Juneau’s Sammy Mazon is 3-for-3 on field goals this season. Photo by Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire
Facing a 4th-and-5 from the 11-yard line in last week’s game against West, the Juneau football team lined up in the red zone ready to go for it like pretty much every other Alaska high school team would do in that situation.
Then a funny thing happened. Huskies coach Rich Sjoroos changed his mind. He called a timeout and then called on his new kicker, Sammy Mazon, who drilled a 28-yard field goal.
“One of my assistants got in my ear and said we are in field goal range,” Sjoroos said. “It was 13-0 at that point and 20-0 sounded really nice, but 16-0 is still a lot better than coming away with nothing.”
Mazon wasn’t with the team earlier in the season, but he’s already changed how the Huskies attack opponents in the red zone. Mazon made a field goal in his Week 4 debut and one week later became the first Juneau kicker to make two field goals in one game.
Having a reliable kicker is a luxury in the Cook Inlet Conference and Sjoroos had one fall from the sky.
Mazon showed up for a Monday practice at the beginning of Week 3 after being encouraged by some Juneau players. Twelve days later, he was in uniform for his first game on a road trip to Bishop, California.
“Since he is a sophomore, I put him with the JV group,” Sjoroos said. “In the Bishop game, he was kicking for JV’s. In the fourth quarter we were in the red zone and down by three scores. I told the JV coaches they should try a field goal because you need a third score anyways.
“He nailed it, and I was like, yeah, we’ll be using that guy.”
CIC Football Standings
| TEAM | CONF | OVERALL |
| Dimond | 4-0 | 5-0 |
| East | 4-0 | 4-1 |
| Bartlett | 3-1 | 4-1 |
| West | 2-2 | 3-2 |
| Juneau | 1-3 | 2-3 |
| Service | 1-3 | 2-3 |
| South | 1-3 | 2-3 |
| Colony | 0-4 | 0-5 |
FRIDAY
Colony at Service
South at West
SATURDAY
East at Bartlett
Juneau at Dimond
For Sjoroos, having a reliable kicker like Mazon gives him a new weapon and opens up the playbook in the red zone.
“It changes the mindset on third and fourth down,” he said. “You don’t always have to go for it.”
Mazon has also been money on PATs, which can be a struggle for some teams.
For the first month of the season, the Dimond Lynx barely kicked PATs. They went for two after almost every touchdown and were successful on 10-of-12 attempts, including a 5-for-5 effort that propelled a 40-39 Week 3 win over Linfield, California.
“Our offense is doing pretty well, but it’s nice to not have to use all our short yardage plays all the time,” said Dimond coach Brian Yim.
Last week, Yim mixed it up against South and his kicker Fisher Lajoie went 6-for-6 on PATs in a 42-28 victory.
Dimond’s Fisher Lajoie kicks a PAT against West. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
After each kick, Lajoie ran off the field with his right hand raised in celebration. He was having fun. Maybe too much; he received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting the South defense after one of his PATs.
“Yeah, he’s a little feisty,” Yim said.
Lajoie has been with the team all season and makes the most of his limited snaps. The PAT team gets about 15 minutes at practice, Yim said, and Lajoie’s range is from 37 yards out.
The longest field goal in the CIC this year belongs to Colony’s Johnny Figgins, who booted a 39-yard field goal last week against East. Last season, Figgins tied the school record with a 41-yard field goal and in another game made kicks of 37, 41 and 40 yards to tie the state record for most field goals.
CIC Offensive Leaders
| PASSER | YARDS | COMP | TD |
| Cole Yarrington, South | 1,189 | 58% | 11 |
| Jethro DeCastro, West | 914 | 53% | 8 |
| Cayden Pili, Dimond | 795 | 49% | 7 |
| Toa Samoa, East | 684 | 61% | 6 |
| Clark Beling, Colony | 585 | 70% | 3 |
| Silas Freeman, Bartlett | 377 | 36% | 3 |
| Noah Ault, Juneau | 299 | 30% | 3 |
| RUSHER | YARDS | CAR | TD |
| Makisi Poleo, Bartlett | 829 | 85 | 6 |
| Zephaniah Sailele, West | 529 | 73 | 6 |
| Cayden Pili, Dimond | 337 | 59 | 9 |
| Andre Jameson, Bartlett | 318 | 24 | 5 |
| Roshae Olaes, East | 315 | 73 | 3 |
| Sam Sarof, Juneau | 313 | 92 | 5 |
| Ethan Yarrington, South | 250 | 46 | 1 |
| RECEIVER | YARDS | REC | TD |
| Landon Drumm, South | 547 | 35 | 5 |
| Brandon Young, East | 434 | 35 | 3 |
| Josiah James, Dimond | 396 | 21 | 4 |
| Ridge Spencer, Colony | 378 | 35 | 2 |
| Caleb Doerr, South | 260 | 10 | 3 |
| Jayden Johnson, Juneau | 254 | 13 | 4 |
| David Sanders, West | 237 | 21 | 4 |
CIC Defensive Leaders
| PLAYER | TACKLES |
| Gabe Fisher, South | 56 |
| Josiah James, Dimond | 51 |
| Hayden Aube, Juneau | 51 |
| Thomas Jones, South | 48 |
| Isaiah Douyon, South | 46 |
| PLAYER | SACKS |
| Gabe Fisher, South | 8 |
| Thomas Jones, South | 5 |
| Ethan Yarrington, South | 5 |
| Deuce Alailefaleula, Bartlett | 4 |
| George Lane, East | 3 |
| Leonidas Mata, West | 3 |
| PLAYER | INT |
| Daniel Campbell, Juneau | 4 |
| Andre Jameson, Bartlett | 3 |
| Alex Borke, Dimond | 3 |
| Caleb Cooke, Dimond | 3 |
| Six tied | 2 |
CIC Special Teams Leaders
| KICKER | FG | LONG |
| Johnny Figgins, Colony | 2 | 39 |
| Sammy Mazon, Juneau | 3 | 28 |
