Creighton’s high school football team is on top of the league after a commanding win in their home opener Sept. 29.
Facing the league’s top team so far in the Cumberland House Islanders on Creighton’s Oval of Dreams, the Kodiaks won 68-20 in a game where Creighton dictated the pace of play throughout.
Creighton began the game with a full sideline boasting 30 players - Cumberland House, on the other hand, had a shorthanded roster, with only 17 players listed in the pre-game lineup.
The Kodiaks struck early and often - Noah Olivier ran in for a touchdown minutes into the first quarter, with Jaxon Smith rumbling in for another touchdown after a Cumberland House three-and-out. Creighton led 16-0 after the first quarter.
Cumberland House would push forward in the second, but lost the ball near the Kodiaks’ goal line and the Kodiaks would immediately make the visitors pay. On the very next play, Creighton quarterback Marcus Kennedy launched a ball downfield into the waiting hands of Carson Straile, who ran the ball back 75 yards for a touchdown.
Later in the quarter, the Kodiaks struck quick again, with Cumberland House punting the ball away and Olivier breaking through again for a touchdown on the very next play. A touchdown for Cumberland House, courtesy of a catch by Conner Andrews, got the Islanders on the board, but Creighton would answer back with a pair of touchdowns of their own. A trick play saw Olivier dump the ball off to Straile who scamped off into the endzone, then after both teams swapped interceptions, a third down convert shortly before halftime saw a long bomb to Olivier end in his third TD of the half. Creighton led 48-8 at halftime.
After Creighton recovered an onside kick from the Islanders to start the second half, Myles Patterson ran in a touchdown and kicked in the two-point convert to make the game 56-8. A few turnovers by both teams later, the Kodiaks ran their lead up a bit more, with Straile grabbing his own third touchdown of the day.
Blaze Carriere forced the ball in for Cumberland House to start the fourth quarter, making the game 62-14, but Straile struck again in the fourth, snapping ankles on a long run play that left Cumberland House’s defenders on the turf watching. That brought the score to 68-14. The Islanders would grab another tough touchdown after recovering a fumble deep in Kodiaks territory, bringing the score to its final state - Kodiaks 68, Islanders 20.
The Kodiaks win puts both Creighton and Cumberland House at 2-1 on the season - the Kodiaks beat both the Ahtahkakoop Titans and Cumberland House, while forfeiting what would have been the team’s initial home opener against the Senator Myles Venne (SMVS) Huskies. Cumberland House beat both Ahtahkakoop and SMVS earlier this year. The Kodiaks’ win over Cumberland House will give them first spot over the Islanders in case both teams have the same record at the end of the season.
The Kodiaks will face SMVS Oct. 5 and will then play Oct. 13 at home against Ahtahkakoop. The northern league final will see both the top two teams in the league face off on the home field of the top team in the league Oct. 23 - as of Oct. 1, that would put the final in Creighton, likely against Cumberland House in a grudge match between two historic rivals.
