The Rewind: West and Service open football season with decisive wins and Anchorage Little League team goes on a run
Aug. 14—Welcome to The Rewind, a weekly digest that puts a spotlight on the biggest stories and best performances from Alaska's world of sports.
The 2023 Alaska high school football season got underway last weekend and saw a pair of dominant performances and comebacks at the Division I level, a surprising result in Division II, and a thorough thrashing in Division III. On the college sports scene, two recently graduated former University of Alaska Anchorage standouts were named co-recipients of a prestigious award. On the national and international stage, a pair of former Alaska prep stars had impressive performances and an Anchorage Little League team made a strong regional run.
Headlines and highlights
The first week of the 2023 high school football season saw the reigning state champions in both Division I and II fall in their season openers in lopsided fashion to teams they beat last year. Colony was defeated by West High on Friday 41-20 in the most highly anticipated matchup of opening weekend. It was a complete team and resounding statement win for the Eagles who believe they sent a clear message to the rest of the state.
"We're ready and can do anything we put our minds to," said West senior running back Davis Iloilo who scored three rushing touchdowns.
[West football soars to season-opening victory over Colony with a complete team performance]
On Saturday night, Service dispatched Bartlett in a 41-12 victory in front of a packed stadium at home. The Cougars capitalized on the many mistakes of the Golden Bears that included nearly a dozen turnovers, one of which was returned 52 yards for a touchdown.
"It's a very big accomplishment to win the first game and we just got to keep it going and push forward," senior quarterback Jonathan Tautua said. "We're ready to play Service football."
While Bartlett struggled to consistently move and hold onto the ball on offense, Service used an explosive aerial attack to run up the score. Leading the charge was Tautua who totaled five touchdowns on the night, four passing and a 3-yard rushing score late in the fourth quarter.
He connected with three wide receivers for scores including twice with Blaise Rinner. The first of those came off a tipped pass initially intended for Austin French, who eventually caught a touchdown of his own from 20 yards out in the third quarter.
"We build out trust in practice," Tautua said. "I throw it up to them and I'm confident that they're going to come down with it and go score."
One of the lone bright stars for Bartlett was junior Andre Jameson who was a playmaker in all three phases of the game Saturday. On offense, he scored the Golden Bears first points of the game on a 59-yard touchdown. He led the team with two interceptions on defense and had an electrifying kickoff return touchdown negated by a penalty.
Week 1 in Division I also saw a pair of impressive second-half performances in CIC football action as both Bettye Davis East and Dimond notched season-opening victories. After being tied with two-time state runner-up Juneau 6-6 at halftime, the Thunderbirds pitched a second-half shutout in the state's capital on Saturday while adding 15 more points of their own to win 21-6. The Lynx came from behind to successfully defend their home turf against the invading South Anchorage Wolverines in a 24-19 win to notch their first season-opening triumph since 2019.
In Division II action, two-time defending champion Lathrop was slated to host top rival Soldotna for their season opener but poor air quality in Fairbanks forced the game to be played at a neutral site. Home-field advantage wasn't the only thing that the Malemutes lost in Week 1 as they also would fall to the Stars 56-20 at Wasilla High School.
The Dimond-West Little League baseball team from Anchorage had an excellent run last week at the Northwest Region Tournament. The team came up short of qualifying for the Little League Baseball World Series last Thursday when they fell to a Seattle team 12-1 in the final of the Northwest Region Tournament. The Alaska team scored a pair of wins in the tournament and had hoped to avenge an earlier loss to the Washington team in the championship. Had they won, the team would've advanced to this week's Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
In college sports news, a pair of recently graduated former UAA athletes received a prestigious award when Eve Stephens and Vanessa Aniteye were named co-recipients of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's NCAA Woman of the Year Award last week. Stephens played her entire collegiate career with the Seawolves and capped it off with a record-breaking final season. Aniteye began her collegiate track and field career with the Green and Gold but finished at Seattle Pacific University where she capped off her illustrious career with a national title in the 800 meters at the 2023 Division II indoor championships.
