Saturday prep football: Homer wins; Nikiski, Seward lose

The Nikiski football team opened its season with a 12-8 nonconference loss at Barrow on Saturday.

The Bulldogs and Whalers both play in Division III, but Nikiski is in the Denali Conference while Barrow is in the Mid Alaska Conference.

Nikiski led 8-6 at halftime on a scoring run by James Hemphill and a two-point conversion run by Truit McCaughey.

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In the fourth quarter, the Barrow defense had a big stop as Nikiski turned the ball over on downs at the Barrow 1-yard line. The Whalers offense responded with a 99-yard drive, taking the lead on a 1-yard rush with 1:05 left in the game.

Nikiski still had a chance to go 58 yards in 1 minute, 5 seconds, for the score, but the Whalers iced the game with an interception.

Homer 42, Kodiak 30

The Division III Mariners got a big win at home over the Division II Bears.

Homer grabbed a 6-0 lead after the first quarter on an 18-yard run by Jake Tappan.

In the second quarter, the Mariners went up 12-0 on a 6-yard run by Jonah Martin.

Kodiak stormed back to take a 16-12 lead as JM Ticman scored on a 61-yard run and also had a 12-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Edwards. Ticman got both two-point conversions on runs.

With just 3:03 left until halftime, Tappan scored from 12 yards and Martin got the two-point conversion to put Homer up 20-16 at halftime.

With 7:14 left in the third quarter, Wyatt Buck scored on a 37-yard run to put Kodiak up 22-20.

The Mariners responded with three unanswered touchdowns. Before the third quarter was out, Luke Hanson caught a 15-yard pass from Oak Anderson and Morgan Techie caught a 29-yard pass from Anderson, with a two-point conversion by Tappan, as Homer led 34-22.

In the fourth quarter, Russell Nyvall had a 2-yard run followed by a two-point conversion, then Edwards scored on an 80-yard pass from Ticman, with Ticman getting the two-point conversion, for a 42-30 score.

Houston 45, Seward 0

The visiting Hawks shut out the Seahawks on Saturday.

Both teams play in Division III, but Houston is in the Mid Alaska Conference, while Seward is in the Denali Conference.