Small schools host big playoff action

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The large-school football playoffs get a lot of attention during the fall, but the small-school teams have also been playing hard, hitting hard and working hard -- with a pair of conference titles decided Saturday.  

Nikiski won a shootout over Eielson 47-39 to capture the Greatland Conference crown, while Soldotna beat up Kenai 40-8 to become the Northern Lights Conference champions.

In other games, Skyview topped Kodiak 40-34 while Valdez defeated Seward 28-20 in overtime.

The weekend also saw several shutouts: Homer slipped past Houston 50-0, Barrow pummeled Delta Junction 45-0, and Thunder Mountain completed an undefeated regular season Friday with a 42-0 win over St. Bernard’s of California.

With three small-schools conferences to be decided, an interesting scenario comes into play. The Northern Lights Conference’s undefeated Soldotna Stars will open the season against the Southeast Conference’s undefeated Thunder Mountain squad, as No. 2 Greatland Conference seed Kenai faces off against No. 3 seed Barrow.

In addition, Skyview will visit Eielson and Homer is headed to Nikiski.

Contact Charlie Sokaitis at csokaitis@ktuu.com