Dimond’s Lamarr Heanu-Williams (far right) celebrates one of his two defensive touchdowns. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Seeing jersey No. 99 makes you think of shoot and score like Gretzky, but Dimond High football player Lamarr Heanu-Williams put a new twist on the iconic number Saturday: Scoop and score.
Heanu-Williams scored two touchdowns on fumble returns in a 39-second span as part of a wild second-quarter scoring bonanza that powered the league-leading Lynx to a 42-28 victory over South in the Cook Inlet Conference.
Moments after Dimond star quarterback Cayden Pili’s 3-yard TD run tied the game 14-14 with two minutes before halftime, the Dimond defense capitalized on two turnovers as a result of high snaps by the South center. On both fumbles, Heanu-Williams was there for the scoop and score.
The first bad snap looked like it might be handled by South quarterback Cole Yarrington, but he lost the ball and then his balance, and Heanu-Williams pounced on the loose ball. The second bad snap sailed over Yarrington’s head and two Dimond defensive players had a chance to corral the ball, but it squirted away, and you know who was in the right place at the right time.
The back-to-back defensive scores gave the Lynx a 28-14 advantage as well as all the momentum going into halftime. Dimond kept the good times going in the third quarter, cashing in on a poor punt by South to find pay dirt three plays later after Pili connected with Caleb Cooke from 10 yards out for a 35-14 lead at the 4:37 mark.
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 |
WEEK 5
Dimond 42, South 28
Bartlett 38, Service 22
West 28, Juneau 27
East 14, Colony 10
WEEK 6
Colony at Service
South at West
East at Bartlett
Juneau at Dimond
Pili amassed 171 yards of total offense with two passing scores and two rushing scores. The Class of 2026 playmaker is a rush-pass option signal caller, but what makes him even more difficult to defend is the fact that he throws when it looks like he will run and runs when you think he’s going to throw.
On his final TD, Pili scrambled from the pocket and looked like he would tuck and run, but at the very last moment threw a dart to Josiah James against solid pass coverage from 25 yards out.
Pili is dangerous with his legs and zigged and zagged his way to three runs in double figures, including a 30-yard TD.
When it comes to Dimond’s backfield, Pili is the lightning to the thunder of 250-pound Pea Asailevai (81 yards) and 200-pound Riei Anselmo (50 yards). The bruisers combined for eight runs of 10 yards or more and carried tacklers on a few of them, refusing to go down on first contact.
Dimond’s Caleb Cooke follows his blocker on his 52-yard kickoff return. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
In addition to Cooke’s TD grab, he also hauled in a 26-yard pass for a first down in the first quarter and returned a kickoff 52 yards in the fourth quarter.
Defensively, the Lynx returned two fumbles for TDs and picked off two passes. In the second quarter and with South driving in the red zone, Carter Woodhead’s blitz and tipped pass resulted in an interception by lineman DJ Nysta. James picked off Yarrington on the final play of the first half.
On special teams, Colton Tibbetts blocked a punt and kicker Fisher Lajoie made all six PATs.
Yarrington became the first CIC QB this season to surpass the 300-yard benchmark in a single game as he completed 15-of-27 passes for 306 yards and three TDs. He added 63 rushing yards and a score, giving him 369 yards of total offense.
His arm was impressive as was his escape ability as he avoided a persistent pass rush to extend plays. His TD passes were 25, 39 and 57 yards and favorite target Landon Drumm finished with nine catches for 113 yards despite missing much of the second half with an injury.
South’s Isaiah Douyon climbs the ladder to make a nice catch. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
His supporting cast stepped up with Isaiah Douyon (4-79) and Caleb Doerr (2-62) each making TD catches.
Yarrington also had a 53-yard interception return in the fourth quarter that led to his 1-yard plunge to complete the scoring.
Dimond 7 21 7 7 – 42
South 14 0 0 14 – 28
FIRST QUARTER
South – Drumm 25 pass from C. Yarrington (Braun kick) 9:04
Dimond – Pili 30 run (Lajoie kick) 7:04
South – Douyon 39 pass from C. Yarrington (Braun kick) 1:44
SECOND QUARTER
Dimond – Pili 3 run (Lajoie kick) 2:15
Dimond – Heanu-Williams 32 fumble return (Lajoie kick) 1:13
Dimond – Heanu-Williams 28 fumble return (Lajoie kick) 0:34
THIRD QUARTER
Dimond – Cooke 10 pass from Pili (Lajoie kick) 4:37
FOURTH QUARTER
Dimond – James 25 pass from Pili (Lajoie kick) 8:31
South – Doerr 57 pass from C. Yarrington (Douyon pass from C. Yarrington) 8:10
South – C. Yarrington 1 run (pass failed) 1:42
