Point (not) taken
Bears go for two, wind up losing by one point to Lynx
It was decision time for the Juneau-Douglas High School football team's coaching staff.
Back
The No. 2 Crimson Bears had just scored a touchdown with 1 minute, 58 seconds left in Friday night's game against the unranked Dimond Lynx, pulling to within one point. Should they go for two points and the win, or kick the extra point for the tie and hope the Crimson Bears can win the game in overtime?
Juneau offensive coordinator Rich Sjoroos decided to go for the victory, the pass play failed, and the Crimson Bears wound up losing 28-27 to Dimond in a Cook Inlet Football Conference game at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park.
"We had to do it," Sjoroos said. "We're the home team, we had to go for the win. You want to win at home."
The previous four plays, including the 4-yard touchdown run, had all been to junior running back Brian Felix. But on the two-point conversion, Sjoroos sent in a pass play.
Quarterback Mark Shilling was supposed to throw a pass to fullback Nick West, but West slipped on the wet artificial turf and Shilling was left with nobody to throw the ball to. Shilling rolled to his right, hoping somebody might work themselves open, but ended up having to throw the ball away when Dimond's defensive pressure caught up to him.
"We were going to try winning it," Shilling said. "But we didn't have enough people. I thought C.J. (Keys) got held up and Nick slipped and fell down."
"We trust Rich; it was just one of our guys fell down," Felix said.
Both teams had a possession after the failed two-point conversion, but neither team could work the ball into position for a field-goal attempt. Juneau and Dimond feature two of the better kicking games in the state.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, Dimond kicker Luke Ayer made a 41-yard field goal, only to have the points taken off the scoreboard when the Lynx decided to take a Juneau personal foul penalty. Juneau kicker Richard Isett didn't attempt a field goal in the game, but had made a 40-yarder earlier this season.
The Lynx scored the go-ahead touchdown two plays after Dimond (3-1 overall, 2-1 CIFC) took the field goal off the board, as running back Darrell Pilcher scored on a spinning 11-yard run for his third touchdown of the game. A two-point conversion pass from quarterback Troy Bittner to tight end Joel Tomco put Dimond up 28-21.
The fourth-quarter Pilcher score was the third lead change of the second half and second of the fourth quarter. There were four lead changes in the game.
Dimond jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, as Pilcher returned a fumble by Juneau's C.J. Keys 22 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the game, then added a 2-yard touchdown run late in the quarter.
"We got up 14-0 and we thought we'd won the game," said Pilcher, who led Dimond's rushing attack with 73 yards on 19 carries.
"I think we let down a little," Ayer said. "We felt pretty confident. We'd been practicing hard. It was great to win, especially in Juneau. We're pretty happy."
Juneau (3-1 overall, 1-1 CIFC) hadn't trailed this season until Dimond's two first-quarter scores, but the Crimson Bears rallied to take a 15-14 halftime lead. Felix scored on a 1-yard run as time expired in the first quarter to make it 14-7. Then Shilling hit fullback Tony Talamai with a 13-yard touchdown pass and Shilling ran it in for the two-point conversion to make it 15-14 with 0:58 left in the half.
The Crimson Bears, whose previous drive started when Talamai blocked a punt by Dimond's Josh Kimpton, recovered a fumble on the ensuing onside kick. But Dimond's defense held and Juneau wasn't able to get close enough for Isett to attempt a field goal.
"We haven't had to come back all season," Felix said. "You could see how much the momentum changed in this game."
Dimond regained the lead 20-15 midway through the third quarter when Bittner hit a wide-open Tomco on a 49-yard touchdown pass.
"We had two safeties, one who concentrates on the run (Inoke Topui) and the other who's better at covering the pass (Felix)," said Isett, who also plays defensive back. "We didn't get the right one in on a passing down."
The Crimson Bears took a 21-20 lead early in the fourth quarter when Shilling hit Keys for a 51-yard touchdown pass. Juneau attempted a two-point conversion, but Shilling's pass was intercepted by Milo Ward.
