A Viking defender pushes past Dawson Miller (23) and Trent Stokes (4) for the ball during Friday's game in Petersburg.
Riley Blatchley (12) stretches his fingers around the ball before Petersburg players Wolf Brooks (22) and Stewart Conn (13) can get to it on Friday.
The Wrangell Wolves very nearly had a win at Petersburg last week, during the Vikings' homecoming weekend.
"We played I thought a really good game the first game," explained coach Ray Stokes.
Starting the last set of regular-season games for the season, on Friday Wrangell opened up with the lead against the Vikings. The Wolves held their hosts to seven points in the first quarter, scoring 13 themselves. They maintained a lead all the way into the fourth quarter, but after a low-scoring, particularly hard-fought third quarter Petersburg was able to close the gap.
"It was still really close with 20 seconds left," said Stokes.
He noted his players lost composure toward the very end, making some errors and falling behind finally by a few points. In the end Petersburg pulled off a 42-37 victory.
Stokes was quite pleased with Wrangell's defensive game though, controlling the tempo of play as a result. They also showed well against one of the better-ranked 2A teams in the state.
"I felt like we at least proved to ourselves we can compete with them," he commented.
On Saturday Petersburg opened up with a 12-8 lead in the first quarter, both teams just shy of doubling the score by halftime. Wrangell was nine points down by the third quarter, but then Petersburg's offense opened up in the final stretch. The Vikings won 56-36.
"I thought we played pretty good for a good portion of the game," said Stokes.
Wrangell's offense had not been quite as aggressive the second time around, he thought, in large part due to concern over fouls. The weekend was good overall though, he added.
In the junior varsity games the home team won both afternoons. Friday the JV Vikings won 47-32, while the next day Wrangell played a much closer game, losing 39-43.
In all, Stokes felt the weekend's showing portended good things for the Wolves as the team heads into Region V this week, in Juneau. Leaving almost as soon as they returned early Tuesday, Wrangell was set for an immediate rematch with the Vikings Wednesday night.
In the event of a win, the team would go on to play Friday, against either top-seeded Metlakatla or the winner of the Craig and Haines game. A double elimination tournament, in the case of a loss Wrangell could still climb its way back up to State starting Thursday. If the team plays this week with confidence, Stokes explained, it should do alright.
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