PALMER — As the final seconds ticked down on his team’s 51-28 victory over Lathrop in the Alaska School Activities Association Division II state championship game Friday night at Colony High in Palmer, Soldotna head football coach Galen Brantley Jr. walked up and down the home sideline handing out commemorative championship hats and bear-hugging seniors like it was his first rodeo.
It wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
The state’s all-time coaching wins leader had just helmed the Stars to a state-best 15th state title, but Brantley said Friday’s win on a calm, crisp night in the Mat-Su will rank among his favorites.
“I love this sport,” said Brantley, a 1993 Soldotna grad who now owns a mind-boggling 176-10 record as head coach since taking over the role in 2008. “I love everything about it, it’s been good to me, it helped me a lot growing up and helped me get to where I am today. So there’s never a scenario where it gets old.”
The SoHi legend watched with pride as his youngest son, Elias, suited up at center for his final high school game. The moment was poignant for the elder Brantley, who said one of his main motivations in coaching has been to set a strong example for his kids.
“One of the things that has been important to me is I always wanted my sons to be proud of me,” he said. “I hope he enjoyed his experience in this program and he’s proud of Dad.”
It’s safe to say he is.
“Since I’ve been little, I’ve been following my dad around, watching my older brother play, so it just felt really cool to finally do this,” said Elias Brantley, who missed most of the previous two SoHi seasons with injuries.
Many of SoHi’s 19 seniors grew up playing in the local Pop Warner ranks, where Brantley was their coach, too.
“To see those kids experience that football journey from the beginning to the end is pretty special,” said Brantley, whose teams have now won three straight Division II state titles — all over Lathrop.
Friday’s title bout marked the sixth consecutive time the two teams have met for the DII championship, with Lathrop winning in 2021 and 2022 and the Stars coming out on top in 2019, 2023 and 2024. There was no state tournament held in 2020.
The Stars had three players rush for more than 100 yards and got four touchdown runs from junior Chase Hall to wrap up their second undefeated season in the past three years. The Stars used an overwhelming rushing attack to overpower the Malemutes, outgaining their Railbelt Conference rivals by more than 400 yards on the ground. Hall had 155 yards on 15 carries, Andon Wolverton had a game-high 181 yards on 17 carries and Dax Walden added 109 yards on 10 carries for the Stars, who averaged 10 yards per run.
Soldotna started the game in textbook SoHi style, going 60 yards on an eight-play (eight-run) opening drive punctuated by a 4-yard touchdown gallop by Hall.
Lathrop counterpunched on its first possession by unleashing what would be the Malemutes’ biggest weapon of the night: Wilson Lawson. The superlative junior wideout hauled in a 56-yard bomb from quarterback Johnathan Scott on third-and-10, and two plays later the game was tied following a 4-yard touchdown run by Tayven Sullivan.
The Stars were unfazed. Soldotna answered almost immediately when Dax Walden took a handoff from Owen Buckbee, put a move on the Lathrop safety and broke loose for a 54-yard house call less than a minute after Lathrop tied the game.
Following a Lathrop turnover on downs, Soldotna appeared to be en route to a rout when — after 13 consecutive running plays to start the game — Buckbee hit Matthew Schilling with a play action touchdown pass that covered 26 yards and made it 21-7 to end the quarter.
The Stars started to pour it on in the second quarter, pushing their lead to 28-7 on Hall’s second scoring run, this time a 17-yarder with 3:26 to go in the first half.
But as dominant as the Stars were on offense, they were at times defenseless against Lawson, whose receiving brilliance had even folks on the sidelines shaking their heads.
“Dude, No. 3 is good,” a Soldotna assistant coach remarked to another after the Lathrop star hauled in one of his nine first-half receptions.
“Dude, No. 3 is REALLY good,” the other replied.
None of Lawson’s catches were more impressive than an 18-yard highlight-reel grab in which he leaped over a better-positioned Soldotna defender and came down with an improbable touchdown lob from Scott that cut the lead to 28-14 heading into the half.
“He’s one of the best receivers in the state, by far,” Lathrop head coach Luke Balash said of Lawson, who finished the game with 201 receiving yards on 11 receptions.
Quarterback Jonathan Scott threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, but the Malemutes’ aerial antics were no match for SoHi’s ground-and-pound approach.
“They couldn’t stop our offense,” said the explosive Wolverton, who had eight carries that went for 11 or more yards and four over 20.
The Malemutes opened the third quarter with a trick kickoff return that nearly saw Lawson go the distance as the junior took a backward pass from Kenyon Pulgarin all the way to the Soldotna 46. Lathrop capitalized on the short field seven plays later when a scrambling Scott found Luke Skinner for a 30-yard touchdown pass on fourth down that cut SoHi’s lead to 28-21 and eight minutes still left in the third.
