East's Myles Nichols, right, is dragged down by Service's Daniel Murakami in the first half. Service was penalized for a horse collar tackle on the play on Friday August 27, 2010.
East's Myles Nichols, right, is dragged down by Service's Daniel Murakami in the first half. Service was penalized for a horse collar tackle on the play on Friday August 27, 2010.
By DOYLE WOODY
dwoody@adn.com
Published: August 28th, 2010 12:56 AM
Repeatedly furnished with a short football field courtesy of its defense in the first half, Service High made short work of East High on Friday night.
To even call the Cougars' first three touchdowns the products of "scoring drives'' was to flirt with an oxymoron.
After all, those pieces of prosperity in Service's 36-21 Cook Inlet Conference victory only required the Cougars to cover small pieces of real estate at Anchorage Football Stadium.
Service's first three scoring sequences covered 28 yards, 21 yards and 23 yards. Twice the splendid field position came after Service recovered fumbles by East running back Justin Tuulauulu -- Ivan Escalante and Paul Pedro bagged the ball in those instances -- and the other episode came after Service stopped East when the Thunderbirds went for broke on fourth-and-2 from their own 20.
The Cougars cashed in with a pair of touchdown runs from quarterback J.J. Christy -- he scored on a 1-yard run and a 13-yard scamper -- and the first of running back Michael McCrae's two 3-yard touchdowns.
"Any time you get a short field, you've got to capitalize," Christy said. "In football, it's all about opportunities and making the most of your chances."
Service (3-1, 2-1 CIC), ranked No. 3 among large schools in the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network Poll, hardly needs charity from its opponents to light up the scoreboard. The Cougars have exceeded 30 points in three of their four games and average 31.25 points per game.
East (1-3, 1-2 CIC) fumbled six times and lost three of them -- Service's Kyle Leffew also recovered a Tuulauulu fumble -- and committed four turnovers.
"We really beat ourselves," said East coach Nick Middleton. "Our kids know that. Turnovers killed us. You can't fumble six times and win.''
The final score proved deceiving. East scored two touchdowns in the final 5 minutes, 44 seconds, long after the outcome was evident.
Service generated 357 yards total offense behind strong rushing games from McCrae, who zipped for 149 yards on 22 carries, and Viliamu Aukusitino, who covered 66 yards on 10 carries. Christy completed 11 of 17 passes for 100 yards and one touchdown, a 24-yard hookup with Alan Busey in the third quarter.
"When we're clicking and all of our gears are turning, we're a tough team to beat,'' Christy said.
About the only thing that held back the Cougars was their propensity for penalties. After committing 12 penalties for 139 yards in a season- opening 38-35 loss to West, Service seemed to have solved that problem in consecutive wins over Kenai and South, when it combined for nine penalties and 75 yards of back-stepping.
Friday, though, the Cougars were hit with 17 flags that came with a price of 161 yards.
The game also featured extra-point kickers who were all girls, and all powerful and productive. Service's Meghan Dotten made all three of her extra-point attempts, Service's Taylor Bomar made her lone attempt and East's Celisa Hahn made all three of hers.
After leading 22-7 at halftime, Service used Busey's leaping touchdown grab in the third quarter and McCrae's 3-yard run against his former team to build a 36-7 bulge.
East -- which is temporarily without its most explosive offensive player because Emanuel Canady has a hairline fracture of his ankle and is permanently without linebacker Filipo Mulifai (knee) --scored twice late.
Myles Nichols took a swing pass from Jesse Vanilau and rocketed up the left sideline -- eluding two defenders who momentarily seemed to have angles to shove him out of bounds -- covering 63 yards. Vanilau also connected with a leaping David Dumpson on a 12-yard strike.
Still, those scores didn't threaten Service, which next week faces Chugiak. And Christy says the Cougars can become more threatening if they work out a few kinks.
"It's just little things, details, polishing things,'' he said. "We're looking pretty good.''
Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
East 0 7 0 14 -- 21
Service 7 15 7 7 -- 36
First Quarter
Service -- Christy 1 run (Dotten kick), 9:13.
Second Quarter
Service -- Christy 13 run (Busey pass from Christy), 9:59.
East -- Tuulauulu 6 run (Hahn kick), 6:57.
Service -- McCrae 3 run (Dotten kick), 1:00.
Third Quarter
Service -- Busey 24 pass from Christy (Bomar kick), 7:16.
Fourth Quarter
Service-- McCrae 3 run (Dotten kick), 6:41.
East -- Nichols 63 pass from Vanilau (Hahn kick), 5:44.
East -- Dumpson 12 pass from Vanilau (Hahn kick), 1:01.
East Service
First downs 11 20
Rushes-yards 36-122 46-257
Passing yards 88 100
Return yards 87 43
Passes 3-7-1 11-22-0
Punts 2-32.5 2-37.5
Fumbles-lost 6-3 3-1
Penalties-yards 5-40 17-161
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- East: DeLoria 10-61, Tuulauulu 10-42, Gardner 5-26, Dumpson 1-0, Bachman 1-0, Lopez 1-(-2), Gooman 2-(-2), Grant 1-(-4), Vanilau 1-(-6). Service: McCrae 22-149, Aukusitino 10-66, Ellis 2-13, Christy 10-12, Murakami 1-9, Jenkins 2-8.
PASSING -- East: Vanilau 3-5-1--88. Tuulauulu 0-1-0--0, Gooman 0-1-0--0. Service: Christy 11-17-0--100.
RECEIVING -- East: Dumpson 2-25, Nichols 1-63. Service: Escalante 3-44, Busey 2-24, Kunder 2-11, Fernandez 2-10, McCrae 1-7, Ilalio 1-4.
Published by the Anchorage Daily News on August 28th, 2010 12:56 AM
Captured from:
http://www.adn.com/2010/08/28/1428501/cougar-control.html
on Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 11:32:41 AM (Alaska Time)
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