Snow berms surrounded Lathrop’s field and you could see the breath of players as the temperature dipped into the 30s.
This was Fairbanks football weather.
Once the Malemutes warmed up they rode a second-quarter heater to power Saturday’s 42-18 win over Eagle River in the ASAA Division II semifinals of the state playoffs.
Lathrop’s tag-team connection of Solomon Wade and Jenner Webb combined for 252 rushing yards on a brown, muddy field, leading the defending state champs back to the D2 First National Bowl in a rematch against Soldotna next Saturday in Anchorage.
Wade, the quarterback, averaged 9.6 yards per carry on his way to racking up 144 yards on 15 touches. He scored on runs of 26, 18 and 13 yards and threw a 20-yard scoring strike to get the party started in the second quarter.
Wade added 77 passing yards to push him over 2,000 total yards and give him 35 TDs in 10 games.
Webb, the primary running back, finished with 108 yards on 19 carries with one TD.
Together, Wade and Webb had a hand in all 92 yards the team accumulated during three separate scoring drives in a 21-point second quarter.
Trailing 12-7 with 7:11 left before halftime, Lathrop scored twice in a four-minute span to carry a 21-12 cushion into the break.
In the third quarter, the Malemutes (8-2) struck for two scores in 61 seconds after Wade ran one in from 13 yards and two plays later defensive back Jewitt Hill returned an interception 51 yards.
Solomon Wade
Despite being down 35-12 in the cold, Eagle River didn’t pack it in. The Wolves responded to the pick six with a 63-yard scoring drive capped by Drew Legenza’s 43-yard run.
Garrett Bird was a beast as the bellwether back logged 118 yards on 22 carries for the Wolves while Legenza had 58 yards on five carries and found the end zone twice on two Houdini-like runs.
Both times Legenza looked like he was tackled but kept his feet churning and made something out of nothing.
Eagle River looked sharp in the first half. The Wolves opened the game with a 14-play, 74-yard scoring drive capped by Bird’s 8-yard run for a 6-0 lead. Then they took a 12-7 lead in the second quarter after signal caller Nolan Beaty engineered a 55-yard scoring drive.
Beaty also scooped up a fumble in the red zone early in the third quarter.
In the end, though, Lathrop had too much. If it wasn’t Wade and Webb running wild, it was others like Luke Skinner and Wayne Snowden making plays.
Skinner hauled in a 20-yard TD pass on fourth down and broke up two passes on defense, including Eagle River’s final play.
Snowden is a 6-foot-4, 340-pound defensive lineman who single-handedly stopped Eagle River twice on 2-point conversions. A mountain of a man, Snowden led a defensive unit that bottled up Eagle River ballcarriers for zero or negative yards on 10 runs.
Eagle River 6 6 0 6 – 18
Lathrop 0 21 14 7 – 42
FIRST QUARTER
Eagle River – Bird 8 run (conversion failed)
SECOND QUARTER
Lathrop – Skinner 20 pass from Wade (Naber kick)
Eagle River – Legenza 15 run (run failed)
Lathrop – Wade 26 run (Naber kick)
Lathrop – Wade 18 run (Naber kick)
THIRD QUARTER
Lathrop – Wade 13 run (Naber kick)
Lathrop – Hill 51 interception return (Naber kick)
FOURTH QUARTER
Eagle River – Legenza 43 run (run failed)
Lathrop – Webb 4 run (Naber kick)