But Soldotna didn’t become Alaska’s heavyweight champs by folding after a couple body blows, and the Stars finally delivered their signature knockout punch during a devastating final eight minutes that ended with the Malemutes staring at a 27-point deficit and wondering what might have been.
The onslaught started in the way so many such SoHi stunnings have over the years — with a methodical, unstoppable march down the field featuring speedy backs running behind a disciplined, veteran offensive line. When it needed it most, Soldotna delivered a balanced, autumn-crisp 68-yard touchdown drive free of penalties and featuring three positive runs from Walden and four each from Wolverton and Hall, who completed the carousel with a 1-yard touchdown run that pushed the lead to 35-21 with 3:20 left in the third.
The floodgates opened after a Lathrop punt attempt was blocked by Theo Huff with time winding down in the quarter. This time around, Wolverton didn’t need any help from his friends as the senior broke a tackle and went 28 yards to paydirt on SoHi’s first play from scrimmage.
Soldotna’s defense created its next score with a play that began with the Stars looking like matadors to Sullivan’s bull and ended like all bullfights do — with the bullfighters victorious. The bruising junior running back broke multiple SoHi tackles and appeared to be on his way to a long, momentum-changing run deep into Soldotna territory when Mason Bock appeared out of nowhere to force a fumble and return possession to the Stars.
Things then really turned sour for the Fairbanks side when Hall somehow kept his feet on what appeared to be a sure-fire tackle, rolled off a Lathrop defender and scampered 68 yards to score his fourth touchdown and effectively put the game out of reach.
Lawson capped his silver-lining performance with his second touchdown catch of the day midway through the fourth quarter and Soldotna kicker Luke Hillyer added a late field goal to provide the final margin.
Soldotna’s defense rallied in the second half to force two turnovers, including a late interception by Zackary Kemp and multiple tackles for loss by the likes of bruising defenders Koda Lepule, Lukas Schiano and Logan Myers. Soldotna held Lathrop to just 125 yards in the second half and limited Lawson to just two grabs after halftime. The Stars also held Lathrop to just 49 rushing yards and limited Malemutes star back Luke Skinner to just 24 yards on five rushing attempts.
Balash said he was proud of his team’s ability to reach the title game after knocking off favored Palmer in the semifinals. But Friday’s loss still stung.
“We weren’t even supposed to be here, for us to even get here is a big deal,” he said.
As for the team everyone expected to be in the final, Wolverton said he knows exactly how he’ll be celebrating the team’s undefeated season.
“I’m probably going to go home and go to sleep.”
Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Southcentral Alaska and former reporter for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Peninsula Clarion and Anchorage Daily News. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com.
Soldotna 51, Lathrop 28
Friday, Colony High School
Soldotna 21 7 20 3 – 51
Lathrop 7 7 7 7 – 28
1st Quarter
Sol – Chase Hall 4 run (Luke Hillyer kick), 8:55
Lat – Tayven Sullivan 4 run (Lucas Naber kick), 4:37
Sol – Dax Walden 54 run (Hillyer kick), 3:39
Sol – Matthew Schilling 26 pass from Owen Buckbee (Hillyer kick), 1:18
2nd Quarter
Sol – Hall 17 run (Hillyer kick), 3:26
Lat – Wilson Lawson 18 pass from Jonathan Scott (Naber kick), 1:42
3rd Quarter
Lat – Luke Skinner 30 pass from Scott (Naber kick), 8:01
Sol – Hall 1 run (Hillyer kick), 3:20
Sol – Andon Wolverton 28 run (Hillyer kick), 1:40
Sol – Hall 68 run (Kick failed), 0:30
4th Quarter
Lat – Lawson 10 pass from Scott (Neber kick)
Sol – Hillyer 25 FG, 0:09
Soldotna Lathrop
First downs 25 16
Rushes-yds 46-463 26-49
Passing yards 26 314
Comp-att-int 1-3-1 18-37-1
Penalties-yds 6-65 10-95
Punt-avg 1-20.0 1-53.0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1
Return yards 18 0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Soldotna rushing – Wolverton 17-181, Hall 15-155, Walden 10-109, Buckbee 4-18. Lathrop rushing – Skinner 5-24, Balash 5-21, Sullivan 6-17, Brooks 2-(-1), Scott 8-(-12).
Soldotna passing – Buckbee 1-3-1–26. Lathrop passing – Scott 18-37-1–314.
Soldotna receiving – Schilling 1-26. Lathrop receiving – Lawson 11-201, Pulgarin 3-55, Skinner 2-51, Balash 2-7.
