett 14-yard line with 2:10 remaining. But two plays later Johnson was intercepted at the Bartlett 2-yard line and the Golden Bears were able to run out the clock.

“They’re a big, strong, fast team, and with a lot of older kids,” Sjoroos said. “I mean that’s basically almost the same team we faced a year ago and lost by 50 points. So I feel like our kids really turned the corner this year and gave them a much better challenge.”

Johnson, the Huskies’ primary offensive playmaker the past two seasons as a wide receiver and frequent runner from the backfield, started and played all but a couple of snaps at quarterback. Juneau started junior Noah Ault at quarterback at the beginning of the season, then switched to multi-position senior Caleb Ziegenfuss for most of the season when Ault was injured, but Sjoroos said the gameplan Saturday was to maximize Johnson’s touches.

“Through the first six games we just hadn’t got him the number of touches that we would have liked,” Sjoroos said. “And we figured, hey, maybe the best way to do that is just get him the ball in his hands every play and I felt like it worked pretty well for large stretches of that game.”

Johnson has early success moving the ball on the ground and in the air, aided by Bartlett turnovers on three of its first four offensive possessions.

The Golden Bears opened the game at their own 7-yard line with a muffed kickoff return and penalty on their first offensive play, but then ate up half of the first quarter with a steady drive on the ground that ended in a fumble recovered by Juneau at its 20-yard line with 5:32 left in the first quarter. Juneau punted on its first offensive possession, but Bartlett fumbled again a few plays later to give the Huskies the ball back on their own 29-yard line.

Johnson then ran for 28 yards on a third-and-10 and, following a 15-yard personal foul penalty by Bartlett a few plays later, hit Kestel with a 17-yard pass to the Golden Bears’ 5-yard line. Sophomore running back Ethan Van Kirk scored two plays later on a one-yard run that made the score 6-0 with 9:44 left in the half after a two-point conversion try failed.

The Huskies committed their one notable mistake of the first half on the ensuing kickoff, which Jameson returned for a touchdown virtually untouched to make the score 7-6. It was a danger Sjoroos had foreseen ahead of the game, calling Jameson “literally the best returner in the history of the state.

Juneau punted on its next possession, but Bartlett turned the ball over on downs at the Huskies’ 44-yard line when a fourth-and-2 pass fell incomplete. The Huskies drove to the Golden Bears’ 30-yard line on five plays, where Johnson hit junior Kurt Kuppert on a sideline touchdown pass to make the score 13-7 with 3:57 left in the half.

An attempt to strike back quickly by Bartlett saw them reach midfield in two plays with a no-huddle offense, but on the next play a floater pass was intercepted downfield by Daniel Campbell with no Golden Bears nearby and returned to the Juneau 31-yard line.

Ziegenfuss then came up big on two straight running plays of nine and 26 yards to get well into Bartlett territory with two minutes remaining in the half. Juneau kept the ball in the ground and, aided by one of several 15-yard facemask penalties committed by the Golden Bears during the game, Johnson scored on a one-yard keeper to make the score 20-8 with 23 seconds left in the half.

Juneau got the second-half kickoff and for a moment looked like it might be running away with the game as Johnson on the third play of the Huskies’ opening drive ran the ball from midfield to the Bartlett 9-yard line. But the play was called back on a holding penalty by Juneau — and two plays later Johnson threw an interception that started the Golden Bears’ comeback.

Starting at their own 38 — and overcoming yet another 15-yard personal foul penalty — the Golden Bears ground out yards in big chunks with 5’9”, 216-pound senior running back Makisi Poleo, culminating in a 25-yard touchdown run up the middle where he broke multiple tackles along the way. A two-point conversion made the score 20-16 with 7:31 left in the third quarter.

But the Huskies got a strange bounce on their next possession, literally, after being forced to punt, but having the ball hit a Juneau player in the back and a teammate pick it up before it crossed the line of scrimmage — meaning it was still in Juneau’s possession and run it for enough yards for a first down, to objections from Bartlett coaches and players. From there Johnson led the Huskies to a first-and-goal at the 9-yard line, but then two short runs and a quarterback sack left Juneau with a fourth-and-20, and pass by Johnson to Kestel to the 13 meant the Huskies turned the ball over on downs with 11:09 left in the game.

Juneau seemed to get another break when Bartlett fumbled the ball a few plays later at their 25-yard line, but Juneau fumbled the ball back two plays later and the Golden Bears resumed their offense on the 21. Three plays later the biggest offensive strike of the game occurred when junior wide Stephen Drussell caught a 74-yard touchdown pass to put Bartlett up 22-20 with 7:08 remaining.

The Huskies would turn the ball over on downs on their next possession at the Bartlett 36-yard line when a fourth-down run by Johnson came up a yard short. A few plays later Jameson again showed his speed with a 31-yard touchdown run to make the score 28-20 with 3:26 remaining — but the Golden Bears, playing with a new kicker on the roster, bypassed an extra-point try and failed on a two-point conversion attempt, keeping it a one-score ballgame.

Bartlett gave Juneau yet another boost with a facemask penalty on the ensuing kickoff, giving the Huskies the ball near midfield. But on the first play a deep throw by Johnson downfield to Kestel between two defenders was juggled, caught and then fumbled inside the Bartlett 20-yard line, with Jameson picking the loose ball up near his own end zone and running nearly the length of the field for his third touchdown and the game’s final score after another two-point try failed.

As the home finale, the Huskies’ nine seniors as well as the cheer team’s seniors were honored before the game. Juneau’s final regular season game is at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, at winless Colony High School in Anchorage.

A win will make Juneau the sixth seed in the playoffs and set up a rematch against Bartlett on the Golden Bears’ home field. A loss makes Juneau the eighth seed and means they will likely face top-ranked Dimond High School, which beat Juneau 45-8 in Anchorage last weekend.

“You want to get some momentum going to playoffs,” Sjoroos said. “That’s a big one, right? Who can get some momentum? I remember South last year was the seventh seed (before the last regular season game). They came to Juneau. We were at the bottom. They blew us out and then ended up going all the way to state finals as the seventh seed. So there’s precedent that’s been set.”

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