Crimson Bears put on big show in home opener with 41-22 win over East Anchorage
- Mark Sabbatini
- Aug 23
- 9 min read
Updated: Aug 24
JDHS jumps out to 28-0 lead in second quarter, coasts to easy win behind 3 TDs by Ethan Van Kirk
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
The Crimson Bears were hot in their home opener Saturday as they controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage in a 41-22 victory over Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School.
Junior running back Ethan Van Kirk put on a scorching performance with three touchdown runs, including an 81-yarder to cap off a 99½-yard drive after the visiting Thunderbirds were stuffed on a goal-line stand late in the second quarter. That run gave Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé a 28-0 lead with 4:20 left in the first half and the Crimson Bears coasted to a win to even their season record at 1-1.
"First off, I couldn't have done any of them without my line," Van Kirk said after the game. "I mean my line were the ones that were breaking through that first line of defense. That's really the hardest spot for me — as a running back especially I'm a little bit undersized — so getting through that first line, having that big space is what gives me that advantage. All props to them, every single one of them."
The Crimson Bears’ defense also bottled up the Thunderbirds’ offense most of the game, particularly the visitors’ running attack while the outcome was still in question. East Anchorage got its first touchdown just before halftime after switching to a spread offense with four- and five-receiver sets, but was unable to connect often or accurately enough to attempt a second-half comeback.
Head Coach Rich Sjoroos said the win shows the team is making the adjustments he hoped for after its opening-day 19-12 loss to Service High School in Anchorage.
"I feel like we checked a lot of those boxes," he said. "We made some adjustments and those adjustments worked. And so that's what you kind of hope for as a program, is that you pick the right things to make the adjustments on…And now we'll go and fine-tune it some more, and each week it's kind of just a ladder. We're in step two of hopefully what going to be 11 steps. And we made a nice leap in step two. And I've also said that every team makes their biggest move in week two versus week one, because the first time where you have film, you've got a whole week's worth of preparations and it's just that normal work week."
Juneau’s first home game as the Crimson Bears since 2017 — having been renamed the Huskies during the past several years as part of a combined team with the now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School — involved sizzle beyond the team’s performance. The Bears in black were directly exposed all afternoon to the sun and unseasonably warm temperatures well into the 70s, while the Thunderbirds’ sideline was mostly shielded by shade.
"We need to take the hydration part of this more seriously because that's the most cramping I've ever seen on a team that doesn't have a lot of depth to start with," Sjoroos told his players after the game, during which a few of them were carried off during injury timeouts.
The Crimson Bears’ quick start meant that by the time reserves were getting extended time on the field there wasn’t much need to worry about whether there would be a dropoff in performance.
East Anchorage got the ball first after Juneau won the coin toss and deferred the decision, but stalled after one first down at their own 40. A short punt resulted in the Crimson Bears starting their first drive from their own 43. On third-and-5, senior running back Mati Iona took the ball 33 yards down the sidelines to the Anchorage 19-yard line and on the next play Van Kirk scored on a run through the middle.
"I just got through that first line of defense — they had a great opening on the line — and I got through," Van Kirk said. "I broke, I think, two tackles — I broke off the safety and I broke off the corner that was coming, and I got in. But that big hole in the very beginning was what saved me."
Van Kirk, filling in for absent kicker Sammy Mazon, then made the first of what would be five of six successful extra point attempts to add to his scoring stats. Van Kirk’s kickoff to East Anchorage resulted in the visitors starting their second drive on their own 36 and three plays later they turned the ball over back to Juneau on a fumbled snap recovered at the 38-yard line.
Four plays later, including two six-yard runs and an East Anchorage penalty, Van Kirk scored a direct snap from the 16-yard line to make the score 14-0 with 4:15 left in the first quarter.
"That's just part of our offense," Van Kirk said. "We just ram it in there, especially on those short 10-yard (and) six-yard plays."
A bobbled kickoff resulted in the Thunderbirds starting their next drive at their own 14-yard line. They got a couple of first downs and found themselves with a third-and-2 near midfield. But they lost two yards on another botched snap and a pass on fourth-and-4 fell incomplete on the first play of the second quarter.
The Crimson Bears scored two plays later on a 39-yard run by Iona off the right side of the line to make the score 21-0 with 11:15 left in the first half. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during the team’s celebration resulted in East Anchorage starting the next drive on the Juneau 49-yard line.
The Thunderbirds put together their first sustained drive after another costly 15-yard penalty by the Crimson Bears, who were flagged for illegal contact when East Anchorage started the drive with a three-and-out and then punted. The penalty allowed the visitors to keep the ball, which they took to the Juneau 8-yard line for a first-and-goal.
