Vikings hold on for victory

Rainier Beach better check its phone bill after it returns home to Seattle.

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The Vikings will probably find some additional long distance charges for all the long passes and runs it racked up in a 41-38 victory over the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears on Saturday night.

Rainer Beach connected on two long touchdowns passes for 40-plus yards, an 80-yard fumble return for a touchdown, in addition to five running plays that went for at least 22 yards.

"There was a lot of this and that - lot of misreads on both sides of the ball," Rainier Beach head coach Mark Haley said. "A few breaks went our way a few breaks went their way. It was Just one of those good football games. I know it was a good one to watch - lots of scoring out there."

Rainier Beach went into Saturday night's game a heavy favorite as the third-ranked team in Washington's tough Class 3A division. Juneau (2-3, 1-2 CIFC) was coming off a tough loss to defending state champion East Anchorage last week, following a blowout loss to No. 1 West Anchorage in Juneau the prior week.

"We gave it our best shot. Everybody down south thought this game was going to be a blowout, so I think we proved something by hanging with them and getting within three points," Juneau's C.J. Keys said. "But we're all really disappointed we didn't pull this one off."

"It's got to go down a just about the greatest game ever played on this field," Juneau coach Rich Sjoroos said. "I know we didn't come out on top, just as far as two teams full of kids making plays all night long. You got to tip your hat to everyone."

The game started off bad for Crimson Bears as Rainier Beach capitalized twice off Juneau turnovers in the first quarter. Rainier's Shelton Danzy scored on a 16-yard run, two plays after an Adam Leonard interception of a Chris Hinkley pass. Danzy followed it up with an 80-yard return off a Brian Felix fumble.

"Whenever you get a team down on turnovers, our motto is to put points on the board - make them pay for their mistakes," Haley said. "We try to do that a lot."

It looked as if there was going to be yet another blow-out on the Adair-Kennedy field before Juneau made a long distance call of its own - a 52-yard touchdown strike from Hinkley to Keys down the sidelines. From that point on, it was anybody's game as both teams battled back and forth, matching big pay after big play.

Dylan Ashe added a 30-yard field goal to close the score to 13-10 before Danzy scored his third touchdown on a 5-yard run, a play after breaking a 42-yard cutback run. Juneau answered the call with 1:01 to go in the first half when Pat Kohan connected to Keys on a 44-yard pass, giving the Bears the momentum and trailing by just 19-17 heading into the locker room.

Brian Felix grabbed the lead for Juneau with a 35-yard run at the 10:17 mark of the third quarter to make the score 24-19. But the Vikings made some more calls and after a 36-yard run by Danzy, who ended the game with 233 yards rushing, Rainer Beach punched it in on a 3-yard run by quarterback Junior Lologo.

Another turnover hurt the Bears when Lologo connected with Attrail Snipes for a 49-yard touchdown after a Felix fumble to give Rainier a 34-24 lead midway through the third quarter.

"That's the big one - the turnover bug. They had a couple there in the first quarter and a couple in the second half and cashed in on all theirs," Sjoroos said. "Turnovers in high school football and penalties are going to be the difference makers."

"Coming out playing a real hard game their coming after us," Haley said, "We made a few mistakes they capitalized on; they made some mistakes we capitalized on."

The Bears managed to close the gap to 34-31 on a 27-yard reverse by Keys, but Rainier Beach responded with their last long call - a 47-yard touchdown pass from Lologo to Vonzell McDowell with 7:27 to go in the game.

Keys scored his fourth touchdown of the game with 1:44 remaining on a 40-yard scoring strike from Kohan, but the Crimson Bears botched an onside kick attempt and that ended Juneau's hopes of a thrilling victory.

"There were a lot of big plays. We didn't have a lot of the driving and punching one in from the two," Keys said. "It was a bunch of Brian setting it up, then I'd pocket dummy the ball and we'd just make a play."

"They were a great team - real fast," Felix said, who rushed for 131 yards on 27 carries. "I don't think we've played a team so fast."

"It's tough losing - you always want to come out on top," Sojoroos said. "But you got to learn from these games. I know come Monday we'll learn from the mistakes we made and it will make us a better team down the road."

VIKINGS 41, CRIMSON BEARS 38

Saturday's boxscore from Adair-Kennedy Memorial Field

RAINIER BEACH 13 6 15 7 - 41

JUNEAU-DOUGLAS 7 10 14 7 - 38

First quarter

Rainer Beach - Danzy 16 run (Maxie kick), 8:45.

Rainier Beach - Danzy 80 fumble return (kick failed), 3:50

Juneau - Keys 52 pass from Hinkley (Ashe kick), 0:48

Second quarter

Juneau - FG Ashe 30, 8:24.

Rainer Beach - Danzy 5 run (run failed), 2:28.

Juneau - Keys 44 pass from Kohan (Ashe kick), 1:01

Third quarter

Juneau - Felix 35 run (Ashe kick), 10:17.

Rainer Beach - Lologo 3 run (Lologo run), 6:43.

Rainer Beach - Snipes 49 pass from Lologo (Maxie kick), 5:42.

Juneau - Keys 23 run (Ashe kick), 3:03.

Fourth quarter

Rainer Beach - McDowell 47 pass from Lologo (Maxie kick), 7:27.

Juneau - Keys 40 pass from Kohan (Ashe kick), 1:44.

TEAM STATISTICS

RAINIER JUNEAU

First downs 10 16

Rushes-yards 32-288 44-250

Passing yards 107 162

Return yards 145 151

Comp-att-int 6-13-1 6-15-1

Punts-ave 3-39.0 1-40.0

Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-2

Penalties-yards 13-110 4-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Rainier Beach: Danzy 21-233, Williams 5-35, Jordan, 2-22, Lologo 3-3, Jefferson 1-(-5). Juneau: Felix 27-131, Keys 6-58, Lehauli 6-33, P. Kohan 3-24, Hinkley 2-4.

PASSING - Rainier Beach: Lologo 6-12-0-67, Maddock 0-1-1-0. Juneau: Hinkley 2-5-1-69, P. Kohan 4-9-0-93, Felix 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING - Rainier Beach: McDowell 1-47, Snipes 2-67, Danzy 1-3, Leonard 2 (-10). Juneau: Keys 5-145, Fagerstrom 1-17.

MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.