newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — The North Pole Patriots and Barrow Whalers will play on Friday, while the Eielson Ravens will play late Saturday afternoon when the state high school football playoffs resume this weekend at the Anchorage Football Stadium.

North Pole, which opened the playoffs with a 34-0 win over Colony on Saturday night at Patriot Pride Field, will take on the Service Cougars in the first large schools semifinal game at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Patriots will put their unblemished 9-0 record on the line against the 6-3 Cougars. Service reached the semifinals with a 35-20 win over Bartlett.

The small schools semifinals get under way at 4 p.m. Friday when 8-1 Barrow goes up against 5-3 Kodiak.

Kodiak posted a 33-15 win over Nikiski on Saturday afternoon, while Barrow advanced with a 46-20 win over Houston in the first high school football playoff game played above the Arctic Circle.

Semifinal action continues at 1 p.m. Saturday when 9-0 South Anchorage takes on 5-4 Juneau-Douglas in a large schools contest. Juneau is the defending large schools state champion.

South Anchorage notched a 21-13 win over Dimond in the opening round, while Juneau-Douglas knocked off Palmer 34-14.

The second small schools semifinal is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday when 6-3 Eielson goes up against defending champion and top-ranked Soldotna, which boasts a 9-0 record.

Semifinal winners advance to the Alaska Bowl on Oct. 18. The large schools championship game is scheduled for noon, followed by the small schools contest at 4:30 p.m.

Swimming/diving

Swimmers from the Interior made a big splash in Anchorage on Saturday at the Bartlett/Chugiak Invitational on Saturday.

All swimming events were held at Bartlett, where the state championships will be held next month. Diving took place at Chugiak.

Lathrop junior Keegan Severns led the way for local swimmers with a pair of gold medals. He won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

West Valley junior Drew Vandermeer and North Pole senior Bryce Peck also posted individual wins.

Vandermeer took the top spot in the 50 freestyle and also placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Peck topped the field in the 500 freestyle and registered a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle.

On the girls side, Lathrop senior Alyssa Keill and North Pole senior Sarah Meierotto each notched a victory.

Keill won the 500 freestyle and place second in the 200 individual medley. Meierotto earned gold in the 100 breaststroke and was seventh in the 100 freestyle.

West Valley junior Anne Goering finished second in the girls 100 and 200 freestyle events, while Lathrop sophomore Jeff Danielson finished in the runner-up spot in the boys 500 freestyle.

Boys relay highlights included Lathrop taking second in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle. West Valley was third in the 200 medley and North Pole place sixth in the 400 freestyle.

In girls relay events, North Pole finished fourth in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle events, while West Valley was sixth in the 200 freestyle race and Lathrop place sixth in the 400 freestyle event.

Complete diving results were not available Sunday, but West Valley did capture the girls overall team title. Kelsey Morton finished in second place, Alyssa Miller took fourth and Savannah Craft placed eighth.

Boys diving results were not available.

Results of swimmers who placed in the top 16 will be published in the Sports Scoreboard early this week.

Volleyball

The Hutchison Hawks picked up their first high school volleyball win of the season on Saturday by defeating the Kotzebue Huskies in four games.

Defense was the key for the Hawks in the 25-13, 24-26, 25-19, 25-6 triumph.

“It was just an excellent defensive effort by all of the girls,” Hutchison coach Linda Bode said Saturday afternoon.

“They were really excited to get that first win,” Bode added. “We played hard Friday night and came up short against Delta. Today, we really hung in there and played some nice defense.”

It was the fourth match in three days for the Huskies, who lost to North Pole on Thursday, Lathrop on Friday and West Valley earlier in the day Saturday.

West Valley beat Kotzebue in three games — 25-14, 25-7, 25-13.

“It wasn’t the cleanest match we’ve ever played,” West Valley coach Dave Cox said.

Cox had to mix up his lineup because of injuries, illness and players taking their SAT tests.

“We had a hard time getting everything to click,” he said. “It was hard to get any momentum going and to stay focused on the match.”

Samantha Wolters led the Wolfpack with seven kills. Shelby Solomon and Karole Renfro registered six kills apiece. Renfro also had five blocks for points.

Fabienne Clerc was the top server with 17 attempts.