Cody Kemble
Staff Writer
One year after finishing 0-8, the Kayhi Kings football team turned their program around. The year started with a three game win streak, where they defeated Redington, Valdez, and Nikiski.
After outscoring their opponents by a combined 190-38, Kayhi lost their 1st game of the year to the Houston Hawks 22-20.
They then went on another three game win streak playing Homer, Barrow, and Seward. The Kings outscored them all 106-58.
Their two closest games of the season came against Houston and Barrow, where both games were decided by two points.
Kayhi was the 1st team to beat Barrow in Barrow in the past two seasons.
“Barrow was definitely our toughest game,” said senior Crist Carlson. “The weather and the travel really got to us, and they were the 1st team that was bigger than us player to player.”
The Kings qualified for the Division III state football playoffs for the first time in program history. Kayhi lost to Eielson 55-0, which eliminated the team from the state championship. Eielson went on to play Barrow for the state title and won 35-0. Kayhi finished the season 6-2, one of the best seasons Kayhi Footballs had in program history.
“I feel like it was a good season overall,” said senior quarterback Brendan Wong. “We had a lot of good games and a lot of big time plays. We played our hearts out and most importantly played as one.”
Stevie Byron, Crist Carlson, and Brendan Wong were all selected to the Senior Bowl.
Individual Season Stats
Brendan Wong: 1,562 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, 5 rushing touchdowns
Crist Carlson: 10 receiving touchdowns and 3 interceptions
Brandon Wieber: 11 receiving touchdowns
CJ Jasper: 12 touchdowns, 2 interception return touchdowns, and 2 punt return touchdowns.
Stevie Byron: 4 rushing touchdowns
Brendan Roof: 2 rushing touchdowns
AJ Morris: 2 touchdowns
AJ Malouf: 4 touchdowns and averaged 80 yards kicking
Jackson Kaye: 2 fumble recoveries
Kylar Charles: 4 interceptions