They were down to their fourth-string quarterback and saw their all-state fullback leave with a shoulder injury in the first half, yet the Stars had no chill and pushed Wyoming’s top-ranked team until the very end Saturday.

Regardless of who’s on the field for the Soldotna football team, the program’s pound-the-rock rallying cry carries on, a testament to the next-man-up culture. Armed with their famed wing-T formation, the Stars are always a threat.

They amassed 352 rushing yards and dominated time of possession to carve up Star Valley’s defense like a pumpkin, but the Braves of Afton, Wyo., survived to tell the tale after posting a 35-28 win at Justin Maile Field.

Star Valley’s elite passing game coupled with touchdowns on defense and special teams powered its school-record 34th straight victory, while snapping Soldotna’s 15-game heater and handing the Stars just their 11th loss in 20 years under coach Galen Brantley Jr.

A big crowd and bluebird sky welcomed the four-time defending Wyoming Class 3A state champions to the Peninsula to face Alaska’s three-time defending Division II state champion for the biggest game for The Last Frontier since the Fire and Ice Bowl in 2011 and 2012 between Service and Leilehua, Hawaii.

Soldotna (2-1) and Star Valley (1-0) mirror each other in many ways, dominating their respective state behind a high-powered offense capable of leaving opponents in their dust. On Saturday, however, the first quarter was dominated by defense. Star Valley went three-and-out on its first two possessions and Soldotna had two turnovers the first two times it had the ball.

And it was Star Valley’s defense that put up the first points in the game after big-play magnet Travis Thomson picked off a pass and turned it into a 69-yard pick six, getting a nice block from Roman Erickson at the end.

Soldotna responded with an 11-play drive that ended with Trevin Moore’s 23-yard field goal, his first of two 3-pointers. Moments later, Thomson struck again with another big play, this time returning a kickoff 48 yards to set Star Valley up at midfield. Four plays later, first-year starting quarterback Ross Hilton Erickson over the top for a 37-yard TD. The 6-foot-3 Erickson climbed the ladder to grab the ball over the smaller defensive back.

This was Star Valley’s season opener and the first start under center for Hilton, who looked like a veteran with most of his throws being on the money. He completed 9-of-12 passes for 258 yards. It was a good thing he had the passing game clicking, because the running game was stopped in its tracks.

Led by 250-pound lineman Koda Lepule, Soldotna swallowed up ballcarriers and held the Braves to just 12 yards on 15 carries, with five runs stopped behind the line of scrimmage.

The second quarter became the Kai Frazier Show as the 6-foot-5, 230-pound ‘Baby Gronk’ manchild took over on both sides of the ball for Star Valley. First, on defense, he blew up the Soldotna QB on a pass attempt. When his team got the ball back, he hauled in a 67-yard catch-and-run reception that was the play of the game.

Frazier caught a pass near midfield and gave one defensive back a devastating stiff arm at the 40 before dropping his shoulder and trucking a different would-be tackler at the 30, carrying that defender 15 yards to reach the red zone.

More on Frazier in a moment.

Star Valley’s Cooper Lancaster topped off that scoring drive with a 1-yard dive. Lancaster later scored his second TD on a 5-yard scamper on the final play of the third quarter to put the Braves in front 28-13.

At that point of the game, Soldotna’s fabulous fullback Chase Hall was out of the game. He was coming off a 193-yard, 6-TD performance in Week 2 and had piled up 151 yards against Star Valley in the first half before leaving with a shoulder injury.

Eli Richards picked up the slack, carrying the ball a whopping 28 times for 94 yards. McKade Moore came off the bench to deliver 78 yards on 14 carries.

In the fourth quarter, Richards scored to pull Soldotna within 28-20 and later made a nice pass deflection on defense to force fourth down. On 4th-and-13 from their own 39, Star Valley went for it with Hilton throwing into double coverage along the right sideline for his only poor decision of the day.

With 3:06 left, Soldotna got the ball back in enemy territory and looked to be in business before Frazier made another big play, scooping up a fumble and scoring on a 34-yard return.

In typical Soldotna fashion, the Stars showed no quit. Working in a two-minute drill, backup signal caller Andrew Fielder completed passes of 8, 18, 34 and 12 yards before hitting Richards for short scoring strike to make it a one possession game with 11 seconds left.

Soldotna will have plenty to think about before traveling to Wyoming next season for a rematch against Star Valley.

Star Valley 7 14 7 7 – 35
Soldotna 3 7 3 15 – 28
FIRST QUARTER
Star Valley – Thomson 69 interception return (Brown kick), 5:08
Soldotna – Moore 23 FG, 0:04
SECOND QUARTER
Star Valley – Erickson 37 pass from Hilton (Brown kick), 10:54
Soldotna – Richards 4 run (Moore kick), 5:17
Star Valley – Lancaster 1 run (Brown kick), 2:38
THIRD QUARTER
Soldotna – Moore 28 FG, 2:51
Star Valley – Lancaster 5 run (Brown kick), 0:00
FOURTH QUARTER
Soldotna – Richards 1 run (Moore kick), 6:18
Star Valley – Frazier 34 fumble return (Brown Kick), 2:00
Soldotna – Richards 5 pass from Fielder (Beiber pass from Fielder), 0:11
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Star Valley – Lancaster 7-21, Thomson 2-(-2), Hilton 1-(-3), Delgado 5-(-4). Soldotna – Hall 14-151, Richards 28-94, Moore 14-78, Fielder 2-18, Cooper 5-11.
PASSING
Star Valley – Hilton 9-12-258. Soldotna – Fielder 6-11-91.
RECEIVING
Star Valley – Erickson 3-77, Thomson 2-69, Frazier 1-67, Morgan 1-33, Delgado 1-15, Adams 1-14. Soldotna – Richards 3-37, Cooper 2-42, Moore 1-12.