Nikiski sophomore running back Rykker Riddall scored four touchdowns and senior linebacker Luke Johnson recovered a Thunder Mountain fumble with a minute to play to save the Bulldogs’ 28-21 win over the Falcons on Friday night in Juneau.
“Never giving up,” Nikiski coach Ted Riddall said. “We played for 48 minutes and believed that everybody could get something done on the field. We needed everybody, it wasn’t just one guy.”
Nikiski’s offensive line of Jon McCormick, Rueben Sepeda, L. Johnson, Ian Johnson, Kyle Rosado and Nick Braswell gave the backfield room to run.
“The wall is what we are counting on,” Riddall said. “They are seniors across the wall.”
The Peninsula Conference small school Bulldogs trailed 21-20 with 6:40 remaining in the game and used a 12-play drive to regain the lead over the medium division Southeast Conference Falcons.
A three-yard run by Riddall began the drive, quarterback Dennis Anderson threw 15 yards to Hunter Holloway, Corn Cooper picked up four yards and Anderson found Nathan Carstens for four more.
A key pass interference call on the Falcons on a second-and-15 put the ball on the Falcons’ 15-yard line and Anderson, Cooper and Riddall each carried the ball closer to the end zone, with Anderson connecting on a nine-yard pass to Riddall for the go-ahead touchdown. Cooper ran in a two-point conversion for the 28-21 lead.
The Falcons had the ball with 1:47 left to play and a chance to secure a final home game win on senior night.
TMHS quarterback Garth Tupou just missed the fingertips of Mahina Toutaiolepo on a long first pass. Two Falcons’ penalties brought a second-and-25 from their own 16-yard line. Junior Riley Olsen got six yards back but TMHS fumbled on the next play and Nikiski’s Johnson came away with the pigskin.
The Bulldogs’ Anderson took a knee on successive plays to let the game clock run out for the win.
Nikiski’s R. Riddall rushed for two touchdowns in the first quarter, caught one in the third and the final scoring pass in the fourth.
The Bulldogs’ senior co-captain Jon McCormick had six tackles and one fumble recovery before leaving the game with an injury in the first half.
“It was an unfortunate injury,” Coach Riddall said. “He is the captain of the offensive line. His knee is hurting pretty good but hopefully that is something we can get him back from.”
Nikiski took the opening possession of the game eight plays from their own 32-yard line to score on a seven-yard grind from Riddall.
Both teams went four-and-out on their next possessions and the Falcons fumbled the ball away with Nikiski’s L. Johnson securing the recovery.
Nikiski’s next drive was six plays, with two TMHS penalties, capped off by Riddall’s 11-yard run.
Thunder Mountain’s Ivan Williams recovered a fumble at 8:02 remaining in the second quarter and the Falcons needed just two plays to score. Q’on Bear-Clark, who had a game-high 172 yards rushing, scrambled 32 yards and Ma’ake Ma’ake finished the series with an 11-yard run to cut the lead to 14-6. Riley Olsen’s then made the extra point.
Nikiski answered with 7:48 remaining before the half, using a 12-play drive capped off by Dylan Broussard taking an Anderson handoff and passing to Riddall for a 20-7 advantage.
The Falcons took the opening kickoff of the second half from their own 35 and marched 10-plays for the score, with Tupou keeping the ball on a quarterback plunge.
“When we lost McCormick at linebacker, they were running right there,” Riddall said. “I kept telling the team that we had to make one play, just one play at a time. Just stop them one more drive. We are a pretty conditioned team and we believe that we are in it until the end.”
Nikiski churned out three first downs but sputtered out on their next possession and both teams punted before the Falcons ran 10 plays from their own 38-yard line capped off by a Tupou pass to Toutaiolepo to tie the score at 20-20 in the third quarter. Olsen kicked the extra point for the Falcons’ only lead at 21-20.
This was the final home game for TMHS seniors Ma’ake, Alex Lewis, Bear-Clark, Chase Becker, Elvis Young, Sam Bluett, Lutini Tupou, Merced Duran, Sejin Oh, Mason Kullander, Jase Lippert, Andrew Ringle, Remington Burrell, Meki Sikione, and Jonas Wahl and cheerleaders Lauren Hatch, Taylor Manheimer and Sarah Penrose.
