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Juneau tops Bartlett 33-28 to secure no. 3 playoff spot at home against East Anchorage next weekend
Updated: Oct 4
Krew Ridle runs for 4 TDs, Jaxin Jim scores fifth as Crimson Bears wrap up best regular season in four years
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
This is a developing story.
Quarterback Krew Ridle ran for four touchdowns and running back Jaxin Jim scored another as Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé wrapped up its best regular season in four years with a 33-28 home victory on Saturday against Bartlett High School.
Bartlett kept the game close throughout, scoring all four of its touchdowns on big plays ranging from 38 to 74 yards. But the Golden Bears also committed a critical personal foul penalty with 1:31 left in the game that turned a fourth-and-short near the Juneau 20-yard line into a fourth-and-14, resulting in an incomplete pass and JDHS running out the clock.
The Crimson Bears (4-3 in the Cook Inlet Conference, 5-3 overall) will open the playoffs at home next Saturday at 7 p.m. against Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School 2-5, CIC, 2-6 overall). Juneau defeated East Anchorage 17-14 on the Thunderbirds’ home field during the second game of the season.
"You’re guaranteed a winning season — first time that’s happened in four years for this program," JDHS Head Coach Rich Sjoroos told his players after the game.
Ridle, whose 17 touchdowns entering the game were five more than any other Alaska high school player this year, outpaced himself Sunday. He scored on the Crimson Bears’ opening drive with a 25-yard run, then had subsequent rushing TDs of six and one yards before breaking away on a 59-yard run with 7:41 left in the fourth quarter to put Juneau ahead for good by the game’s final score.
"I know it's hard to run it up the middle against Bartlett so I just ran in there with the high motor, planning on not stopping, and I saw green grass and just booked it out of there," Ridle said of his game-winning score.
Jim, who ran for a two-yard touchdown to put Juneau up 21-12 halfway through the second quarter, also forced Bartlett quarterback Flash Auauli Tauanuu into a hurried and errant throw on the Golden Bears’ final possession.
"My defensive coach just sent me in on a blitz and I finished the job," Jim said.
Key contributions were made by several other Crimson Bears, including Sonny Mazon, who broke up a potential touchdown pass and then made a fourth-down tackle on a completed pass inside the Juneau 30-yard line, forcing Bartlett to give up the ball when it had a 28-27 lead with about 10:30 left in the game. Ridle’s winning score occurred five plays later.
Another key second-half contribution was made by JDHS junior lineman Helaman Aitaoto-Tele'a, who on the final play of the third quarter caught his first-ever pass on a 20-yard connection from Ridle to the Bartlett 2-yard line. Ridle scored on the first play of the fourth quarter.
"I was thinking that I was so excited," Aitaoto-Tele'a said when asked about his reaction when the play to him was called. "Like I want to catch the ball. So today was like a day."
The day got off to a promising start for Juneau, which got the opening kickoff and then marched 60 yards in five plays — an 11-yard run by senior running back Ethan Van Kirk, and then runs by Ridle of six, 16, two and 25 yards. A two-point attempt from the 1-yard line after a Bartlett penalty on an extra-point try failed, leaving the Crimson Bears up 6-0 with 9:36 in the first quarter.
Bartlett fumbled an ensuing squib kickoff, but a Juneau player trying to recover it instead knocked it downfield to Golden Bears’ wide receiver Christian Goodson, who picked it up and weaved his way down the visitors’ sideline for a 76-yard touchdown. The extra-point kick was blocked, making the score 6-6 with 9:18 left in the opening quarter.
The Crimson Bears, mostly on runs by Ridle, took the ball from their own 45-yard line to the Bartlett 25-yard line, where on a fourth-and-7 Ridle was sacked for a one-yard loss to end the drive. Bartlett responded with its own 14-play drive that reached Juneau’s 20-yard line before it was set back by penalties to the 35-yard line, where a long fourth down pass by Tauanuu fell incomplete with nobody in the vicinity.
However, Juneau would turn it over two plays later when Ridle fumbled on a run at midfield. The Crimson Bears responded by forcing Bartlett into a fourth-and-16, with the possession ending when a pass by Tauanuu was dropped by a receiver at the first-down marker.
Juneau caught Bartlett off-guard on the ensuing possession by running Jim up the middle on direct snaps that advanced the ball to the Golden Bears’ 13-yard line, with Ridle then running for seven yards before scoring his second touchdown on a scamper to the right corner of the end zone with 8:20 left in the half to put the Crimson Bears up 13-6.
Bartlett again responded quickly to the score, with Tauanuu connecting with senior receiver Colt Jardine on a 65-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the ensuing possession. A failed two-point try left Juneau in front 13-12 with 8:20 left in the second quarter.
The Crimson Bears responded with another scoring drive that saw Jim run for 23 yards on the first play and Ridle 27 yards on the next. Two more runs by Ridle put the ball at the 1-yard line and Jim scored on the next play. A two-point conversion on a pass from Ridle to junior running back Sylvion Washington put Juneau ahead 21-12 with 5:51 left in the half.
A 63-yard touchdown run by the Golden Bears on the second play of the next drive started a 16-point rally that would see the visitors take a 28-21 lead early in the third quarter. Juneau drove to the Golden Bears’ 11-yard line with 9.5 seconds left in the first half, but a bad snap with no timeouts left resulted in Ridle falling on the ball and time expiring.
Bartlett opened the second half with a 60-yard drive capped by a 38-yard touchdown pass from Tauanuu to Jardine with 9:46 left in the third quarter, with the two-point conversion giving the visitors a seven-point lead.
The teams then exchanged punts before Juneau took the ball 56 yards in seven plays — aided by two Bartlett penalties — including Ridle’s pass to Aitaoto-Tele'a before the quarterback ran the ball in a play later. A blocked extra point left the Crimson Bears down by a point.
While Bartlett came back quickly with two long runs that put the ball well into Juneau territory, Mason’s breakup of one pass and fourth-down tackle on another ended the drive and set up Ridle’s game-winning score.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
