Last week Gideon Makihele was named homecoming king. This week he scored a Big Man Touchdown. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
The West football team’s defense was so good Friday night it did a little scoring in addition to keeping Colony in check. More like checkmate.
Defensive lineman Gideon Makihele returned a fumble for a touchdown and defensive back Jayciano Cabesas converted a pick six to highlight a 45-7 over the Knights in Palmer.
West (7-1) extended its winning streak to five games as the top-ranked Eagles ran the table in the Cook Inlet Conference to earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Division I state playoffs.
Led by lead halfback Manny Maga, West’s rushing attack chewed up 214 yards to complement its big-play defense. The passing game produced 120 yards behind starting signal caller Tatum Pogtis, while kicker Elias Sandberg went 6-for-6 on PATs and added a 27-yard field goal.
Prep Football
CIC TEAM OVERALL 7-0 West Anchorage 7-1 5-1 South Anchorage 5-2 4-3 Colony 4-4 3-3 Juneau-Douglas 4-3 3-4 Service 4-4 2-4 East Anchorage 2-5 1-5 Bartlett 2-5 1-6 Dimond 2-6 Friday
West 45, Colony 7
Service 54, Dimond 26
Saturday
East at South 3pm
Bartlett at Juneau 3pm
END REGULAR SEASON
Pogtis engineered a 72-yard, 12-play scoring drive that ate up most of the first quarter, topping it off with his 14-yard strike to wideout Truss Irwin, who hauled in a TD for the third time in the last four games. The drive also saw Pogtis hit wideout Mijewl Reaves three times for 24 yards.
West’s superb special teams play in punt coverage led to two scores in two minutes in the second quarter. Both times the Eagles pressured the Colony punter – once forcing a poor kick and the other time forcing him to abandon a punt and tuck and run, which led to a fumble and a 23-yard scoop and score by Makihele.
Later in the quarter, Blessing Faaea capped a 54-yard scoring drive with his 13-yard scamper up the middle to make it 28-0 going into halftime.
West opened the second half with a 13-play, 96-yard scoring drive that was powered by Maga, a 190-pound battering ram. His runs provided bookends to the drive, which included a 44-yard run that was helped out by great blocking from Eli Rucksdashel at the first level and wide receivers Eddie Selesitino and Irwin at the second level.
Manny Maga has scored in four straight games. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Maga’s 1-yard plunge was his second score of the day and gave the Eagles a 35-0 lead. The senior running back is officially having a career year. His 747 rushing yards in eight games are more than the 679 total he put up in 10 games a junior. In addition, his eight TDs are one more than he had last year.
Colony answered right back with a one-play scoring drive thanks to a 65-yard shovel pass to Jackson Forsyth from Trayvon Lott, helping the southpaw signal caller surpass the 1,000-yard benchmark on the season.
West closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter with a chip shot field goal and a 47-yard interception return from Cabesas, who interception backup quarterback William Green.
West Anchorage 7 21 7 10 – 45
Colony 0 0 7 0 – 7
FIRST QUARTER
West – Irwin 14 pass from Pogtis (Sanders kick), :05.
SECOND QUARTER
West – Maga 15 run (Sanders kick), 8:18
West – Makihele 23 fumble return (Sanders kick), 6:30
West – Faaea 13 run (Sanders kick), 1:44
THIRD QUARTER
West – Maga 1 run (Sanders kick), 6:22
Colony – Forsyth 65 pass from Lott (Figgins kick), 6:04
FOURTH QUARTER
West – Sanders 27 FG, 6:48
West – Cabesas 47 interception return (Sanders kick), 5:07
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
West – Maga 12-121, Faaea 11-88, Pogtis 9-5. Colony – Ortiz 8-13, Pope 7-5, Broeder 5-5, Mossholder 1-1, Windowmaker 2-0.
PASSING
West – Pogtis 11-18 85, Grimm 1-5-35. Colony – Lott 7-19-112, Green 0-1-0.
RECEIVING
West – Reaves 5-35, Chanhtaseng 2-44, Irwin 2-22, Selesitino 2-20, Cabesas 1-(-1). Colony – Forsyth 3-76, Adkins 3-21, Fischer 1-15.
