Service’s Zedekiah Fanene holds off East’s 350-pound manchild Alema Masaniai in the trenches. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Usually the team that controls the line of scrimmage wins the game and that’s what happened Saturday night between Service and East.
Service’s physicality on both sides of the ball allowed the Cougars to outmuscle the T-birds and secure a 14-8 victory at East High School on opening weekend of the Cook Inlet Conference football season.
Two-way stalwarts Zedekiah Fanene and Kaylor Iloilo along with Andrew Stoffa anchored a 3-4 defense in addition to joining Matthew Moser, Ryker Schreck and others on the offensive line to clear the way for a rushing attack that piled up 220 yards.
Despite all that, though, the Cougars needed Thaden Berkley’s 31-yard, go-ahead touchdown pass to Jacob Wahlman in the fourth quarter and then made a red-zone stand inside the final 90 seconds to hold off East.
Service running back Braiden Sanchez averaged 7.2 yards on 20 carries and broke off a long of 26 on his way to racking up 144 yards.
He spotted Service a 6-0 lead after scoring on a 16-yard run early in the second quarter, capping a 13-yard, 99-yard drive.
Service rotated Taurian Phillip and Thaden Berkley at quarterback and combined to go 7-of-13 for 127 yards passing.
Braiden Sanchez recorded 144 yards on the ground Saturday. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Phillip engineered the length-of-the-field drive in the second quarter, with the big play being a 24-yard pass play to Wahlman on fourth down. Two plays later, Sanchez punched it in.
In the fourth quarter, Berkley orchestrated an 86-yard scoring drive during which he accounted for 47 yards and topped it off with a scoring strike to Wahlman for a 12-8 lead. Edward Thompson scored on a two-point conversion to make it 14-8.
Berkley recorded 141 total yards – 78 passing, 63 rushing – in his first career start. He also had an interception on defense.
East’s defense forced fumbles by Noah Tuga and Jyrah Uele, both coming on strips and both recovered by the T-birds. Extra-large lineman Alema Masaniai (6-3, 350) had a sack and two tackles for loss.
East wideout Justin Ziolkowski makes a catch in coverage on fourth down. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
The T-birds scored their first points of the third quarter on a safety after an intentional grounding penalty was called in the end zone.
Two minutes later, quarterback Travis Motoa found Kaiedenn Sanders in the flat and he broke two tackles to get into the end zone and give East an 8-6 lead.
In the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, Motoa led East 71 yards down the field to reach the red zone, completing 4-of-6 passes for 51 yards. Twice, he moved the sticks on fourth down, first hitting Sanders for 8 yards on 4th-and-7 and later connecting with Justin Ziolkowski for 33 yards along the sideline on 4th-and-9.
Motoa nearly made it a hat trick on fourth down but came up short on essentially the final play of the game from the 7-yard line after his pass led his receiver out of bounds, just missing the go-ahead TD and giving the ball back to Service, which ran out the clock.
Service 0 6 0 8 – 14
East Anchorage 0 0 8 0 – 8
FIRST QUARTER
No scoring
SECOND QUARTER
Service – Sanchez 16 run (run failed), 1:55
THIRD QUARTER
East – Safety, intentional grounding in end zone, 3:17
East – Sanders 20 pass from Motoa (PAT failed), 1:20
FOURTH QUARTER
Service – Wahlman 31 pass from Berkley (Thompson run), 10:40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Service – Sanchez 20-144, Berkley 10-63, Phillip 3-16, Thompson 5-4, Lennox 1-(-7). East – Curry 15-54, Motoa 5-20, Fanene-Navarro 4-19, Toa 1-12, Peseti 1-3, Standifer 1-1.
PASSING
Service – Berkley 4-8-78, Phillip 3-5-49. East – Motoa 9-19-95.
RECEIVING
Service – Davis 4-61, Wahlman 2-55, Lennox 1-11. East – Sanders 4-28, Ziolkowski 3-46, Toa 1-17, Standifer 1-4.
Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
