Football 2024: 3 Peninsula teams have state titles to defend

The 2024 prep football season begins this weekend with area fans having the opportunity to watch the three defending state champions from the Kenai Peninsula.

Friday, Soldotna will host Palmer in a nonconference contest at 6 p.m.

Last season, the Division II Stars finished 11-0 to win the school’s 13th state championship. Head caoch Galen Brantley Jr. moved to 12-3 in state finals and is now 156-9 as a head coach. The Soldotna coach has a chance this season to pass Rod Christiansen at 159 for the most wins in state history.

Saturday, Kenai Central will host Homer at 2 p.m. in a matchup of the last two Division III champions.

Last season, in his second season at the helm, Jake Brand led the Kardinals to the school’s seventh state football title, and first since 2011.

In the DII semifinals, the Kards had stopped Homer’s bid to defend its 2022 title and win the second state title in school history.

Later Saturday, Nikiski will host Seward at 6 p.m. as the nine-man football season gets underway. The game is a rematch of last season’s nine-man state final, which the Seahawks won 42-0 for the first state football title in school history.

The following is a closer look at the five peninsula football programs.

Soldotna Stars

Brantley Jr. begins his 18th season at the helm of the Stars. If the 4-0 pandemic season of 2020 is included, 11 of those first 17 seasons have ended without a loss.

“We feel like we have a number of returners from last year’s state championship that were very key components of that run,” said Brantley Jr., who has 80 out for the program. “To have those kids back as a starting point is very good for us.”

The coach said the main challenge is he will have a lot of players starting on both sides of the ball.

“It feels like one of those years where we’re going to shake hands at the beginning, they’ll kick the football off, and I won’t see the kids for 24 minutes until halftime,” Brantley Jr. said. “Then I wave goodbye and I won’t see them again until the end of the game.

“It’s tough when that happens. So we have other kids we’re desperately trying to get ready.”

The coach said it helps that an average of 60 players showed up four times a week for the summer weight lifting program.

The Stars return the Division II Defensive Player of the Year and Lineman of the Year.

Senior Wyatt Faircloth earned first team all-state at running back and linebacker while also being named Defensive Player of the Year.

“He’s pretty special,” Brantley Jr. said of Faircloth. “He’s certainly a key player for us on both sides of the ball.”

Senior Kenai Lepule made the first team at offensive guard and defensive line in nailing down Lineman of the Year.

“He’s a three-year starter,” Brantley Jr. said of Lepule. “There aren’t too many of those in our program.”

Kenai’s brother, Koda Lepule, started as a freshman last year and will start this season on the offensive and defensive line.

Senior Elijah Lee made the first team at defensive line last season and this season he also will start on the offensive line.

The other defensive end will be senior Luke Miller, who didn’t finish last season due to a knee injury but will return early this season. Junior Theo Huff also will rotate in on the defensive line after earning valuable minutes last season due to injury.

“I think that’s the best D line in the state, and I don’t think it’s close,” Brantley Jr. said.

The offensive line will be the Lepules, Huff, Lee and junior Eli Brantley. Brantley Jr. said that group has already been thinned due to an injury to senior Austin Lewis.

Also returning at tight end and outside linebacker is Trevor Michael, a senior who was second team at outside linebacker. Brantley Jr. said the second-team nod was a snub and said Michael is the best outside linebacker in the state.

Senior Lokeni Wong made the second team at defensive back. Brantley Jr. said Wong had to fill in as a sophomore due to injury and that experience is huge now.

Wong and Faircloth will play running back, along with senior Jaykob Kemp and junior Andon Wolverton.

Rounding out the weapons for Brantley Jr. are junior Matthew Schilling at cornerback and split end, and junior Owen Buckbee at quarterback.

Soldotna has faced Lathrop in the last four Division II state finals. Brantley Jr. said the Malemutes are not going anywhere, but he expects improvement out of the other teams in the eight-team Railbelt Conference, which is the only conference in Division II.

Homer Mariners

Homer’s season will start Saturday where it ended in 2023.

The Mariners, who won the school’s first state football title in 2022, lost to the Kardinals 21-16 in the Division III semifinals last season.