Alaska stars shining Outside
Anchorage's Brandon Pili made his professional debut in an NFL preseason game for the Miami Dolphins on Friday in Week 1 of the 2023 preseason and had a strong showing despite his team falling 19-3 to the Atlanta Falcons. The undrafted free agent defensive lineman out of USC and former Dimond gridiron star started the game, assisted in making the team's first tackle, played 30 total defensive snaps and finished tied for the third most total tackles with four including a pair of solos and a run stuff.
[3 NFL rookies with Alaska roots are living their dreams and proud of where they come from]
Palmer's Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu also made his NFL debut over the weekend with the Baltimore Ravens and helped the team extend its historic preseason win streak to 24 straight in a 20-19 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday. The sixth-round selection out of the University of Oregon is currently in a tight competition for the starting left guard spot on the team's offensive line and split the reps at the spot pretty evenly with fourth-year pro John Simpson. Even though he didn't get to start the game, according to Baltimore Beatdown's Kyle Barber, Aumavae-Laulu played 33 offensive snaps to Simpson's 37 and fared very well outside of getting penalized for a facemask penalty late in the game that negated a 14-yard gain.
Eagle River's Jordyn Bruce also made her professional debut recently except it occurred overseas at the Open de France where she placed second out of 12 athletes in the decathlon after totaling 6,659 points for Team USA. The former Eagle River High and Illinois State standout clocked a lifetime best of 12.39 seconds to finish second in the 100 meters and finished first in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 14.23 seconds. She placed third in the long jump (17 feet, 9.75 inches) and the shot put (36 feet, 6.5 inches) and second in both the high jump (5 feet, 2.5 inches) and the 400 meters (59.00 seconds).
Last week's results
Prep
American Legion
Monday
Redmond (OR) 13, Service 6
Tuesday
Redmond (OR) 8, Service 6
Football
Friday
West 41, Colony 20
Wasilla 48, West Valley 24
Dimond 24, South 18
Palmer 10, Chugiak 7
Kenai 37, Kodiak 0
Houston 60, Redington 0
Saturday
Eagle River 21 North Pole 0
East 21 Juneau 6
Homer 38 Barrow 12
Soldotna 56 Lathrop 20
Service 41, Bartlett 12
NFHS/ASBN WEEK ONE POLL
ALL DIVISIONS Top 10
1. West 1-0 at South
2. East 1-0 at Service
3. Soldotna1-0 vs North Pole
4. Service 1-0 vs East
5. Houston 1-0 at Kodiak
6. Wasilla 1-0 at Eagle River
7. Eagle River 1-0 vs Wasilla
8. Dimond 1-0 at Juneau
9. Homer 1-0 vs Redington
10. Kenai 1-0 at Barrow
Cross Country
Friday
Service Quad
Girls 3K
1. Finn Rigby 12:33, East Anchorage; 2. Adria Wuerth 12:34, Service; 3. Ella Atteberry 12:51, South Anchorage; 4. Molly McBride 12:53, Dimond; 5. Emiko Wilson 12:54, Service; 6. Maryjane Baxter 12:58, Dimond; 7. Madeleine Reckmeyer 13:03, Service; 8. Talia Day 13:07,Service; 9. Elliana Stull 13:09, Dimond; 10. Adele Matthews 13:13, South Anchorage
Boys 3K
1. Blaise Boyer 9:43, South Anchorage; 2. Jarrett Jackson 10:06, Dimond; 3. Levi Knickerbocker 10:09, Service; 4. Miles Gastrock 10:09, South Anchorage; 5. Max Kiskaddon 10:12, Service; 6. Caleb Sharrock 10:19, East Anchorage; 7. Katahdin Staples 10:19, East Anchorage; 8. Dylan Autrey 10:31, Service; 9. James Simono 10:35, Service; 10. Alan Padgett 10:36, Service
