The Seward football team defeated Nikiski 34-18 on Saturday at Nikiski Middle-High School in Great Land Conference action.

The Seahawks are 2-0 in the nine-man league and 5-0 overall, while the Bulldogs are 1-1 and 3-2.

Seward won the Fish Bowl, awarded to the Seward-Nikiski victor in the final regular season game between the two squads, for the first time. The trophy has been awarded since 2019.

The game, played in driving rain, was a tale of two halves. In the first half, Nikiski took a 12-0 lead by running 34 plays for 154 yards, while Seward ran 15 plays for 51 yards.

In the second half, the Seahawks outscored the Bulldogs 34-6 while running 16 plays for 226 yards. Nikiski ran 33 for 78.

Seward had also defeated Nikiski 38-14 this season in nonconference play on Aug. 25.

“This is exactly how our last game went with them,” Nikiski head coach Matt Trammell said. “We went up two scores, and they answered.”

Seward coach Tyler Mallory said there were several factors in his team’s slow start. He said the Seahawks let Nikiski’s offense get going, and that meant the Bulldogs held the ball for long stretches.

On offense, the Seahawks put the ball on the ground four times in the first half, losing it twice on Truit McCaughey fumble recoveries. Seward also hurt itself with penalties, having one touchdown called back.

“I think there’s just a thing about coming to Nikiski,” Mallory said. “Playing here is always hard.

“It’s hard to get this monkey off our back. We’ve been beaten by Nikiski pretty regularly.”

Trammell said his offense could have played better in the first half. The Bulldogs put the ball on the ground twice, losing it once on a Jerick Senecal fumble recovery. Nikiski also had two touchdowns called back.

“Defensively, we were fighting around, we were ripping balls loose and jumping on loose balls, and we were playing with a lot of energy,” Trammell said. “In the second half, we just kind of got pushed around a little bit.”

With 1:52 left in the first half, Nikiski quarterback Ethan Ellis scored on a 1-yard run. Seward went four-and-out, then McCaughey, who ran 21 times for 100 yards, rumbled 60 yards on a counter for a 12-0 lead with 25 seconds left in the half.

In the first half, Seward had ran a few plays out of the I formation, but mainly stuck to the shotgun. Mallory went to the I in the second half and it changed the game.

“We tried it a couple times early in the first quarter and we fumbled the snaps,” Mallory said. “We worked on it at half and came back out and ran it and it started working.

“I’m not going to go away from it if it is working.”

Specifically, Kupono Albino was working. After rushing three times for 20 yards in the first half, he ran 11 times for 161 yards in the second half. Mallory awarded a game ball for the first time all season after the game and it went to Albino.

“Shotgun wasn’t working well,” Albino said. “We weren’t getting our blocks and it wasn’t going that far.

“I formation, we had our blocks down and we just pushed forward.”

The lead Nikiski spent a half building unraveled quickly. Seward started the half with a four-play, 58-yard drive capped by an 11-yard run from Brett Gilmore to cut it to 12-8 with 10:12 left in the third.

Nikiski went four-and-out, and a four-play, 47-yard drive capped by a 21-yard Albino run made it 14-12 Seward with 5:29 left in the third.

The Bulldogs fumbled on the first play of their next drive and Judah Brueckner recovered. It took Seward one play to score, with Gilmore evading a sack in the backfield and running 26 yards for a 20-12 lead with 5:05 left in the third.

“After my couple big plays, I kind of felt it heating up,” Albino said. “I just wanted to win so bad.”

Mallory admits he wants to run more shotgun, but Seward’s personnel makes it tough, with the offensive line of John Van Buskirk, Shawn McClain, Jack Gardner, Brueckner and Noah Bird.

“We have a lot of meat with our offensive line and they move bodies around,” Mallory said. “Pono is a 210-pound running back and he’s hard to bring down.”

Albino scored on 65- and 15-yard runs in the fourth quarter, while Ellis scored again for Nikiski.

Mallory gave credit to Noah Price for leading the defense at inside linebacker.

Trammell said McCaughey had a great senior night on both offense and defense.

“He left it all out there,” Trammell said. “Nothing but love for his effort today, and the effort from everybody. I thought that was solid.”

Nikiski travels to play Valdez, 0-2 and 0-4, on Saturday at noon, while Seward hosts Eielson, 1-1 and 2-3, on Saturday at noon.

If the Seahawks win, they get the top seed in the playoffs. If Seward loses and Nikiski wins, that would set up a three-way tie atop the league. If Seward and Nikiski win, the Bulldogs are seeded second in the playoffs.

Saturday

Seahawks 34, Bulldogs 18

Seward 0 0 20 14 —34

Nikiski 0 12 0 6 —18

2nd Quarter

Nik — Ellis 1 run (run failed), 1:52.

Nik — Tru. McCaughey 60 run (run failed), 0:25.

3rd Quarter

Sew — Gilmore 4 run (Albino run), 10:12.

Sew — Albino 21 run (run failed), 5:29.

Sew — Gilmore 26 run (run failed), 5:05.

4th Quarter

Sew — Albino 65 run (Albino run), 10:36.

Nik — Ellis 1 run (run failed), 6:56.

Sew — Albino 15 run (run failed), 4:51.

Sew Nik

First downs 5 11

Rushes-yards 25-254 58-173

Passing yards 23 59

Comp-att-int 2-6-0 5-9-0

Return yards 0 0

Punts 0 0

Fumbles 4-2 3-2

Penalties 9-77 9-81

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing — Seward: Schrock 3-9, Albino 14-181, Gilmore 8-64. Nikiski: Tru. McCaughey 21-100, Ellis 12-2, K. Parrish 9-17, O. Parrish 11-57, Chamberlain 4-(-3), Maguire 1-0.

Passing — Seward: Gilmore 2-6-0—23. Nikiski: Ellis 5-9-0—59.

Receiving — Seward: Schrock 1-17, Forshee-Kurtz 1-6. Nikiski: Tru. McCaughey 1-11, Payne 2-34, O. Parrish 2-14.

Seward quarterback Brett Gilmore throws against Nikiski on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Nikiski’s Oliver Parrish and Everett Chamberlain break up a pass intended for Seward’s Hunter Forshee-Kurtz on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Nikiski’s Truit McCaughey tries to break the tackle of Seward’s Judah Brueckner on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)