Juneau hurt itself with fumbles all game, dropping six balls to the turf even though the Crimson Bears only lost the one Pilcher returned for a touchdown. After Dimond took a 28-21 lead, Shilling threw an interception to Dimond's Brandon Grant. Dimond attempted a 42-yard field goal that went wide right.
After the Crimson Bears pulled within one point and got the ball back for a last shot, Juneau lined up with an off-balance line and Keys at quarterback. But Dimond read the play and defensive lineman Michael Kasper was able to grab Keys from behind.
Keys, who has scored at least one receiving touchdown in each game this season, hurt his left knee on the play. According to his mother, Jo, Keys was in the emergency room until 3 a.m. Saturday morning and he will go to the doctor on Tuesday. She said nothing appears to be broken, but doctors want to look at the meniscus ligament in his knee.
West also went out with a knee injury, as he came up limping on the fumble Dimond returned for the game's first touchdown. He played much of the rest of the game, although he did have medics tending to him a couple of times. On Saturday, Sjoroos said West may be out three or four weeks because they found ligament damage.
Juneau will play its first road game of the season at noon this Saturday, when the Crimson Bears play the Service Cougars at Anchorage Football Stadium.
While Juneau's varsity team lost, Juneau's JV team stayed undefeated this year at 3-0 overall. The Crimson Bears blanked the Ketchikan varsity 51-0 Saturday at Ketchikan's Norman Walker Field as quarterback Chris Hinkley was 8-for-9 passing for 160 yards and five touchdowns in the first half.
Hinkley connected with Lane Miller on three TD scores and also hit Kanaan Bausler and Ryan Fagerstrom on a touchdown toss each. Tom Topui added a touchdown run and a two-point conversion, while Brian Mauler returned a fumble 42 yards for a touchdown. Derek Antrim forced the fumble Mauler returned for his touchdown.
In other action involving Southeast football teams, the Homer Mariners beat the Sitka Wolves 27-12 on Saturday at Moller Field in Sitka.
Charles Bingham can be reached at cbingham@juneauempire.com.
LYNX 28, CRIMSON BEARS 27
Friday's game from Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park
DIMOND 14 0 6 8 - 28
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS 7 8 0 12 - 27
First quarter
Dimond - Pilcher 22 fumble return (Ayer kick), 10:31.
Dimond - Pilcher 2 run (Ayer kick), 3:23.
Juneau-Douglas - Felix 1 run (Isett kick), 0:00.
Second quarter
Juneau-Douglas - Talamai 13 pass from M. Shilling (M. Shilling run), 0:58.
Third quarter
Dimond - Tomco 49 pass from Bittner (run failed), 8:33.
Fourth quarter
Juneau-Douglas - Keys 51 pass from M. Shilling (pass failed), 10:19.
Dimond - Pilcher 11 run (Tomco pass from Bittner), 7:18.
Juneau-Douglas - Felix 4 run (pass failed), 1:58.
TEAM STATISTICS
DIM JUN
First downs 14 10
Rushes-yards 50-247 39-117
Passing yards 85 177
Return yards 121 137
Comp-att-int 2-5-0 9-23-1
Punts-ave 4-29.5 4-39.0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 6-1
Penalties-yards 15-105 9-82
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Dimond: Pilcher 19-73, Ward 3-52, Dworsky 10-43, Bittner 5-25, Bibby 7-24, Moss 2-17, Ayer 4-13. Juneau-Douglas: Felix 25-81, I. Topui 4-18, Talamai 3-15, Keys 4-5, N. West 1-0, M. Shilling 2-(-2).
PASSING - Dimond: Bittner 2-5-0 - 85. Juneau-Douglas: M. Shilling 9-23-1 - 177.
RECEIVING - Dimond: Tomco 1-49, Ore 1-36. Juneau-Douglas: Keys 3-98, Felix 2-41, Talamai 3-30, Richey 1-8.
MISSED FIELD GOALS - Dimond: Ayer, 42 (wide right). Juneau-Douglas: None.