Alaska Goes 0-2 in 2012 High School Football Kickoff in Hawaii

by Jeff Fisher

High School Football America

Courtesy: MGhelmets.com

The Fire and Ice Bowl is now a tradition when it comes to the start of high school football in America.

For the second straight year, the high school football season kicked-off off the mainland with Alaska taking on Hawaii.

Last year it was one game, this year it was two on Friday night in Hawaii.

Courtesy: MGhelmets.com

Punahou, which finished runner-up in Hawaii's Division I, won the first game of the year with a 48-0 shutout of West High School from Anchorage.  Hawaii made it a clean sweep of the Fire and Ice Bowl with a 23-15 victory by Leilehua over defending Alaska Big Schools champ Service.  Last year, Service and Leilehua battled to a 34-34 tie in the inaugural Alaska vs. Hawaii game.

The Alaska Daily News reported that Punahou was led by sophomore wide receiver Kanawai Noa, who caught four touchdown passes in the first half to lead the Buff and Blue to a 34-0 halftime lead.

In the Leilehua/Service match-up, the Mules jumped-out to a 23-7 halftime lead on their Alaskan opponents.  According to the Anchorage Daily News, Service drove to the Leilehua 30-yard line with 10 seconds left, but fumbled on the last play of the game.

Click here to read the Punahou/West game story.

Click here to read the Leilehua/Service game story.

However, I should point-out those weren't the only games this weekend as many other Alaska and Hawaii schools also began their regular seasons.

Below are all of the first week's scores:

Friday Scores -Alaska

East  42  Kenai  7

Lathrop  44  Nikiski  41

Lathrop JV  60  Seward  8

Leilehua (HI)  23  Service 15

North Pole 32  Dimond  14  Click here to read game story

Punahou (HI)  48  West  0

Saturday's Scores - Alaska

Colony  56  Skyview  7

Eielson  26  Valdez  0

Juneau-Douglas  45  Thunder Mountain  7

Monroe Catholic  16  Barrow  0

Palmer  27  Soldotna  7

Sitka  30  Ketchikan  8

South  68  Eagle River  6

Wasilla  21  Bartlett  14

West Valley  35  Chugiak  12

Two Alaska Teams to Open Season in Hawaii

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

The 2011 high school football season kicked-off in Hawaii with Service and Leilehua battling to a 34-34 tie.  That tie was the only blemish on Service's record as the Cougars went undefeated from that point forward to capture the Alaska Big Schools championship.

This year, Service will kickoff the 2012 in the same fashion as it will travel to Hawaii for a rematch of the 2011 Fire and Ice Bowl against Leilehua on August 10th.  That game will be part of a doubleheader as Anchorage West High School will also make the long trek to Hawaii to take on Punahou, which finished runner-up in Hawaii's Division I last season.

Punahou, which was ranked the best sports program in America by Sports Illustrated in 2008 and 2009, is the alma mater of President Barack Obama.

After last year's Fire and Ice Bowl, I spoke with then Service head coach Jason Caldarera about the trip and the game.  Click here to listen to that interview.

First Day of High School Football Practice Set for July 30th

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Hope everyone had a great off-season!

We're in the process of updating all of High School Football America's 52 blogs in preparation for the 2012 season that gets started with two-a-days in Alaska on July 30th.

Every year, our goal is to improve our coverage, giving you the readers more information as quickly as we can.

Please make sure that if you have a comment or a story you feel my staff should know about, you can email me at jeff@highschoolfootballamerica.com.

Also, if you haven't listened to the High School Football America radio show, please be sure to tune-in every Thursday night at 7 P.M. Eastern, which is 3 P.M. in Alaska.  The show also is rebroadcast on the ArtistFirst Radio Network every Sunday night at 6 P.M. Eastern or 2 P.M. in Alaska.  If neither of those times work, you can always listen FREE and on-demand by clicking here to go to our archives page.

Last year's show included visits from Service's Jason Caldarera and Barrow's Brad Igou and Brian Houston.

Click here to listen to the Caldarera interview.

Click here to listen to the interview on Barrow football.

Alaska High School Football Playoff Match-ups Set

by Jeff Fisher
Alaska High School Football Huddle

The 2010 Alaska state champs are back in the playoffs to defend their titles, but there will be at least one new champ this year thanks to the addition of a third classification called Medium Schools.

In the Big Schools classification, both of last year's finalists West and Service are back, however defending champ West has a big hill to climb as it enters the playoffs after a 4-4 regular season.  Service, on the other hand, enters its quarterfinal game against Palmer on an eight game unbeaten streak.  The Cougars finished the regular season with a 7-0-1 record with the tie coming against Leilehua in its season opener in the Fire and Ice Bowl in Hawaii

Earlier this year, I spoke with Service head coach Jason Caldarera about that game, and you can listen to that interview by clicking here or listening to the show on High School Football America's YouTube channel.



Defending Small Schools champ Soldotna will not be defending its title, because the Stars are now in the Medium School classification.  In the semifinals on Friday, Soldotna will face Kenai. Those two schools have combined to win the last nine Small Schools state titles.

In the Small Schools category, Barrow, the only school above the Arctic Circle, enters the postseason with a 6-1 record and looking for its first state championship in only its sixth season of varsity football.

In the inaugural High School Football America radio show, I spoke with first year head coach Brad Igou and his assistant Brian Houston about their team.  Igou felt this team had a good shot at winning a state title.

To listen to that interview, click here or check-out the interview below from our YouTube channel.



Now here's a look at this weekend's match-ups:

Large School Quarterfinals
Palmer (4-4) at Service (7-0-1), Saturday
West (4-4) at Wasilla (6-2), Saturday
West Valley (6-2) vs. South, Saturday
East (4-4) at Juneau-Douglas (7-1), Saturday

Medium School Semifinals
Homer (7-1) at Thunder Mountain (3-4), Friday
Kenai (4-4) at Soldotna (8-0), Friday

Small School Semifinals
Monroe (5-3) at Barrow (6-1), Saturday
Eielson (4-4) at Nikiski (7-1), Saturday

Service Head Football Coach Jason Caldarera to be a Guest on High School Football America Radio Show

by Jeff Fisher
Alaska High School Football Huddle

Jason Caldarera's Service Cougars kicked-off America's 2011 high school football regular season last Thursday in the Fire and Ice Bowl in Hawaii.

Tomorrow night, the Cougars' head coach since 2001 will join me on High School Football America, the country's premiere high school football talk show.

Caldarera will talk about his team's season opening 34-34 tie against Leilehua in Hawaii, plus he'll look ahead to the rest of the season in Alaska.

Click here to listen to the show LIVE starting at 7PM EST/3PM AKST