Soldotna’s Mike Reed scored two touchdowns in the first quarter alone, including a 65-yard run off an inside handoff that gave Soldotna a 14-0 lead.

Reed added another 10-yard score on the first play of the second quarter. And quarterback Anthony Griglione dove over the pylon from four yards out with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter to make the score 28-0 and put the game out of reach.

The Stars head coach, Sarge Truesdell, said they put in a new offensive just for the game against the top-ranked Mariners, and it paid dividends on Saturday.

“It’s a lot of misdirection and we kind of surprised Homer,” Truesdell said. “We haven’t ran that at all this year. It’s a very difficult offense to play against if you haven’t practiced against it.”

Motivation was easy to come by for the Stars, who failed to reach the state playoffs last year because of a 14-7 loss to Homer in Soldotna. And an article in the Homer News touting the big Mariner line seemed to add fuel to the fire.

“On the bus on the way over here I told our offensive line ‘I’m going to start off with you guys,’ and either it was going to be we lost the game because our offensive line couldn’t get it done, or we won the game because our offensive line got it done,” Truesdell said.

The Mariners had some success moving the ball against SoHi in the first half, but mistakes at critical times hurt the team’s chances of mounting a comeback.

Homer failed to convert on three fourth-down plays. They also fumbled on Soldotna’s 22-yard line in the second quarter and had a 36-yard touchdown pass play called back by a penalty in the fourth quarter.

The Mariners finally scored in the fourth quarter on a safety by Erik Rasmussen and Homer’s Noah McWilliams ran in from 14 yards out with 1:48 remaining to make the final score 28-10.

With the win Saturday, Soldotna can punch their own ticket to the state playoffs with wins at Skyview next week and against Kenai at home the week after that.

Homer will likely have to win its remaining games against Kodiak, Kenai and Skyview if they want to return to the playoffs this year.

Mariner head coach, Kelly Blake, said the team is still hopeful even after the lopsided loss to Soldotna.

“They got us in the first quarter, but it was a pretty even game after that,” he said. “We still think we have an opportunity to go to state, we just have to go the long route. Being humbled sometimes isn’t a bad thing.”