.png)
JDHS ‘Bear Claw’ defense freezes out North Pole in 52-0 home opener
- Klas Stolpe
- 10 hours ago
- 11 min read
Crimson Bears’ offense scores on every first-half possession; visiting Patriots get two first downs in first half, none in second half
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior defensive lineman Logan Womack summed up Saturday’s Crimson Bears 52-0 win over the North Pole Patriots at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park in a short sentence.
“Our defense is called the Bear Claw,” Womack said.
The “Bear Claw” held the Patriots to just two first downs in the first half and none in the second.
“It feels good to get our home opener on a win,” said Jaxin Jim, a JDHS senior linebacker and running back. “And it just feels good to be out there with my team and have our defense, you know, our defense was lights out. I mean, I love all our linebackers and our second level. We have just a great chemistry. I can’t wait to see us play more in the future.”
JDHS scored every time they touched the ball in the first half and on their first possession to start the second half under a running clock — If the score is more than 35 points in the fourth quarter, or if both coaches agree in the third quarter, then the remainder of the game is played with the clock not stopping.
“This win means a lot,” junior linebacker Caleb Aube said. “Juneau hasn’t had a game like this in a long time. It is good to have, especially on a home opener too. All the fans are watching. It meant a lot to me. My best hit tonight was when I tackled low and, like, gator-rolled the kid. He complained to the ref, but it was just a gator-roll; you do that in football.”
Sophomore linebacker Carter Day also noted the home opener meant a lot.
“Especially me, as a sophomore, coming up to play with the varsity,” Day said. “Starting on varsity my sophomore year, man, I just feed off the crowd. The crowd puts in the work, I just feed off it. Linebacker is a lot of responsibility, reading the pass and the run.”
Added Aube, “A lot of reading the offense.”
North Pole received the opening kickoff and took the first hit as Carter Day crushed a ball carrier at the line of scrimmage. On the next play junior linebacker Jarry Maghinay intercepted a pass.
The Crimson Bears marched from the Patriots 29 yard line with quarterback Krew Ridle running for 21 yards, senior Ethan Van Kirk a couple more and Ridle punching the score in. Senior Sonny Mazon kicked the extra point, his first of six in the first half, plus a field goal. He added another PAT in the second half for a perfect night over the crossbar and between the uprights.
North Pole went four plays and had to punt after JDHS senior linebacker Jake Chambers, junior lineman Leonidas Taualo-Tasi and Jim tackled Patriots for little or no gains.
“This game at home feels like so much,” Taualo-Tasi said. “Because we have been waiting for this moment for two weeks, and we got it. We came back home for the win. My favorite play of the game was when we ran the screen, and I blocked so well.”
That play came when JDHS took over the ball on the North Pole 47 and went five plays on a carry by junior running back Sylvion Washington, two runs by Ridle, one from Van Kirk, and a one-yard sweep from Washington. Mazon’s second extra point gave JDHS a 14-0 lead.
“That screen was my favorite play,” senior offensive lineman Isaiah Galletes-Fale said. “That screen we ran with Sylvion behind us, me and Leonidas. It worked so well. Sylvion went to the inside instead of cutting up. He cut it up for a touchdown play. It was a good game. Their guys were really strong, surprisingly because of their height. They gave good push-back too. Key for me was just trying to hold my line and help out.”
North Pole’s next possession featured JDHS’ Jim on a tackle, Taualo-Tasi on a sack, and tackles by junior lineman Helaman Aitaoto-Tele’a and sophomore linebacker Carter Day and junior defensive back Andrew Sanders deflecting a pass.
With 1:26 left in the first quarter, JDHS started on their own 47-yard line, and Van Kirk and Washington carried for short gains that moved possession into the second quarter where Ridle kept for a 10-yard run. Ridle next threw 28 yards to junior wide receiver Andrew Sanders for a touchdown. Mazon added his third extra point for a 21-0 lead.
“This game meant a lot,” Sanders said. “I kind of struggled my first two years to make pass plays happen, make receptions, and I was really worried about touchdowns. But new receiver coach (Danny Izack) showed up and he showed me the way.”
North Pole went three plays and had to punt as JDHS’ Chambers tackled a runner for a loss, junior linebacker Caleb Aube did the same, and the front line forced an incomplete pass.
In three plays from the North Pole 33-yard line, the Crimson Bears used short runs by Washington and Van Kirk to set up a 15-yard scoring scamper by Ridle. Mazon added his fourth extra point for a 28-0 lead.
JDHS’ Van Kirk tackled a North Pole kickoff returner on their own 23-yard line, Aitaoto-Tele’a and Taualo-Tasi tackled runners for no gain, and Maghinay broke up a pass to force another Patriots punt.
“I just want to say thank you to the coaches for helping me,” Aitaoto-Tele’a said. “It’s my first year playing so I say thank you to the coaches. It is all God, you know. Just God helping me. It means a lot to be on this field with all this action. A lot.”
JDHS would put up their farthest march — from their own 32-yard line — and go 11 plays, including two runs from Washington, two from Ridle, one apiece from Aube for 10 yards and Sanders for 18 yards, and four runs from Van Kirk, including a two-yard plunge into the end zone. Mazon added his fifth extra point for a 35-0 lead.
North Pole started on their own 40-yard line with 3:48 remaining in the first half and five plays later — thanks to senior linemen Tyler Oudekerk, Van Kirk and Jim — were forced to punt from their own 35-yard line. The punt was blocked and recovered by Washington on the 31-yard line. Ridle passed 18 yards to Washington for a first down. Jim rambled eight yards and then another five yards for a touchdown, and Mazon hit his sixth extra point for a 42-0 lead.