After scoring twice in the final minute to defeat the Mariners, the Kardinals went on to top Barrow for the state title.

“That was a tough, tough way to lose,” said Homer head coach Justin Zank, who is in his sixth season at the helm of the Mariners. “That was probably one of the hardest losses I’ve taken.

“But it’s a new season. It’s a new group of kids. The whole staff, we’re re-energized for the season and we’re excited to get out there and play.”

Zank said the matchup with the Kardinals, which will be nonconference, has nothing to do with last season and everything to do with this season.

“We want to establish our identity in that first week,” he said. “Just find out who we are as a team, so we can build upon that as the season goes.

“It’s going to be a good barometer for the remainder of the season. That’s going to be the baseline data for getting a little bit better each week.”

Zank said the program currently has 44 players, which is less than last year.

“We’re going to be young in spots, but I like the commitment that we’ve got right now,” said Zank, whose team was fourth in the Mid Alaska Conference last season at 2-3, and was 4-5 overall. “I like the group of kids we’ve got.

“They embody the culture that we’ve built. And we’re just focused on getting better every day, a little bit better every day, and by that token, every week. We want to get a little bit better each day, and we’ve done that since June.”

Quarterback Preston Stanislaw is the lone player from the Division III all-state team to return. Stanislaw made the first team.

“He’s earned captain this year,” Zank said. “He’ll be a team leader.”

Junior lineman Donovan Milstead also will be a captain this season.

Zank said the team will look to junior Nikifor Reutov to take over the starting slot at running back. Junior CJ Burns returns at wide receiver, where he’s been starting since midway through his freshman season. Senior Austin Briscoe returns at safety.

The Mid Alaska Conference is made up of six teams. Those same six make up Division III.

Although the division does not have a lot of teams, Zank said the competition will be tough.

Zank also is happy Homer landed a Division II opponent on the schedule this season. West Valley will come to town in Week 3.

West Valley is coached by David DeVaughn. Zank used to coach against DeVaughn when DeVaughn was at Eielson and Zank was at Voznesenka.

Kenai Central Kardinals

Brand’s program has swelled to 70 kids this season, which resulted in an emergency helmet order the first week of practice.

“I think it’s a big freshmen class in general,” he said. “And I was an elementary school teacher not too long ago — about five years ago — so I do know this is just a big group of kids at that age.

“But I also think winning a lot last year helped. The middle school is right next door, so they had a really good first row seat to a lot of that.”

Brand also said the state title was more than enough to fuel enthusiasm in Kenai’s offseason program.

Kenai returns a big group of key players from the title team, starting with Division III Offensive Player of the Year Bobby Hayes, a senior who also made the first team at halfback.

Brand said Hayes is ready to go after healing from injuries.

“He had a really hard year of football, and he did a lot for us,” Brand said. “He spent a good portion of the offseason healing from that.”

First-team guard Rohan Hansen, a senior, and first-team defensive lineman Makai Johansen, a senior, also return.

Senior Sawyer Vann made the first team at kicker and second team at wide receiver and also returns.

Senior Cole Langham was on the second team at defensive back, while junior Logan Myers made the second team on defensive line. Brand expects Myers to return in the first half of the season from an injury.

Brand said the all-state returners bring more than football skill to the squad.

“Those guys are all really good examples of what we like about our program, which is obviously success on the field, but being a good person, going to all the workouts, being on time, treating everyone right and having fun doing it,” Brand said.

The coach also said senior Delen Byrd will step up to be a starting running back. Cornerback and wide receiver Aasen Campanella, a senior, returns after a fumble recovery in the state championship game. Senior wide receiver and cornerback Hayden Hughes also returns after a breakout jumping season in track and field.

Brand also is happy to welcome Zach Armstrong back on the field. Armstrong battled leukemia the last two years and is in remission.

Senior Roman Mosquito returns after playing center in every game last season, while senior Tyler Van Sky is back after emerging at linebacker in the middle of last season.

Senior Tony Perez will play linebacker and battle sophomore Garrett McCanna for the starting quarterback job.