Playoff picture
Last year the Bulldogs fell in the ASAA small school state championship game to Eielson 55-51.
This season Nikiski, ranked 17th overall in the state, has also beaten Aurora Conference small school Barrow 42-12, AC small school Houston 34-0, and Peninsula Conference small schools Homer 50-18 and Voznesenka 52-0; and lost to AC small school Eielson 34-7 and Northern Lights Conference medium school Kodiak 25-15.
Thunder Mountain, ranked 19th in the state, has beaten Canada’s Marriott 43-0, SEC medium school Ketchikan 58-0 and PC small school Homer 34-30; and also lost to AC small school Eielson 43-0, SEC medium school North Pole 41-20 and Northern Railbelt large school West Valley 26-9.
Juneau-Douglas High School is ranked 18th in the state with wins over Canada’s Boyd 31-14, NRB large school West Valley 16-13, AC small school Barrow 26-20 and SEC medium school Ketchikan 48-30; and losses to SEC medium school North Pole 39-0 and NLC medium school Kodiak 28-20.
Next weekend’s Glacier Bowl between JDHS and TMHS at Adair Kennedy Field will send the winner to the medium school state playoffs against the NLC No. 1 seed and the loser to the locker room. North Pole is the SEC No. 1 seed and will play the NLC No. 2 seed. Soldotna and Kenai both have clinched NLC playoff berths and play their final game Oct. 3 to determine who will be the No. 1 seed.
Current rankings
Soldotna (currently on a 35-game win streak) defeated North Pole 57-28 for the medium school state championship last season. JDHS fell to SOHI in the semi’s 44-6 and North Pole beat Kenai 47-14.
As of last week Anchorage’s Bartlett High School, a Cook Inlet Conference large school, is ranked first overall in the state with NLC medium school Soldotna second, CIC large school Chugiak third, CIC large school Dimond fourth, CIC large school West fifth, CIC large school East sixth, Northern Railbelt large school Colony seventh, NLC medium school Kenai eighth, NRB large school Lathrop ninth and AC small school Eielson 10th. Last season South Anchorage defeated West 20-6 for the large school title.
How they scored
NIKISKI 14/6/0/8
TMHS 0/7/7/7
1st Quarter
Nikiski – 8:51 Riddall 7-yard rush (Cooper 2-pt run)
Nikiski – 1:28 Riddall 11 yard rush (2-pt failed)
2nd Quarter
TMHS – 7:48 Ma’ake 11-yard rush (Olsen kick)
Nikiski – 2:14 Broussard 12-yard pass to Riddall (2-pt failed)
3rd Quarter
TMHS – 7:05 Tupou 1-yard rush (Olsen kick)
4th Quarter
TMHS – 6:40 Tupou 15-yard pass to Toutaiolepo (Olsen kick)
Nikiski – 1:52 Anderson 9-yard pass to Riddall (Cooper 2-pt run)
Individual stats
RUSHING – Nikiski: R. Riddall 18-102 (2 TD), C. Cooper 7-27, D. Broussard 1-2, D. Anderson 2-2, M. Minium 1(-7); TMHS: Q. Bear-Clark 25-172, M. Ma’ake 4-24 (1 TD), G. Tupou 4-12 (1 TD), R. Olsen 2-11, S. Olmstead 1-6, M. Toutaiolepo 1-5.
PASSING – Nikiski: D. Anderson 5-7-57 (1 TD), D. Broussard 1-1-12 (1 TD); TMHS: G. Tupou 4-7-30 (1 TD).
RECEIVING – Nikiski: R. Riddall 2-21 (2 TD), H. Holloway 2-22, I. Johnson 1-19, N. Carstens 1-7; TMHS: M. Toutaiolepo 3-35 (1 TD)
The senior members of the Thunder Mountain High School Falcons football team were honored prior to the start of Friday’s game against Nikiski.
Thunder Mountain senior running back Q’on bear-Clark (7) moves past Nikiski linebacker Luke Johnson during Friday’s 28-21 Falcons loss to the Bulldogs.
Thunder Mountain senior Ma’ake Ma’ake receives honors from family and friends during Friday’s final home game for the Falcons.
