South coach John Lewis hugs a player after Saturday’s big win. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Hard to fault Cole Yarrington if his head was spinning after the craziness that transpired shortly before halftime on this soggy Saturday afternoon.
Jump ahead almost two full quarters of football later, and Yarrington made one final twisting twirl of his body. That move put South in victory formation and helped keep quite the bewildering postseason going for him and his teammates.
A junior quarterback, Yarrington orchestrated four successful touchdowns drives in South’s 26-20 come-from-behind Division I playoff semifinal road victory at Bartlett. Yarrington showed amazing poise when throwing a third-quarter touchdown pass to gain the lead for good before he eventually handed off to sophomore Noah Goodwin, who rumbled in for his third score with 5 minutes, 57 seconds to play.
All that positivity came Yarrington’s way after South shockingly surrendered the lead to the Golden Bears with a minute to go in the second quarter.
And really, that’s all that matters now for the Wolverines, who are headed to the program’s first DI First National Bowl championship game since winning it all in 2019.
Winless a season ago, South (5-5) will face West on Saturday night at Service High.
“Little flukes like (the end of the first half) are going to happen in a game, you just have to get through it” said Yarrington, who finished with 128 passing yards and the touchdown toss to Aaron Concepcion. “We kept our heads up and knew what we had to do.”
South’s Noah Goodwin rumbles into the end zone. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Goodwin – a junior varsity call-up – scored the first two of TD hat-trick scores to give South a 13-6 advantage with halftime nearing. The Wolverines moved the ball into Bartlett territory before stalling out and facing a fourth-and-10 at the Golden Bears’ 40. Instead of punting the ball and potentially forcing run-super heavy Bartlett (3-7) to go the length of the field with limited time and timeouts, South opted to pass.
With a wet ball in his hands, Yarrington’s pass to the left soared high and was picked off by Bartlett sophomore Salvation Tyrell, who returned it to South’s 40-yard line. Two plays later and with two seconds remaining, Bartlett junior sparkler Andre Jameson ran left for a 34-yard touchdown.
Jameson compiled 188 rushing yards on the day and also scored on a 64-yard run in the fourth, making for the final points of the game.
South regained possession. It worked the clock and its way down to the Bartlett 17. On fourth and inches, Yarrington closed out the game by calling his own number, spinning for the first down with the help of guard Rocco Whited (6-foot-3, 330 pounds) and tackle Hunter Fike (6-1, 330).
“You can’t describe it, the best feeling in the world,” Yarrington said of the second-half finish. “Thanks to my team and my great line blocking, we got it done.”
Suffice to say, that last minute of the opening half was quite the dizzying display of events. But what else should we’ve expected from the upstart Wolverines and Golden Bears?
Bartlett’s Theo Meija celebrates his TD. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Each team brought sub-.500 records into the DI playoffs, which are a de facto Cook Inlet Conference tournament for a third consecutive season. Seldom do sports award sixth- and seventh-place regular-season teams with a chance for ultimate supremacy. But hey, that’s how Alaska and the Alaska School Activities Association currently see things. So, have at it, kids.
Six-seed Bartlett surprised Colony in the quarterfinals while seven-seeded South downed East for the first time since 2015. The semifinal surprises met for the 24th time in series history and less than a month after the Golden Bears scored a 48-21 CIC victory at South.
“It (stinks), but it was a well-played game, a blast,” Bartlett senior quarterback Mason Harrison said after Saturday’s setback. “I love my guys and my team.”
The Wolverines snapped a four-game losing streak versus Bartlett, winning for the first time since a 27-0 triumph on Aug. 17, 2019. South won its third straight game and continued to defy all kinds of odds.
“We just want to make this last as long as we can,” Whited said.
South’s Cole Bridges (13) runs behind Goodwin. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
South gets to tackle another tall order when it faces West in the First National Bowl finale, a rematch of the 2014 title game won 20-6 by the Wolverines. The current Eagles have scored nine wins against in-state opponents and won those games by an average of nearly 30 points.
West whooped up on South 42-14 back on Aug. 19 when Goodwin was still on the JV squad. He, Whited, Yarrington and all the Wolverines know they’ve got momentum and nothing to lose, playing with house money headed towards championship day.
“Our mental state has changed, we decided we didn’t want to lose anymore,” said Goodwin, who gained a team-high 77 of South’s 239 rushing yards. “We’ll just play our game and I feel we’re good enough.”
We’ll find out Saturday night.
South 6 7 7 6 – 26
Bartlett 6 8 0 6 – 20
FIRST QUARTER
South – Goodwin 2 run (kick failed)
Bartlett – Mejia 18 run (kick failed)
SECOND QUARTER
South – Goodwin 1 run (Wagner kick)
Bartlett – Jameson 34 run (Pulalasi run)
THIRD QUARTER
South – Concepcion 33 pass from Yarrington (Wagner kick)
FOURTH QUARTER
South – Goodwin 3 run (run failed)
Bartlett – Jameson 64 run (run failed)