“Oh man, we just ran that play twice,” Jim said of his score. “Just let us keep running it and we just ran it in. I just dived into the end zone and it was a touchdown.”
North Pole fumbled on their next possession with 50 seconds remaining in the first half and JDHS recovered on the 11-yard line. The Crimson Bears could not get any closer and Mazon kicked a field goal with 8.6 seconds remaining for a 45-0 lead.
JDHS had first possession in the second half and in four plays, on second-and-nine on the North Pole 42-yard line, the Crimson Bears’ Ridle hit Sanders for his second passing touchdown — and Sanders second receiving touchdown — of the evening. Mazon kicked his seventh extra point for the 52-0 score with 9:28 remaining on the running clock.
“Those two touchdowns meant a lot to me,” Sanders said. “That meant a lot to my career, and I feel like I developed and have become a way better player than I have been. Coach Izack has taught me route running, ball tracking, all the fundamental things you need to know. You can be fast, athletic, smart, and all that, but you have to get the fundamentals down to make the plays happen.”
Both of Ridle’s touchdown throws to Sanders came under hard pressure.
“I found out that throwing through the hit helps a lot,” Ridle said of being knocked to the ground on both the scores. “On both of those I got hit pretty good. But I have done lots of reps with Andrew and feel a good connection with him so we can have these plays like this. Neither of the touchdowns did I see him catch, on both of them I was looking up at the sky.”
North Pole was stopped on their own 20-yard line on the ensuing kickoff as JDHS’ Jim and Day shared a tackle on a Patriots returner.
“All our defense, man, we just love to hit,” Jim said. “Our philosophy, our word of the day, is ‘hit’ from our defensive side. All we want to do is swarm, hit, and if we make a solo tackle we let them know who was there. We will help them up, but we will let them know who hit them.”
The JDHS defensive line held for three plays to force a punt. The Crimson Bears would suffer their only turnover on a fumble, but North Pole would last just five plays and have a fourth-and-five pass broken up by JDHS’ Sanders as the fourth quarter started.
“On defense I have always had a better head for that,” Sanders said. “I feel like I just keep getting better and better… more interceptions, more knockdowns, more stops, more hits… I just want to help shut teams down, make them worried to throw against us, or run against us.”
JDHS used nine plays before surrendering the ball on a fourth-and-five that went just four yards. North Pole had four minutes left in the game but used all of them to get just seven yards and the game clock would run out with JDHS taking a knee to end the game.
The most telling sign that the Crimson Bears play with power and professionalism came when the handshake line ended.
As North Pole players walked with heads down across the field, JDHS quarterback Krew Ridle sprinted to them, thanking them for making the trip, commending them for their efforts, and welcoming them with open arms.
“Football means everything to me,” Ridle said. “It has been life for me. I have been playing since I was six years old in flag football here in Juneau. Growing up it has always just been everything. Chasing the North Pole players down after was, like, I just had a great game with them. They were there with me and I was there with them. We all played hard and I just wanted to let them know that they did great tonight.”
JDHS head coach Rich Sjoroos noted that the Crimson Bears' energy level was key.
“You get a game like that where you jump on a team early, and I have done that in the past, and all of a sudden you start looking at the scoreboard,” Sjoroos said. “And your mind is wandering and you lose your focus. And all of a sudden the team comes back and gets in the ballgame and taking away some of the success you had. We made sure we kept the energy up. We did a great job with that. I was very impressed with the energy level from start to finish. We don’t have a lot of depth, not a lot of kids, but the ones we had in there all contributed and kept things rolling in the second half… We were just worried about executing because it still is just week three of the season and you have a lot of things you want to accomplish. You have got to get the reps to get there. I was very pleased. Defensively, again, the tackling, the communication, flying around the field… we put our offense on a short field several times to start the game and that helped us get that cushion.”
The Crimson Bears host the CIC Service Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m. Service defeated Eagle River 44-0 on Friday. The Cougars are 2-1, including a 14-8 win over East Anchorage and a 26-10 loss to Colony.
“We jump back into league play next week,” Sjoroos said. “Every week is a reset. If you sit there and dwell on what happened the week before, good or bad, you are not going to get where you want to be. I know Service is going to come down with a lot on their agenda. And we need to get ready to go and it will take a lot of work to get there. They are very talented and a super well-coached team. They are trending in the right direction also. I think each one of us has had a tough loss so pretty comparable to this point. Just two teams that are going to go at it on Saturday night.”
SCORE BY QUARTER
Juneau 14 - 31 - 7 - 0 = 52
Bartlett 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 00
HOW THEY SCORED
1ST QTR
8:58 - Crimson Bears - Ridle 3-yard run. Mazon PAT good. 7-0.
4:20 - Crimson Bears - Washington 1-yard run. Mazon PAT good. 14-0.
2ND QTR
11:41 - Crimson Bears - Ridle 28-yard pass to Sanders. Mazon PAT good. 21-0.
8:49 - Crimson Bears - Ridle 15-yard run. Mazon PAT good. 28-0.
3:48 - Crimson Bears - Van Kirk 4-yard run. Mazon PAT good. 35-0.
:59 - Crimson Bears - Jim 5-yard run. Mazon PAT good. 42-0.
:8.6 - Crimson Bears - Mazon 14-yard FG. 45-0.
3RD QTR
9:28 - Crimson Bears - Ridle 42-yard pass to Sanders. Mazon PAT good. 52-0.
4TH QTR
No scoring.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
_edited.jpg)
.png)
