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FAIRBANKS — The Monroe Catholic Rams first-ever trip to the state high school football playoffs didn’t come out the way they wanted it to, but it was an experience that showed the Rams what the top team in the state can do.

“The guys don’t have any reason to hang their heads,” Monroe coach Bobby Pace said in a telephone interview shortly after the Rams suffered a 41-0 loss to the No. 1-ranked and three-time defending state champion Soldotna Stars in a small schools quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon in Soldotna.

“I thought we played a good game against the best team in the state,” Pace said. “I was really proud of the effort. Everyone on the team gave 100 percent.”

Soldotna jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and the Rams never recovered. The Stars tacked on 14 more points before halftime and added another 13 in the third quarter to complete the scoring.

Monroe had some success on offense, but never really threatened to score.

“Our problem was that we could only move the ball between the two 40-yard lines,” Pace said.

Injuries early in the game didn’t help the Rams’ effort.

Running back Isaiah Weeks went down early, as did wide receiver Jordan Bartels. That forced coach Pace to move quarterback Lawrence Stepovich to wide receiver and insert his son Jason Pace at quarterback.

Coach Pace lauded the Rams’ four seniors — Nick Gavora, Kegan Phillips, Stepovich and James Duncan — who helped the Monroe reach the playoffs for the first time in the four-year history of the program.

“When they talked to the rest of the team after the game, it was a pretty emotional moment,” the Rams’ coach said. “Sure, we would have liked to win, but it was a big step for our program to get to where we were today.”

Pace also noted that Duncan turned in an outstanding performance from his defensive end position.

“He was very effective today,” coach Pace said. “They were running away from him on every play, so we started moving him around and that made our defense more effective.”

Barrow falls

The Barrow Whalers season came to an end on Saturday afternoon when they suffered a 47-13 loss at the hands of the Kenai Kardinals in the small schools quarterfinals.

Kenai scored three touchdowns in the first 10 minutes and never looked back. The Kardinals were ahead 27-0, before Whalers’ Adrian Panigeo scored on a 30-yard pass from quarterback Albert Gerke with 10 minutes left in the second quarter.

Gerke scored the final touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run with 2:51 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Nikiski defeated

The Nikiski Bulldogs suffered a 24-15 loss to the Homer Mariners in its small schools quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon at Nikiski.

Coupled with the results of Saturday’s other quarterfinal contests, all four Northern Lights Conference teams — Soldotna, Kenai, Homer and Kodiak — advanced to the state semifinals on Friday and Saturday at the Anchorage Football Stadium.