Huskies run over Service 48-6 in season home opener

This story has been corrected to state No. 3 for the Juneau Huskies is Ethan Van Kirk, not Leonidas Sonesen.

The Juneau Huskies dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball to win their home opener of the 2024 season 48-6 against Service High School on Saturday despite Juneau playing most of the game without its starting quarterback.

Caleb Ziegenfuss, a senior filling in at quarterback after Noah Ault went out with an injury in the first quarter, threw one touchdown pass late in the quarter, ran for another touchdown in the second quarter and returned an interception on defense for the Huskies’ final touchdown in the fourth quarter. Juneau also ran the ball with ease most of the game, while the defense shut down the visiting Cougars’ ground game and Daniel Campbell, a junior, had three interceptions.

Numerous other players for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé had big plays on scores and turnovers, but a key to the game was the offensive battle in the trenches, according to Head Coach Rich Sjoroos.

“That’s the best our line has blocked in over a year,” he told his team after the game.

The Huskies struggled to a 1-8 finish last year — including going winless at home — often losing the size battle to other teams. But while Juneau continued to face matchup challenges in last week’s season-opening loss at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School, the Huskies made a hefty rebound at home.

“I think today we had a better matchup sizewise, but it was definitely a struggle,” Ricky Tupou, a junior lineman for JDHS, said after the game. “They fought hard, but we fought harder and we came out on top.”

Jonah Mahle, a junior center, said he was matched up against several Service players taking him on after the snap, including some bigger than him, “but I just stood my stance.”

“Technique beats everything,” he said.

Sjoroos said Mahle, a first-year varsity center, has been faultless in a game plan that mostly involves snaps to different players in the backfield rather than the conventional direct snap to a quarterback under center.

“He’s snapping at angles and different people, and it’s just we don’t even bat an eye at it,” Sjoroos said. “We just expect that it’s going to be perfect every time.”

The Huskies got the ball first and drove the ball inside the Service 30-yard line until a third-down sack and then a false start on fourth down left Juneau with a fourth-and-23 from the Service 38. Juneau lined up in punt formation — but with all-state wide receiver Jayden Johnson as the punter who, despite cries from the Service defense to watch for a fake, broke a tackle and ran the ball down the sidelines for the first touchdown of the game with 6:48 remaining in the first quarter.

“We did some film study and just saw that if we could line him up — just kind of subtly — that maybe we could run him towards our own sideline and get him on the edge,” Sjoroos said. “And I think it’s one thing for people maybe to watch for a fake, but you’ve got to get all 11 guys to do it. They obviously didn’t, and we were able to take advantage of that and got some good blocks on the play.”

A two-point conversion put the Huskies up 8-0.

Service, in what became a pattern during the game, had some success in the air as their ground game stalled, including hitting a pass on fourth-and-9 from the Juneau 49-yard line to the 32. However, after two runs gained a total of a yard and a third-down pass fell incomplete, a fourth-down was intercepted by the Huskies.

Juneau struck again quickly with a long pass from Ault to Johnson to the Service 41-yard line. However, Ault was banged up shortly afterward when he was knocked out of bounds during a scramble.

“He’s just got like a stinger in his shoulder,” Sjoroos said. “It was his throwing arm so we just decided at that point (that) Caleb’s got a lot of work at quarterback and so it’s just best to keep rolling with him for the rest of the game.”

Ziegenfuss entered the game and a few plays later threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Johnathyn Kestel with 1:39 left in the first quarter. The extra point put Juneau up 15-0.

“I looked back and there wasn’t a safety,” Ziegenfuss said, noting Kestel had stated he could thread the seam and “he was right. I threw it over the top and got it in.”

Service got nowhere on its next possession and, after a punt, junior running back Samuel Sarof scored on a one-yard run to end a Juneau drive and put the Huskies up 22-0 with 9:49 left in the first half.

The Cougars then put together its only scoring drive of the day using a no-huddle, pass-heavy attack that was aided by a personal foul penalty against Juneau. On a third-and-13, Service quarterback Taurian Phillip threw a touchdown pass, but an interception by Campbell on the two-point conversion attempt left the score 22-6 with 7:09 left in the half.

Juneau then began asserting its ground superiority by pounding the ball down the field on a series of running plays, with Ziegenfuss extending Juneau’s lead to 29-6 with a six-yard touchdown run on second-and-goal with less than two minutes left in the half. Sjoroos said his starting five linemen —including Tupou, Mahle, Walter Haube-Law, Benny Zukas and Kyle Carter — “were just really synchronized today.”

“They were playing with good technique and just kept pushing, and it helped to have a couple of running backs behind them that were holding on the ball well,” he said.

Service would advance the ball to the Huskies’ 9-yard line before time ran out in the half.

Service would again take the ball down the field with its passing game to open the second half, but an interception by senior Sage Schultz of a ball deflected off a receiver’s hands ended the threat. Ziegenfuss threw an interception to give Service the ball back and both teams played out the third quarter without a score.

But Juneau extended the lead early in the fourth quarter with a 13-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Ethan Van Kirk and, following Campbell’s third interception of the day, Johnson threw a receiver pass to Kestel who scored and made the tally 42-6 with 9:20 left.

On Service’s next possession Ziegenfuss would run back an interception to complete the scoring with 7:41 remaining.

“I saw it coming the way they were playing, the way they were throwing outside and that’s my zone,” he said. “They threw it straight to me and I just headed for the end zone.”

Ziegenfuss, who missed much of last season with a back injury, said wasn’t too nervous when he had to enter the game since he’s had plenty of reps this season in practice.

“I feel amazing, especially after last season,” he said after the game when asked to assess the outcome.

Juneau’s next game is Aug. 31 at South Anchorage High School, which lost to Service 32-7 in those teams’ opening game a week ago. But three of the Huskies’ next four games are on the road and the one home game is against reigning state champion West Anchorage High School.

“We play in a very rugged, physical state,” Sjoroos told his team. “We’re going to have some big-boy games coming up here pretty quick.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.