East Anchorage ran the ball up the middle for five yards on first down, gained another yard on second down and got inside the 1-yard line on third down to set up a fourth-down showdown at the goal line. But a Thunderbirds run up the middle was stuffed and Juneau took over on downs with 6:46 left in the first half.
"We all knew that we had to fight for that one," Van Kirk said. "So it was just everyone blitz. Everyone went. It was a fight and we ended up on top."
The stop meant junior quarterback Krew Ridle, starting his first game for the Crimson Bears after injuring his hand before last week’s opener, was standing in his own end zone as he took the first snap of the ensuing drive. But he promptly provided what would have been the highlight play of the day with a run toward and down the right sidelines, breaking several tackles for what momentarily was celebrated as a 99-yard touchdown run. However, a holding penalty negated the play and put the ball right at the edge of Juneau’s goal line.
Ultimately, that just meant it took slightly longer for Juneau to score on a somewhat shorter highlight play.
The Crimson Bears got out of the shadow of their own end zone when the Thunderbirds jumped offsides on a third-and-9, with Van Kirk then giving his team a first down with a run to the Juneau 19-yard line. On the next play he went down the left sideline for 81 yards for his third touchdown of the half and, after kicking his fourth extra point, his team was up 28-0 with 4:20 left in the half.
"That one was a fun one," Van Kirk said. "I had (senior lineman) Kyle Carter lead blocking for me. I came around that outside and there was no one there — and it was the point where he even turned around and looked at me — so I put my hand on him, grabbed him and came to the outside of him, and ran down the sideline."
Carter said there wasn’t much work for him to do against the East Anchorage defenders on the play.
"I pulled around him and there was just no one there that I could see, so I just picked up the first block I could see," he said.
The Thunderbirds’ problems handling the ball continued on the ensuing kickoff as another bobbled return resulted in East Anchorage starting out at about their own 15-yard line. But working from a spread formation, and aided by a couple of Juneau penalties, they were able to move the ball down the field and scored their first touchdown on a 19-yard pass. A two-point conversion made the score 28-8.
Van Kirk returned the ensuing kickoff well into East Anchorage territory and then caught a pass Ridle to put the ball at the 21-yard line with second remaining in the half. But a final pass attempt fell incomplete.
The Crimson Bears picked up where they left off in the third quarter, however, taking the second-half kickoff to the Thunderbirds’ 46-yard line and scoring five plays later. Three runs by Van Kirk advanced the ball to the 6-yard line and two more runs by Ridle put the ball in the end zone to make the score 35-8.
East Anchorage responded in kind with a drive aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Juneau, scoring on a 21-yard run that made the tally 35-14 when a two-point conversion attempt failed.
Juneau answered back with senior Daniel Campbell taking over at quarterback during a drive that started at the Crimson Bears’ 35-yard line. The home team got a couple of lucky bounces as one fumble by Iona went out of bounds and another by senior wide Noah Ault ended up in the hands of Ricky Tupou, a 260-pound lineman who rumbled about 20 yards down the sidelines to the Thunderbirds’ 21-yard line.
"It's kind of a funny story," Tupou said, noting it’s the first time he’s carried the ball in a varsity game. "I just got finished down with my guy — I was blocking my guy — and then the ball just came to my hand and I said, ‘Wow, it's my time to shine.’ So I had to make the most of it."
A scramble by Campbell advanced the ball to the East Anchorage 8-yard line and Iona scored on the next play on a run around the right side. The extra point was blocked, making the score 41-14 with 4:26 left in the third quarter.
East Anchorge added one more touchdown pass and a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter, resulting in the final 41-22 score.
Sjoroos told his team after the game, "We’re good, but we’re not great yet."
"There were tons of great plays," he said. "Great energy, great effort, great execution. But we have so many things to work on as far as game situational stuff."
Among the things the team will need to focus on during the coming week is the pass defense, Sjoroos said in an interview afterward. Five of the six touchdowns scored against Juneau this season have come through the air and the team’s next game is Saturday, Aug. 30, on the road against Palmer High School, with Sjoroos calling their quarterback one of the best in the state.
"So we're really going to have to work hard at just recognizing pass concepts and getting leverage, and responsibilities and communication, and all that kind of stuff — and getting pressure on the quarterback too," he said. "Because not everything comes from the coverage in the secondary. It can come from getting pressure. So we just have a whole package that we're going to have to work on and be ready to go."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
More photos from Saturday’s game (all by Mark Sabbatini of the Juneau Independent)
