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Crimson Bears lose 16-6 on Wolverines’ gridiron in season opener
- Klas Stolpe
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
JDHS holds defending state champion South scoreless in second half
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé showed the defending state champion South Wolverines that this season in the Cook Inlet Conference the Crimson Bears will be a force to be reckoned with.
And South showed JDHS they, too, will be a force on the field as the Wolverines earned a 16-6 win over the Crimson Bears despite being held scoreless in the second half.
“We knew we were going to have a good defense this year,” JDHS head coach Rich Sjoroos said. “And I am really pleased with our defense. We just need to get our special teams and our offense more up to speed, but we will get there. For week one, I could not have been more pleased with the level of hitting, the tackling, the communication and, yeah, defense was lights out all day. They did a great job.”
Juneau could have turned the other cheek early as South junior Owen Drumm took the opening kickoff roughly 60 yards for a touchdown. The Wolverines missed the extra point as the wind took the kick wide left.
“They put us into a hole right from the start,” Sjoroos said. “But, man, we did a really good job of not letting that deflate us…He was a fast kid and they did a good job of blocking for him. That is one of those things we talk about. I don’t even suit 22 kids so I can’t even line up 11 guys to run against our kickoff team. The numbers are a little light this year, but we are trying to improvise and will continue to get better. Definitely have some challenges when you don’t have as deep of a team to work with. But South definitely outplayed us and deserved to win. At the same time I think our ceiling is a lot higher and we will keep working to get up there.”
Instead, JDHS put together a long drive on their second possession after stopping South. The Crimson Bears received a punt on their 40-yard line and put together a drive that ended with junior running back Sylvion Washington scoring on a three-yard run to tie the game at 6-6. The drive included a huge third-down conversion pass on the sideline to junior Andrew Sanders from senior Krew Ridle for 35 yards to the 12-yard line. The Crimson Bears’ extra point was also swirled by the wind and went wide right.
Sjoroos said the winds were “very sporadic and unpredictable. It was frustrating because I felt like there were some opportunities to throw the ball, with as much pressure as they were putting in the box, but it wasn’t in our favor with the way the winds were blowing on some of the plays we did call, the timing and such. It was gusting and swirling. Definitely had an impact more than I thought it would going into the game.”
JDHS stopped the South opening drive of the second quarter, forcing a punt and taking possession on the Crimson Bears’ 33-yard line. But JDHS fell prey to a fumbled snap, a sack by South senior linebacker Timothy Edmondson and a run stopped up the middle.
JDHS would have to punt but fumbled into their own end zone and were tackled for a safety by South senior Conner Trotter to trail 8-6.
South took the ensuing kickoff for a long return, but had it called back for a block in the back. A 3-yard gain and a short run by South senior Bryson Jackson gave South a first down, and South senior quarterback Kyler Jensen broke a long run to score for a 14-6 lead. Jackson ran in a two-point conversion for a 16-6 advantage with seven minutes to play in the first half.
JDHS’ Washington returned a kickoff to the 45-yard line and rushed for another nine yards, but the drive would stall three plays later with a fumble.
South all-state returning senior Ethan Yarrington broke a long run, but their 10-play drive was stopped by the JDHS defense, including two sacks by Crimson Bears senior linebacker Jaxin Jim and the half ended.
JDHS would take the opening kickoff of the second half and string together a 10-play drive, including a series of short runs and the Crimson Bears’ own version of the “tush push” as they went head-to-head with the larger Wolverines line.
“We ran the wedge quite a bit in the second half,” Sjoroos said. “That was one of the only plays that was working for us. I have to give a lot of credit to South, they have a really good defensive front and linebackers. They won state last year and have a good core of those kids back again. All things considered I don’t like taking a loss. You don’t want to get used to that, but I just thought there were a lot more positives we can take away from that game than negative things. And any time you are in that situation the future still looks pretty bright for us.”
A joint tackle by South’s Edmondson and Trotter, a JDHS incomplete pass and a tackle by South junior Frederick Lefano forced a JDHS punt. South could do nothing with the ball as JDHS forced a three-and-out punt.
“Some of our linemen, it was their first game playing the line,” Sjoroos said. “Logan Womack never played center before in his life. Jake Chambers, Tyler Oudekerk — their first game on the line. Three of our five starters had never played O-Line before, but they did so well.”