Saturday
Beach Lake Quad
Girls 3K
1. Skyler Belmear 12:15, Chugiak; 2. Hannah Shaha 12:19, Chugiak; 3. Petra Knox 12:26, Chugiak; 4. Hannah Bodkin 12:28 Chugiak; 5. Emily Moore 12:57, Chugiak; 6. Allison Macy 13:06, Chugiak; 7. Scarlet Parr 13:13, West Anchorage; 8. Merridy Littell 13:13, West Anchorage; 9. Ryleigh Ervin 13:18, Chugiak; 10. Hannah Stepetin 13:27, Chugiak
Boys 3K
1. Blake Hanley 10:14, West Anchorage; 2. Murphy Kimball 10:31, West Anchorage; 3. Parker Larson 10:47, Chugiak; 4. Owen Hayes 10:54, Chugiak; 5. Axel Kiskaddon 11:02, West Anchorage; 6. Mason Newell 11:03, Chugiak; 7. Kohen Galloway 11:10, Chugiak; 8. Thomas Ringsmuth 11:14, Chugiak; 9. Liam Dudley 11:22, West Anchorage; 10. Rollin Beardslee 11:24, Chugiak
2023 Kesugi Ridge Traverse
Women's Full
1. Shauna Severson, 6:04:32, 2. Hannah Lacroix 6:19:59, 3. Jennifer Love 6:24:28, 4. Shalane Frost 6:37:12, 5. Meghan Adair 6:48:4, 6. Hannah Petrich 6 7:04:13, 7. Karinna Gomez 7:10:46. 8. Becca Lacroix 7:41:44, 9. Carolyn Stwertka 7:48:01, 10. Piper Haney 8:08:19
Men's Full
1. Galen Johnston 5:02:20, 2. Samuel Adams 5:16:42, 3. Chris Osiensky 5:22:29, 4. Owen Hatcher 5:56:39, 5. Liam Anderson 5:59:36, 6. Kevin Rosenkranz 6:14:19, 7. Eric Mortensen 7 6:44:42, 8. Ethan Copp 7:03:54, 9. Jeff Fisher 7:19:03, 10. Ognjen Joldzic 7:42:04
Women's Half
1. Yvonne Jeschke 2:40:26, 2. Kianna Wika 2:41:55, 3. Alex Potter 2:42:38, 4. Lisa Anglen 2:47:21, 5. Elizabeth Dean 2:53:21, 6. Kari Nielsen 2:53:21, 7. Thea Sutton 3:00:02, 8. Alyse Loran 3:01:34, 9. Mia Stiassny 3:01:35, 10. Libby Kugel 3:01:35
Men's Half
1. Michael Rabe 2:20:55, 2. Eric Flanders 2:23:19, 3. Andrew Schirack 2:28:20, 4. Forrest Mahlen 2:32:53, 5. Andrew McGill 2:43:03, 6. Julian Paige 2:43:04, 7. Derek Nottingham 2:49:15, 8. Alex Burkhart 2:54:28, 9. Keenan Plate 2:54:50, 10. Jim McDonough 2:59:09
34th Annual Kenai Peninsula Violence Free Community Run
Women's 5K
1. Shari BeDunnah 25:27; 2. Susan Craig 25:33; 3. Dannette Petersen 28:32
Men's 5K
1. Kevin Babitt 28:48; 2. Alan Thye 31:15; 3. Eric Parsons 38:15
Women's 10K
1. Viorica Thompson 56:27; 2. Denise Lutton 1:03:07; 3. Tamara Hibberd 1:07:37
Men's 10K
1. Mark Barbee 47:03; 2. Nathan Hibberd 50:00; 3. Jim White 51:33
Fast Forward
Prep
Football
East at Service, Friday at 7 p.m.
Coming off a dominant season-opening win, the Cougars will be looking to keep their momentum going and defend their home turf for a second week in a row when they host the Thunderbirds under the Friday night lights. It's been nearly a decade since Service beat East with the their last win in the series coming in the 2014-2015 season, which happened to be a home game in early October that year.
Flag football
Dimond at East, Thursday at 6 p.m.
The three-time defending Cook Inlet Conference champions will take the field for the first time this year on the road against the Thunderbirds on Thursday night and will host Bartlett for their home opener on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Cross Country
Steel Bucket 3K @ Kincaid, Tuesday at 4 p.m. Dimond v. West
The only cross country action in town this week ahead of the Big 8 Invite next weekend will be the two-team meet between the Lynx and the Eagles.
Volleyball
Chugiak Invitational
The 2023 prep volleyball season will get underway later this week with a two-day tournament at Chugiak High School that will take place on Friday and Saturday.
