It was a 55-0 victory for the Homer Mariners football team Saturday as they took on the Buccaneers in Valdez.
“They played great,” Homer Head Coach Josh Fraley said of the Mariner team. “We were able to get everybody in and played a lot of the JV guys, so it was good.”
So good, in fact, — 40-0 at halftime — that the JVs were able to play about half of the game.
“We played awesome,” said Fraley.
The game took place on the Buccaneer’s new turf field that replaced the old field that had been destroyed by mudslides. The new facility still lacks bleachers, but that didn’t stop the Mariners’ fans from showing what they think of their team.
“We had a couple of parents that made the trip and that was awesome and gave us a little bit of support. And we got to bring our cheerleaders,” said Fraley.
When the Mariners traveled to Barrow to play the Whalers on Aug. 30, it was with a squad of only 19 players. Even then, Homer scored a 30-12 victory. For the Valdez game and the 12-hour bus ride each way, Fraley was able to take 24 athletes.
“We could fit a lot more on the bus. Those airplane tickets are expensive,” he said. “And we had 11 cheerleaders, me and Coach Rick (Alexander).”
The only downside to the game was a right knee injury sustained by senior Connor Seay. In fact, when it came to giving a play-by-play of the game, Fraley said he had been so distracted by Seay’s injury during the third quarter that he would hold off on the game commentary until after he’d reviewed video of the action.
“There was about a 15-20 minute delay,” said Fraley of the effort to assess Seay’s injury and have him transported from the field to receive medical attention in Valdez.
Overall, Fraley praised his team for a game well played.
“Defensively, we just played really great and offensively, we blocked really well,” said Fraley.
For the next two weekends, the Mariners will be playing on home turf, making it possible for their fans to see them in action. Homer plays Ketchikan on Saturday and the SoHi Stars on Sept. 20.
“The Ketchikan game is going to be interesting,” said Fraley. “We don’t play them very often. I think the last time was probably four years ago. They’ve been doing well this season.”
The final away game for the Mariners is Sept. 27 when they play Kenai at Kenai. They return to Homer for a homecoming game against Houston on Oct. 4.
McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.