The Juneau Huskies are just three games away from securing a home playoff game in the state tournament.
Two of those games are in their own hands. This weekend the Huskies (1-4 Cook Inlet Conference, 2-4 overall) host the Bartlett Golden Bears (3-2 CIC, 4-2 OA) on Saturday at 3 p.m. on Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park and then travel to the Colony Knights (0-5 CIC, 0-6 OA) in Palmer on Oct. 5 to close out the regular season.
“We can finish anywhere from fourth to eighth in the seedings still,” Juneau coach Rich Sjoroos said. “We are either going to be the fourth seed, the sixth seed or the eighth seed. There is really no scenario that puts us at five or seven…A lot is riding on these last couple conference games and obviously other games will come into play as well. As far as our situation is concerned, we can definitely still host a home playoff game if things shake out in the best way possible.”
The third game that will be significant is Bartlett’s travel clash against West Anchorage (3-2 CIC, 4-2 OA) on Oct. 5 at the Eagles turf.
But first the Huskies will face a Golden Bears team that features 26 seniors on their 43-man varsity roster.
Juneau has a 22-man varsity. The Huskies will honor their nine seniors — Hayden Aube, Jayden Johnson, Sage Schultz, Caleb Ziegenfuss, Johnathyn Kestel, Merrick Hartman, Benny Zukas, Gunnar Tarver and Stefano Rivera — just prior to the start of their 3 p.m. game.
Bartlett’s two losses have been by a total of seven points to the top two CIC teams, Dimond and East.
“Psychologically I think we just need to get the confidence level that we can compete with those kinds of odds against you,” Sjoroos said. “We had a rough go against them last year and a lot of those players are back and they have been having a good season. They feel pretty good about their team and they should. They have size all over the place, speed and obviously experience with all the seniors on their roster.”
Bartlett also returns last season’s State Defensive Lineman of the Year, junior 6’1”, 280-pound tackle Deuce Alailefaleula who also plays fullback for the Golden Bears and has received five NCAA Division I scholarship offers.
“The fact that he got that award as a sophomore is just unheard of,” Sjoroos said. “He is a game-changer type player when he is on the field for sure. I am glad we are home. That always helps when you have the home crowd behind you and we fared pretty well in our two home games so far this year, and those were against good teams so I like that piece. It is just a matter of trying to get enough healthy bodies together, we have a few injuries, so it is just trying to get that next guy up into the lineup and up to speed and be ready to execute on Saturday.”
A key for Saturday will be the offensive line and the pinpoint snaps of junior center Jonah Mahle.
The Juneau Huskies offensive line of junior Ricky Tupou (77), Kyle Carter (71), center Jonah Mahle (54), senior Merrick Hartman (57) and junior Walter Haube-Law (55) are shown during a game against West Anchorage at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park earlier this season. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)
The Huskies put more responsibility on their center than most teams do as Juneau quarterbacks junior Noah Ault and Ziegenfuss don’t always line up in the same position, or Mahle will snap the ball directly to running backs Aube, junior Samuel Sarof or sophomore Ethan Van Kirk.
“He snaps to angles or he is trying to lead them with the snap to the knee,” Sjoroos said. “We preach that if you keep the ball low then the defense really has a hard time finding that ball. He has just done such a great job. Any time he has a bad snap, which is very rare, we are like ‘oh my gosh what happened’ because it is just so infrequent. And our whole offensive line almost all of them are juniors so they will get another year together. The chemistry they are building is great.”
To the sides of Mahle are junior offensive linemen Ricky Tupou, Kyle Carter, Walter Haube-Law and senior Hartman.
The defensive line of the Huskies will be critical in keeping Juneau relevant against Bartlett. Tupou stays on the field when the ball changes hands and is joined by defensive ends Rivera and Tarver and junior interior lineman Hyrum Fish.
“He’s the smallest of the group but he is quick and creates a lot of havoc,” Sjoroos said.
The season’s final game against winless Colony will not be a Huskies pushover.
“It is their senior night,” Sjoroos said. “They always get a pretty big crowd, they have a marching band and everything. I like going there. It is always a really energetic atmosphere and a night game as well.”
Also this weekend Dimond (5-0 CIC, 6-0 OA) plays at East (5-0 CIC, 5-1 OA), West Anchorage plays at Service (2-3 CIC, 3-3 OA) and South Anchorage (1-4 CIC, 2-4 OA) plays at Colony.
The final week of action will have Dimond at Service, East at South, Bartlett at West and JDHS at Colony.
State quarterfinals are Oct. 11-12 and semifinals Oct. 18-19, both at the site of the higher seed. The finals are Oct. 25 at Colony.
“I’m proud of these kids,” Sjoroos said. “We haven’t played so well on those day Anchorage trips and some of that is obviously our opponents who have been pretty good, I don’t want to discount what we are facing. But I do just think we play better in our home games, coming out with energy and being able to sustain that for pretty much the whole game. So I am hoping we can replicate that one more time. It will be senior afternoon for some of these guys, potentially their last game on that field, so that brings some extra adrenaline and motivation. So we’ll lean on all of that and put together a good formula that gets us in the ball game, turns it into a four-quarter football game, and hopefully put some plays together in the end and come out on top.”
If Juneau wins Saturday they are still in the running for the fourth seed at state. If they lose and beat Colony they are the sixth seed.
“We still have lots to play for. Obviously it is kind of humbling to come off a game like last week (45-8 loss), but Dimond is just flying high right now…one of our focal points is changing how we finish a half. High school momentum is something that can swing pretty quick and I have seen that with these guys. We’ve had something bad happen right before the half and it kind of lingers into the second half, so hopefully we can limit that kind of stuff and win the turnover battle. All the things that win a football game. Maybe some of those Bartlett seniors will miss the airplane or something.”