Although the Kardinals won state, they took a conference and a nonconference loss last year. Brand said established coaches in the division and conference mean more tough competition this season.

“I honestly think it’s going to be another great year for Division III,” he said. “I think our programs are pretty neck and neck.”

Brand saw the Mariners at camp this summer and views Saturday as an important game even though it is nonconference.

“I think they’d probably say the same thing, we want to get the upper hand first,” Brand said. “I think both of us are looking to establish dominance in the division this year, and just continuity.”

Nikiski Bulldogs

Matt Trammell, in his third year in charge in Nikiski, has about 25 players out for the team. He said that number is normal.

The Bulldogs went 2-1 in the Denali Conference last season and 5-3 overall. All the losses came to Seward. Valdez remains in the nine-man Denali this season, while Monroe Catholic joins the league. Eielson played last year, but the school closed down.

“I don’t think much changes, other than we’re going to a different part of Fairbanks on our trip,” Trammell said.

The coach said Valdez and Monroe will provide improved competition, but Seward is still the barometer for success in the league.

Including jamborees, when the two meet Saturday it will be the sixth time in the past two seasons.

“It’s definitely huge for the kids,” Trammell said. “Getting blown out in a state title game definitely motivated the team. The date’s been circled on the calendar for a while.”

Trammell said three-quarters of the team showed up on a semi-regular basis to the team’s summer program.

Senior Ethan Ellis, the first-team Denali quarterback, returns to lead the Bulldogs.

“This is the first year as head coach that I’ve had a returning starting quarterback, so that’s a big part of the speed at which we are going,” Trammell said.

Other first-teamers to return for the Bulldogs are senior Oliver Parrish at halfback and senior Wyatt Maguire at defensive back.

Trammell also is excited to welcome back running back James Hemphill, a senior. Hemphill started games as a freshman, then started his sophomore year, but did not come out as a junior.

Senior Zach Hockema returns on the line, as does senior Jackson Wittmer and sophomore Rex Wittmer.

“They’re an interior defensive line tandem,” Trammell said. “They’ve had a really good camp and scrimmage.”

Seward Seahawks

Besides the state title, the biggest news for Seward football this season is the team has a new turf field for Tyler Mallory’s fourth year in charge.

Mallory said the Seahawks practiced on the field for the first time Monday, Aug. 12. Seward actually put all its road games on the first half of the schedule to make sure the turf was ready.

The first home game on the turf will be Sept. 13 against Nikiski.

“Our field was bad,” Mallory said. “I think everyone knew that. It never dried. It didn’t drain well.

“If there were issues with our field, we couldn’t practice on it or touch it outside of game days, because of how bad a shape it was in. So it’s nice to be on a field we know isn’t going to be a mud pit most of the time.”

Like Trammell, Mallory expects a competitive season.

“I’m expecting it to be good football all around,” he said. “We’re going to have to compete in every game we play.”

Seward, which was 3-0 and 7-0 last season, also plays at Division II Redington on Sept. 6. The Seahawks will run their nine-man offense during the game, while the Huskies will run their 11-man offense.

The Seahawks have 20 on the roster, about the same as last season.

Seward’s returns four players from the first team of the Denali Conference in center Jack Gardner, wide receiver and kick returner Hunter Forshee-Kurtz, linebacker Noah Price and kicker Emerson Cross. Mallory said Price also will play a lot of running back this season, while Cross is an athlete that can play a lot of positions.

The Seahawks also return quarterback Brett Gilmore, a second-teamer.

Ronan Bickling, the Division II state champ in the 100-meter dash, will play running back and defensive line this year.

Mallory said the Seahawks lost all three defensive linemen to graduation.

“I’m not asking any of our kids to be them,” he said. “I’m asking my kids to be themselves and play the way they’re capable of playing.

“Things change. We’re going to have bigger kids or smaller and faster kids, so I’m happy with what we’ve got this year.”

Mallory also is excited about Judah Bruckner moving up to start at linebacker this season after a great offseason of work. The coach said Lane Peterson also has put in a lot of work at corner and wide receiver.