JDHS’ next six-play drive ended on a South sack by Yarrington and South’s four-play drive was thwarted by a sack by Chambers and ended by an interception by JDHS senior defensive back Avei Tuvaifale.
JDHS would take the ball into the fourth quarter but had their eight-play drive stopped on fourth-and-one at the South 31- yard line with eight minutes remaining.
South tried to run against the JDHS line. Putting together a nine-play drive that could not take the ball past the 50-yard line as JDHS senior linebacker Oudekerk sacked South’s Jensen on a first-and-10 play. The JDHS line then stopped two runs, forcing a punt that the Crimson Bears blocked and recovered with 2:50 left to play and deep into South territory.
JDHS had two short runs and an incomplete pass before throwing long. South junior defensive back Austin Duffus picked off the throw, and the Wolverines would take another penalty and then two knees to end the game.
“I thought offensively Logan Womack (junior OL/DL), who got put at center literally right before the game, did a tremendous job snapping the ball for us,” Sjoroos said. “And obviously Sylvion (Washington), Jaxin Jim and Ethan (Van Kirk, a senior) did a great job of blocking and running. Defensively though, geez, Jaxin at linebacker and Caleb Aube (junior) just covered a lot of ground all day and made great tackles…. Jake Chambers did his job at defensive end very well, kept guys in front of him, pushing the play back inside. And of course Sylvion just has a motor that goes and goes and goes… I told Jake and Sylvion after the game that they complemented each other very well defensively. And Jaxin in the middle and Avei Tuvaifale and Van Kirk at safety made tackles and big hits… It kind of reminded me of some of the games back in the ’90s. Old school football. A good hard-hitting, clean game. Unfortunately, we came up a little short.”
SCORE BY QUARTER
JDHS 6 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 6
South 6 - 10 - 0 - 0 = 16
HOW THEY SCORED
1ST QTR
11:50 - Wolverines - Owen Drumm kickoff return. PAT missed. 6-0.
6:40 - Crimson Bears - Sylvan Washington 3-yard run. PAT missed. 6-6.
2ND QTR
8:01 - Wolverines - Conner Trotter safety. 8-6.
6:57 - Wolverines - QB Kyler Jensen 30-yard run. 2-pt conversion Bryson Jackson. 16-6.
3RD QTR
No scores
4TH QTR
No scores
“I thought we did a good job playing within our capabilities,” Sjoroos said. “And not trying to do anything too excessive... It is hard to look at how hard we played and be disappointed other than it would be nice to get the W coming out of the gates. At the same time we take all the right things, study the film and work on what we need to and we are going to be just fine.”
JDHS (0-1) will travel to CIC Bettye Davis East Anchorage (0-1) on Saturday, to face the Thunderbirds (varsity 2 p.m., JV 11 a.m.). East fell to the CIC Service Cougars 14-8 on Saturday. South (1-0) plays at Bartlett (0-1)
In other Division I CIC action, the West Anchorage Eagles (1-0) defeated the Bartlett Golden Bears (0-1) 67-0, and the Colony Knights (1-0) defeated the Dimond Lynx (0-1) 31-7.
The Crimson Bears’ first home game is at 7 p.m. Aug. 29 (JV 4 p.m.) against the D2 Railbelt Conference’s North Pole Patriots. North Pole (0-1) fell to the RBC Lathrop Malemutes (1-0) 49-0 on Saturday.
In other DII RBC action, the Chugiak Mustangs (1-0) topped the West Valley Wolf Pack (0-1)15-7. The Palmer Moose (1-0) topped the Eagle River Wolves (0-1) 49-9, and the Soldotna Stars (1-0) topped the Wasilla Warriors (0-1) 49-14.
In DIII Mid-Alaska Conference play, the Redington Huskies (1-0) topped the Houston Hawks (0-1) 45-12, and the Kenai Kardinals topped the Homer Mariners 52-6.
In nine-man Denali Conference play, the SWDP Archangels toppled the Monroe Catholic Rams 60-0, the Nikiski Bulldogs (1-0) defeated the Valdez Buccaneers (0-1) 82-20, and the Kodiak Bears (1-0) defeated the Seward Seahawks (0-1) 46-22.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
