West’s Talon Copeland makes a nice grab along the sideline. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Needing a victory to wrap up homefield advantage for the first round of the playoffs, the West Eagles responded to the task Friday night, using a punishing ground game and precise aerial attack to outlast Service 28-7 at Service High School.
Eagles running back Zephaniah Sailele rushed 15 times for 118 yards and three short touchdowns while quarterback Jethro DeCastro completed 23 of 34 passes for 220 yards, spreading the ball around to six different receivers.
After going three-and-out on its first chance, West hit its first big play midway through opening quarter. At Service’s 45 following a fourth-down conversion, DeCastro launched a 40-yard strike to David Sanders, who outleaped a pair of Cougar defenders and completed the catch on his back.
Service stuffed Manny Maga three times at the goal line, but DeCastro barely outraced a defender to the pylon for the opening score on fourth down.
The Eagles plowed through Cougars defense for a 74-yard touchdown drive on their ensuing possession as DeCastro completed seven passes. His 16-yard strike to Sanders set up first-and-goal, where Sailele found paydirt from five yards out.
Service’s Rock Phelps goes up to make the catch. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Service would respond with a mammoth scoring drive of its own, going 77 yards on 14 plays, aided by a pair of personal foul penalties. Facing fourth-and-goal from the 3, the Cougars went into their bag of tricks and snapped the ball to backup quarterback Austin French, who found starter Cassidy Phillip in the back of the end zone, making it 14-7.
CIC Football Standings
| TEAM | CONF | OVERALL |
| Dimond | 5-0 | 6-0 |
| East | 5-0 | 5-1 |
| West | 4-2 | 5-2 |
| Bartlett | 3-2 | 4-2 |
| Service | 2-4 | 3-4 |
| South | 2-4 | 3-4 |
| Juneau | 1-4 | 2-4 |
| Colony | 0-6 | 0-7 |
FRIDAY
South 28, Colony 21
West 28, Service 7
SATURDAY
Bartlett at Juneau
Dimond at East
The Cougars’ offense was never able to get going after halftime, however, as the Eagles started to pull away behind their bruising running back.
Sailele uncorked a 36-yard scamper on the opening play of West’s second third-quarter drive, breaking six or seven tackles in a run reminiscent of former NFL great Marshawn Lynch. A fourth-down pass from DeCastro to Ariel Sanchez set up Sailele for his second touchdown plunge at the 5:50 mark, and he capped the scoring by going nine yards up the middle with 1:33 left in the third.
The Eagles defense would do the rest, limiting Phillip to 111 yards on 13-of-27 accuracy, and holding workhorse running back Jayden Schmidlkofer to 68 yards on 27 attempts. West even capped the victory with a pair of late interceptions of French, getting picks from Leo Mata and Myles Evans.
Sanders finished with seven catches for 115 yards, while Maverick Kirsch grabbed four balls for 39 yards.
West 7 7 14 0 – 28
Service 0 7 0 0 – 7
FIRST QUARTER
West – DeCastro 2 run (Sandberg kick)
SECOND QUARTER
West – Sailele 5 run (Sandberg kick)
Service – C. Phillip 4 pass from French (kick good)
THIRD QUARTER
West – Sailele 1 run (Sandberg kick)
West – Sailele 9 run (Sandberg kick)
FOURTH QUARTER
No Scoring
West’s Deetroy Tuimavave and Service’s Brock Stedge battle at the line of scrimmage. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
